Visa broadens its digital currency strategy in Africa through a partnership with Yellow Card, focusing on the adoption of stablecoins.
**Visa and Yellow Card Partner to Introduce Stablecoin Payments in Africa**
In a groundbreaking move, global payments leader Visa and pan-African cryptocurrency exchange and payments platform Yellow Card have joined forces to launch and expand stablecoin-based payment products across Africa. The collaboration aims to revolutionise cross-border payments, treasury operations, and liquidity management in the continent.
**Strategic Partnership for Stablecoin Adoption**
The partnership between Visa and Yellow Card will integrate Visa's stablecoin settlement solution with Yellow Card's cross-border infrastructure, allowing Visa to tap into local regulatory knowledge and infrastructure in Africa. This strategic alliance is expected to ease compliance and cost challenges, paving the way for stablecoin adoption in the region.
**Stablecoin Product Launch and Expansion Plans**
Yellow Card plans to debut a stablecoin product powered by Visa in at least one African country where it is active before the end of 2025, with plans to expand into additional African markets by 2026. The product will leverage USDC and potentially other digital dollars to enable faster, cheaper, and more efficient cross-border transactions, particularly in regions with limited access to U.S. dollars.
**Expanding Stablecoin Opportunities**
The collaboration between Visa and Yellow Card is not limited to payments. It aims to explore stablecoin market opportunities not just for payments, but also in treasury management and liquidity operations for businesses. Visa’s extensive network with financial institutions worldwide is expected to facilitate connectivity and adoption of blockchain-based payment solutions.
**A Forward-Looking Move**
Visa’s leadership has emphasised that stablecoins will become crucial strategies for institutions moving money, particularly in emerging markets. This partnership is seen as a forward-looking move to support businesses with stablecoin tools and expertise.
It's worth noting that Visa has already processed stablecoin transactions to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars globally. The integration of Visa and Yellow Card's systems is expected to advance stablecoin adoption in Africa.
**Yellow Card's African Footprint**
Yellow Card is currently active in 20 African countries, licensed in three - Botswana, South Africa, and Zambia, and is in the process of obtaining operational licenses in other countries such as Ghana and Nigeria. The partnership will enable businesses integrated with Visa to use stablecoins, courtesy of the partnership. Visa plans to test out stablecoins in African markets using Yellow Card's established payments network.
The pilot and scale-up of stablecoin products in the markets where Yellow Card is licensed are set to revolutionise the African payments landscape, making cross-border remittances, liquidity, and treasury solutions more efficient and accessible.
- In Nigeria, where Yellow Card is seeking to obtain an operational license, the partnership between Visa and Yellow Card aims to facilitate the use of stablecoins for businesses integrated with Visa.
- The collaboration between Visa and Yellow Card also envisions exploring opportunities for stablecoins not only in payments but also in treasury management and liquidity operations for businesses in these African markets.
- Visa's extensive network with financial institutions worldwide is anticipated to facilitate the connectivity and adoption of blockchain-based payment solutions, such as the stablecoin product planned to be launched by Yellow Card.
- Past stablecoin transactions processed by Visa globally have totaled hundreds of millions of dollars, indicating the potential for stablecoins to become a significant strategy for institutions moving money in emerging markets, such as those in Africa.
