Yellow Card is a stablecoin on/off ramp that provides businesses across Africa with access to USDT, USDC, and PYUSD via their local currency directly and through their Payments API. ^[1][2]

Overview

Yellow Card was founded by Chris Maurice (CEO) and Justin Poiroux (CTO). The company launched in Nigeria in June 2019 and since then it has grown with a presence in 20 countries and over $2B in transactions. ^[1]

In August 2020, Yellow Card announced its $1.5 million seed round — which included Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and the Celo Ecosystem Fund. Yellow Card agreed to use the funding to expand its operations and “become the dominant exchange across the continent.” ^[17][18]

In September 2021, Yellow Card announced a $15M Series A, the largest ever by an African cryptocurrency exchange, to increase hiring and continue its expansion across the continent. The round was led by Valar Ventures, Third Prime, and Castle Island Ventures with participation from Square, Inc., Blockchain.com Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, BlockFi, Fabric Ventures, Raba Partnership, MoonPay, GreenHouse Capital, Audacity Fund and more. ^[3]

“Our mission has always been to make cryptocurrency accessible anywhere and everywhere across the African continent,” CEO, Maurice said.

“Now, we have the backing to make that a reality, alongside an amazing team of investors who share our vision.”^[3]

In September 2022, Yellow Card raised $40 million in its Series B funding round. The funding round was led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Valar Ventures, Third Prime, Sozo Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Fabric Ventures, DG Daiwa Ventures, The Raba Partnership, Jon Weiner, Alex Wilson, Pat Duffy, and others. ^[4]

In October 2022,  Yellow Card received significant regulatory approval to continue expanding its operations across the continent. It obtained a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license from Botswana's Non-Bank Financial Institution Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA). The new license officially authorizes Yellow Card to allow customers to buy and sell BTC, ETH, and USDT stablecoin with the local fiat currency, the Botswana pula. ^[5]

“This opens up greater channels of expansion with regards to payment partners, banking and expanding our client base across Africa. This will further show regulators in other markets that we are not just any other cryptocurrency company - we are pioneering, pushing boundaries and setting the standard. All the more reason for them to work together with us as well,” - Chris Maurice, CEO and co-founder of Yellow Card said. ^[6]

In November 2023, Yellow Card was awarded the prestigious "AFIS Disrupter of the Year Award" at the 2023 Africa Financial Industry Summit. The award ceremony, held on the 15th of November 2023 in Lome, Togo, recognized Yellow Card's outstanding contributions to innovation and resilience in the African financial sector. The award was received by Chris Maurice, co-founder, and CEO of Yellow Card, who expressed his deepest gratitude for the recognition. ^[10]

“This award is further validation that our team is solving important, practical problems across the continent for businesses,” he said. “We have come a long way for a Stablecoin company to win a traditional finance award voted by judges who are all bankers.” - Chris Maurice^[10]

Products

Crypto

Yellow Card offers a platform that allows users to trade cryptocurrencies - buy, sell, send, and receive BTC, USDT, ETH, etc. and store the crypto with a Bitcoin wallet. ^[11]

Yellow Pay

Yellow Pay provides a free way to send and receive money across African countries like Benin, Botswana, Senegal, Zambia, Nigeria, etc. Yellow Pay uses Yellow Card's crypto exchange platform to complete customer transactions in USDT. ^[12]

Academy

The Academy arm of Yellow Card provides free access to simplified guides to help users understand crypto, blockchain, trading strategies, and how to manage finances in order to gain financial freedom. ^[13]

Commercial Trading

Yellow Card's commercial trading occurs directly between two parties. One of the parties is usually specialized in buying and selling particular crypto assets, and is called the dedicated “trading desk.” The price, volumes, and terms of each trade are determined and agreed upon by both parties before a transaction occurs. Yellow Card offers trading for USDT against 13 African currencies (including NGN, ZAR, GHS, BWP). ^[14]

API

Yellow Card offers its payment API as a service which works by adding payment processing capabilities to existing software and mobile apps. This means that by integrating with Yellow Card's payment API, users will get access to local fiat payment on and off ramps across 20 countries in Africa. ^[15]

Partnerships

Yellow Card x Moonpay

In September 2023, Yellow Card joined forces with MoonPay, a Web3 infrastructure company to streamline and enhance the crypto purchasing experience for Nigerians by leveraging local bank transfers. ^[9]

"At the core of our company's mission is the belief that everyone should have access to the power and potential of cryptocurrencies. By joining forces with MoonPay, we aim to eliminate the barriers that prevent Nigerians from participating in the crypto economy. Together, we can help make crypto trading easy, intuitive, and available to all,” - Uzoma James, West Africa Regional Manager at Yellow Card. ^[9]

Yellow Card x Coinbase

In January 2024, Coinbase partnered with Yellow Card to expand access to its products to 20 African countries, focusing on increasing USDCoin stablecoin access. As part of the arrangement, Yellow Card users will be able to acquire USDC on the Ethereum layer two (L2) chain Base. ^[7][16]

“Our new partnership will help usher in the future of money by giving millions of users access to USDC and fast, reliable, cheaper transactions on our decentralized, open L2 Base through both Coinbase and Yellow Card products,” - Coinbase said in a Jan. 11, 2024 statement. ^[8]

Coinbase has integrated the Yellow Card Widget, giving Coinbase Wallet customers access to Yellow Card’s network of payment methods across 20 African countries in the partnership. ^[7]