Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has joined forces with Africa’s Yellow Card to extend its product offerings to 20 new African nations. The primary focus of this partnership is to enhance the accessibility of the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin.
In a statement released on January 11, Coinbase expressed that this collaboration will pave the way for the future of money. It will provide millions of users with access to USDC and facilitate fast, reliable, and cost-effective transactions on the decentralized, open L2 Base through both Coinbase and Yellow Card products.
Yellow Card CEO, Chris Maurice, explained that the partnership entails Coinbase incorporating Yellow Card’s payment rails in Africa. This integration will enable customers to on and off-ramp fiat to Bitcoin (BTC) and USD Coin on Ethereum layer 2 rollup Base. African users will be able to access this via the Coinbase Wallet, which recently introduced a feature allowing transfers via links from social media platforms such as iMessage, Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram.
Besides USDC, Maurice confirmed that other cryptocurrencies and stablecoins supported by Coinbase will also be integrated. Yellow Card operates in 20 countries, including Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania.
Coinbase highlighted that many of these countries are characterized by high inflation and dependency on remittances. The company is optimistic that its partnership with Yellow Card will provide a more economically viable transaction method in these regions. Coinbase also pointed out the need for economic opportunities in these markets, which have populations that are generally younger than average. It further noted that Africa is the youngest continent.
Maurice is confident that this partnership will simplify commerce for many Africans across the continent. He emphasized in a January 11 statement that stablecoins like USDC address real issues for real people and businesses on the continent. He also mentioned that the most common use cases in Africa include making international payments, sending money to friends and family, and saving money against inflation.
According to BitcoinAfrica.io, South Africa, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Ghana are the top five African countries adopting Bitcoin. The Central African Republic was the first African country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. However, this was short-lived as the government initiated its crypto token project, Sango Coin, just days after the Bitcoin law was enacted.
This News Article was automatically generated by Bob the Bot (AI)
| Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Geography | Africa |
| Countries | 🇳🇬 🇿🇦 🇧🇼 🇬🇭 🇰🇪 🇿🇼 🇨🇫 🇸🇳 |
| Sentiment | positive |
| Relevance Score | 1 |
| People | Chris Maurice |
| Companies | Sango Coin, Cointelegraph, Yellow Card, Coinbase, BitcoinAfrica.io |
| Currencies | Bitcoin, Arcade Arcoin |
| Securities | None |
