Emma Okonji
Mastercard and Yellow Card, a licenced stablecoin infrastructure provider operating across Africa and other emerging markets, have announced a strategic partnership to accelerate stablecoin-enabled payment innovation across Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA), with plans for broader global expansion.
The partnership would focus on developing practical, compliant applications for stablecoin payments across four key verticals: cross-border remittances, B2B settlement, digital loyalty ecosystems, and treasury management. Both companies will work with banks, financial institutions, and regulatory stakeholders to pilot solutions designed to improve payment efficiency, reduce settlement friction, and lower costs for businesses and consumers.
Nigeria is one of the partnership’s initial focus markets, alongside Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates.
The collaboration is expected to establish joint working groups to identify high-impact use cases and create interoperable solutions within the Mastercard network that connect traditional financial infrastructure with blockchain-powered payments.
Speaking on the significance of the partnership for Nigeria and the broader African market, the Vice President of Operations and Managing Director for Yellow Card Nigeria, Lasbery Oludimu, said: “For markets in Africa, the real opportunity is to improve how value moves within and across borders, especially for remittances, B2B settlement, treasury management, and digital asset security. Mastercard and Yellow Card are exploring these use cases across key markets, including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and the UAE.”
Oludimu further said: “This collaboration is designed to create interoperable solutions between traditional finance and blockchain payments within the Mastercard network, enhancing payment efficiency and reducing costs for businesses and consumers in Nigeria and other emerging markets.”
Oludimu added that the partnership represents an important shift in how stablecoins are being viewed within the financial ecosystem.
“For Nigeria specifically, the practical change is that stablecoins can move from being seen mainly as a crypto product to becoming part of the broader payment infrastructure.
“When a global financial network like Mastercard works with a stablecoin infrastructure provider like Yellow Card, it helps create a bridge between traditional finance and blockchain-powered payments.”
The partnership comes at a time when stablecoins are seeing increasing institutional interest globally, particularly for cross-border payments and treasury operations. Across Africa, businesses and consumers continue to face high remittance costs, foreign exchange challenges, and fragmented payment infrastructure, creating growing demand for faster and more efficient financial rails.
The collaboration builds on Mastercard’s growing blockchain and digital asset ecosystem, alongside Yellow Card’s footprint as one of Africa’s leading stablecoin infrastructure providers operating across more than 20 African markets.