Yellow Card is the largest and first licensed stablecoin-based infrastructure provider, operating in 20 African countries and the emerging markets. Our mission is to empower businesses of all sizes, making it easier for them to make international payments, protect their financial assets, manage their treasury function, and access hard currency liquidity.
We are creating “financial infrastructure that works” disrupting the financial services industry by offering innovative solutions designed to meet the distinct needs of – and real-world challenges faced on a daily basis by – our customers. Leveraging the power of stablecoins pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar (e.g. USDC, USDT, and PYUSD), we deliver our innovative solutions through our commercial trading function, our B2B products (i.e. our Payments API and “widget”), and our retail and small business platform.
We were founded in 2016 by Christopher Maurice, our Chief Executive Officer, and Justin Poiroux, our Chief Technology Officer. Since launching our first product in Nigeria in 2019, we have generated volumes of almost US$6 billion, 99% of which is attributable to stablecoins, and our innovative solutions have been recognizedq throughout Africa. For example, we received the prestigious “Disrupter of the Year” award in November 2023 from the Africa Financial Industry Summit (AFIS), Africa’s premier traditional financial services industry platform.
We hold virtual assets service provider licenses in South Africa and Botswana (the first VASP license issued on the continent), as well as a VASP registration in the European Union. We take a professional and serious approach to compliance, including with respect to customer onboarding (KYC), AML/CFT requirements, sanctions screening, fraud, transaction monitoring or KYT, and anti-bribery and anti-corruption matters. As a U.S. incorporated parent company, we are registered as a “money services business” with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and we are registered for AML reporting purposes with financial intelligence units in Botswana, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and the European Union.
We employ over 250 individuals from 24 countries, with women comprising 45% of our workforce, and our team speaks over 25 languages. In addition, we have completed US$85 million in equity financings: our financial investors are comprised of leading venture capital firms, including Polychain Capital, Blockchain Capital, Valar Ventures, Third Prime Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Blockchain Coinvestors, Hutt Capital, and Winkelvoss Capital; and our strategic investors include Coinbase and Block (Square/Cash App), both U.S. publicly listed companies with market capitalizations of over US$50 billion each, as well as Galaxy Ventures.