• Crypto exchange Yellow Card has launched Yellow Pay, a new payment product, across Africa.
• The product uses the Yellow Card cryptocurrency exchange platform to transfer money from user to user instantly.
• The money is transferred in the stablecoin Tether (USDT) but can be withdrawn from the platform.

Mobile money is a huge business in Africa. In 2022, Safaricom’s M-PESA, which allows users to quickly and effortlessly send money via their phone number to other numbers, contributed 49 percent of the East African telecom’s profit before tax at $14.7 billion. The monolithic success of M-PESA has spurred other companies like MTN to launch similar products like MoMo.

Apart from telecoms, fintech entities are also looking into the service and now American/African cryptocurrency exchange Yellow Card has launched their new payments product in the guise of mobile money across the continent – Yellow Pay.

According to a press release sent to Hypertext, with Yellow Pay customers can send and receive money through the Yellow Card crypto exchange platform, without any extra charges, instantly with just a few taps on their phone. But there’s a twist

The new mobile money product uses Yellow Card’s crypto exchange platform to complete customer transactions in USDT, otherwise known as the stablecoin Tether.

Basically, users will be able to transfer money across the Yellow Card platform to other users via Yellow Pay. Payments will be received and sent in the form of Tether.

“It is important to note that Yellow Pay is not a money remittance or foreign currency exchange service,” the company says. “Rather, Yellow Pay is an advanced crypto exchange product.”

“This is more than just a money transfer service – it’s a powerful tool that will unlock new opportunities for people across Africa,” said Chris Maurice, CEO and co-founder of Yellow Card.

“By enabling instant, low-cost transactions across borders, we are helping to create a more connected and dynamic Africa”.

Yellow Card explains that since the product’s launch in Nigeria earlier this year, one of the major upgrades is that customers can now transfer money to anyone in all Yellow Card countries with just their phone number, and the recipient will be able to receive and withdraw the funds once they sign up.

Previously only existing customers could send and receive with Yellow Pay. The other upgrade is that transfers within the same country are free.

One can use Yellow Pay to send money for business, school and healthcare. Gift cash to friends and family across Africa, pay vendors in other countries, receive payment for services, pay bills and fees in other African currencies and so much more.

“This new product feature not only makes it easier for family members to support each other across Africa with ease, but it also opens up the continent to more investment, access to credit, and business grants and generally will improve the ease of doing business,” added Maurice.

In October of last year, Yellow Card received Africa’s first license to operate as a cryptocurrency exchange from Botswana. The Southern African country cited the formalisation of the industry as a means to mitigate the damages of rife crypto scams plaguing the country.

The company is launching Yellow Pay in all the countries it operates within, namely Botswana, Cameroon, DRC, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

It is important to remember that Yellow Card is unlicensed in South Africa, and users should consider the risks before using the platform.