Pan-African Crypto Exchange Yellow Card Pursues Exchange License in The Wake of CBN’s Removal of Ban on Crypto Trading

Yellow Card, a Pan-African licensed crypto exchange, is actively pursuing a license in Nigeria, following the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) removal of the ban on crypto trading.

This move was affirmed by the exchange director and product manager, Ogochukwu Umeokafor, during an interview with Bloomberg.

In her words,

“You’ve waited for something and it has come true, and we’ll jump on it immediately. We want a regulated environment because it’ll help the business move; it will help people have more confidence in doing business with us. It is going to be a big boost to our business. I think one of the main things this will help with will be to attract institutional investors. When people see that, oh, crypto is now licensed and Yellow Card has a license, it will give them more confidence to do business with us”.

The African-focused crypto exchange which operates in Nigeria and at least 16 other countries on the continent, had initiated discussions with Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to operate a crypto exchange after the SEC invited applications for licenses for issuers and custodians of digital assets and exchanges. But it needed a bank account to apply for a Virtual Asset Service Provider license which was not possible before now.

In September 2023, Yellow Card in a significant move towards expanding cryptocurrency accessibility in Nigeria, joined forces with MoonPay, a global leader in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, to streamline and enhance the crypto purchasing experience for Nigerians by leveraging local bank transfers.

Currently, Yellow Card has a business registration status in Nigeria and offers limited crypto services such as buying and selling Bitcoin and Tether’s stablecoin USDT with the naira. It also allows customers to use its platform for other financial transactions.

It has a remarkable payment feature known as “Yellow Pay”, that allows users to send money across African borders instantly, for free, powered by crypto. Yellow Pay provides a seamless and secure way to send and receive money across borders instantly. Users can send money to 20 countries using Yellow Pay.

Notably, Yellow Card boasts of a proven track record across 17 African markets, with a particular stronghold in Nigeria. In 2022, the pan-African crypto exchange announced its Series B fundraising of $40 million, bringing total funds raised to over $50 million, the most capital raised by any African cryptocurrency company.

With the CBN’s decision to lift the ban on cryptocurrency transactions platforms like Yellow Card, amongst others, are poised to capitalize on this new regulatory environment, promising a more stable and confidence-inspiring landscape for crypto traders and investors.