Visa Partners with Yellow Card to Supercharge Stablecoin Adoption Across Africa

Visa just placed a big bet on Africa's crypto future—and it's playing the stablecoin long game.

The payments giant teamed up with Yellow Card, Africa's largest crypto exchange, to turbocharge dollar-pegged digital currency adoption across the continent. No vague 'blockchain solutions' here—this is a direct pipeline for stablecoins to enter mainstream African commerce.

Why it matters: While Western regulators still debate stablecoin frameworks, Visa's move effectively bypasses bureaucratic gridlock. African users get instant dollar-denominated transactions without traditional banking bottlenecks. The partnership could finally give crypto the 'everyday use case' evangelists have promised for years.

The cynical take: Another case of Big Finance co-opting crypto's disruptive potential—but at least this time it might actually help people dodge hyperinflation and predatory FX rates.

Stablecoins fill the gaps traditional rails can’t reach

Visa and Yellow Card’s partnership represents a shared ambition to modernize cross-border payments in markets long underserved by traditional infrastructure.

The collaboration targets two pain points simultaneously. For corporations, Visa’s stablecoin settlement solution offers 365-day liquidity management, which can bolster markets where banks often take three business days to process dollar transfers. For consumers, Yellow Card’s integration with Visa Direct could enable sub-$1 remittances across borders where traditional providers charge up to 8% in fees.

“We’re building a bridge between traditional finance and the future of money movement,” Yellow Card CEO Chris Maurice stated in a press release, though conspicuously avoided specifying which economies have greenlit the initiative.

Yellow Card’s existing infrastructure gives Visa immediate access to a mature crypto corridor. The fintech, which bills itself as the licensed stablecoin payments orchestrator for Africa and the emerging world, has processed over $6 billion in transactions since 2019, primarily through USDT and USDC.

Now, Visa can leverage those flows while layering on compliance checks, gaining a strategic edge over Circle’s competing Onafriq partnership, which launched USDC rails across 40 African countries last April.