Coinbase and Yellow Card Partner to Expand USDC Access in Africa
Coinbase, a US-based cryptocurrency exchange platform, and Yellowcard, a pan-African stablecoin exchange, have announced a groundbreaking partnership aimed at expanding access to USDC and digital assets in 20 African countries.
Announcing the partnership, Coinbase said in a Jan. 11 statement, “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."
According to Yellow Card CEO Chris Maurice, the partnership involves Coinbase integrating Yellow Card’s payment rails in Africa so customers can on and off-ramp to Bitcoin, BTC, and USDC on the Ethereum layer-2 rollup base.
This will be accessible to African users via Coinbase Wallet, which recently implemented a new feature to make transfers via links from social media platforms like iMessage, Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram.
In addition to USDC, Maurice said other cryptocurrencies and stablecoins supported by Coinbase will be integrated.
Founded by Chris Maurice and Justin Poiroux in Nigeria in 2019, Yellow Card claims to be one of Africa's largest stablecoin on/off ramps, with users from 20 countries, including Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania, accounting for approximately 52% of Africa's population.
Coinbase noted many of these countries are high-inflation and remittance-dependent and is hopeful the partnership with Yellow Card will offer a more economically viable way to transact in the region.
“Many of these markets are also in need of economic opportunity for populations that skew younger than average,” Coinbase added, noting that Africa is “by far” the youngest continent.
Maurice is confident that the partnership will make commerce easier for many Africans across the continent.
“Stablecoins like USDC solve real problems for real people and businesses on the continent,” Maurice added.