Pan-African fintech company Yellow Card has announced a partnership with digital asset infrastructure provider Fireblocks to enhance cross-border transactions.
The fintech company, which has a presence in 20 African countries and helps organizations manage exchange rate risks through stablecoin transactions, said the new development will affect both businesses and individuals.
By leveraging Fireblocks, Yellow Card aims to remove barriers to accessing African markets for global corporate treasurys by providing secure and effective on-chain solutions.
This includes the use of Fireblocks’ Wallets-as-a-Service (WaaS), which will enable the financial services technology company to create, manage and secure up to 14 million multi-party computation wallets at scale and protect customer assets.
“We are excited to partner with Fireblocks to enable real-world use cases for stablecoins and solve the complex challenges of international and pan-African transactions. Together, we are improving how businesses around the world manage their finances, make payments, and drive innovation across Africa,” said Chris Maurice, CEO and co-founder of Yellow Card.
Yellow Card, which won the AFIS Disrupter of the Year Award at the Africa Financial Industry Summit 2023 in Togo last year, said Fireblocks is a user-friendly platform for creating new blockchain-based products and managing everyday digital asset operations.
It has secured the transfer of over $6 trillion worth of digital assets. Together, Yellow Card and Fireblocks will address the complex challenges faced by multinational corporate treasuries, such as regulatory compliance, currency volatility, and inefficient legacy banking systems.
“Like the rest of the world, Africa has seen a shift from traditional payment methods to alternative payment methods, driven by new technologies, with $100 billion worth of remittances flowing into the continent. However, cross-border payments are still expensive, and low-value cross-border payments attract high fees,” said Ran Goldi, SVP Payments and Network at Fireblocks. “We are excited to partner with Yellow Card to provide our direct custody WaaS, enabling them to secure their customers’ digital assets at scale.”
By leveraging the stablecoins USDT, USDC and PYUSD, Yellow Card helps businesses manage their cash and related transactions within and outside the continent.
The development represents a pivotal moment for both companies as it paves the way for streamlined and secure financial transactions across Africa.
Yellow Card and Fireblocks said their shared goal is to reduce trade barriers in Africa by transforming cross-border transactions.
