How Stablecoins are Reshaping Payments in Africa and Beyond
In the dynamic and ever-evolving world of digital finance, the integration of innovative technologies like stablecoins is reshaping global payment systems, particularly in emerging markets. With over $220 billion in circulation and $6.5 trillion in annual transaction volume, stablecoins are clearly gaining traction.
Visa recently announced it is partnering with Yellow Card, a leading pan-African fintech, to explore stablecoin use cases and opportunities across markets where Yellow Card is licensed to operate to help streamline treasury operations and enhance liquidity management. At the recent Visa Payments Forum CEMEA 2025, Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto at Visa, sat down with Chris Maurice, Co-Founder & CEO of Yellow Card, to share insights on the transformative potential of stablecoins, their implications for the global financial system, and how they are driving innovation in payment systems.
Cuy: Chris, can you share the founding story and inspiration behind Yellow Card?
Chris: My co-founder and I got into Bitcoin in 2013, and I was fully immersed by 2015. We explored various ideas, including gift cards at chain stores which could be bought for Bitcoin.
The pivotal moment came when I met a Nigerian man in Auburn, Alabama. He faced a $90 bank fee to send $200 home. I suggested Bitcoin, but quickly realized the practical challenge: what would his mom do with $200 in Bitcoin? You can’t buy food or pay rent with that. This made me question what problem we were actually solving for the everyday consumer. I then embarked on extensive research into Nigeria’s currency and the continental banking system, and then moved there with the intention of building something that helps solve their needs.
Cuy: Yellow Card started with Bitcoin for payments. How did that evolve, and when did stablecoins enter the picture for your operations?
Chris: Our first Yellow Card iteration, launched in June 2019, was 100% Bitcoin-focused. Stablecoins existed but weren’t widely adopted; we listed USDT in 2020. Before that, we processed around $1 million daily, all on Bitcoin. Within a week of launching USDT, our volume shifted to 70% Bitcoin, 30% USDT. Within four months, it was 99% USDT.
Talking to our customers, it became clear this was fundamentally a payments’ use case. Even with Bitcoin, clients used assets for payments due to difficult international bank transfers and limited dollar access. When stablecoins offered the same technology without price fluctuations, everything became ‘dollarized’, because that’s what everyone wanted to pay with.
Cuy: Yellow Card was one of the first companies to find product-market fit for stablecoins with businesses outside the crypto industry. Can you provide examples of these early clients and use cases?
Chris: The major benefit of stablecoins is the ability to move money instantly across the globe and virtually for free. If you can access stablecoins, it’s as good as accessing a dollar, especially in certain parts of CEMEA (Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa), where making international bank transfers or reliably accessing dollars can be difficult.
One of our larger early corporate clients is a major food producer on the African continent. They import raw materials and ingredients from Switzerland and the UK, manufacture in various African markets, and sell globally – requiring US dollars to maintain their supply chain. When they first approached us, they could only secure about 30% of their necessary dollars through the banking system. We helped them facilitate transfers via stablecoins, moving money instantly to the UK and Switzerland to enable critical imports.
Another example is a pharmaceutical company that imports drugs from India and supplies major pharmacy brands across Africa. Using stablecoins, we helped them facilitate payments and settle invoices, ensuring essential supplies continued to flow.
Cuy: What is the current regulatory environment like in the regions where Yellow Card operates, and how is it evolving?
Chris: When we started in 2019, there were virtually no regulations around crypto or stablecoins anywhere in the world. From the beginning, we worked extensively with regulators to help them understand the space, its benefits, and the value it brings. They typically focused on three key areas: protecting consumers, preventing bad actors, and promoting innovation.
In Africa and other regions, governments and regulatory bodies have increasingly recognized the importance of this technology for innovation and the opportunities it unlocks, with a massive shift over the last three years.
Initially, we were met with skepticism, especially around Bitcoin. With stablecoins, the conversation has become much easier because regulators understand how the dollar works. Stablecoins offer a new, more efficient way to access and use the dollar. Crucially, the Central Bank doesn’t have to deplete its dollar reserves to facilitate these transactions, which is a huge benefit.
Cuy: Can you provide examples of regulatory progress in Africa regarding stablecoins and crypto?
Chris: In Africa, we now see licensing regimes in South Africa, Botswana, Nigeria, Mauritius, and Namibia. Sandboxes are either live or coming in Rwanda, Zambia, Ghana, Uganda, and Tanzania. There’s also a bill in Kenyan parliament, which we helped draft, aiming for a fully regulated and licensed space, with similar developments in Morocco.
This shows that the space has come a long way in a short time because regulators are beginning to truly understand what this technology means for their countries, economies, and payment systems, and how it can improve their banking systems and accountability.
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