By Prince Osuagwu, Hi-Tech Editor
Challenges facing businesses especially in the area of cross-border payment may soon be over as a stablecoin-based infrastructure, Yellow Card, has disclosed a fresh $40 million funding to scale its technology and expand its global operations.
The latest funding brings the company’s total equity funding since inception to about $145 million, positioning it to deepen its stablecoin infrastructure and provide financial institutions and businesses with solutions for payments, settlement and other financial services.
Vice-President, Operations and Managing Director, Nigeria, Yellow Card, Lasbery Oludimu, disclosed this at a media briefing, saying the company’s new direction was focused on solving practical payment and settlement challenges rather than cryptocurrency trading.
According to her, the $40 million funding round, announced on August 4, was led by strategic investors including Snapchat Ventures, Standard Chartered Ventures, Sunny Innovation Fund, Polychain Capital and Blockchain Capital, among others.
Oludimu said Yellow Card had evolved from a cryptocurrency exchange into a technology infrastructure provider enabling financial institutions and businesses to utilise stablecoins for payments.
“Yellow Card is no longer a crypto company. Yellow Card is a stablecoin infrastructure provider. What we deal with is the technology itself. We are powering financial institutions and businesses in a compliant and regulated manner,” she said.
She said the company’s infrastructure supports stablecoin wallets, payment APIs, settlement solutions, cross-border payments and local stablecoin issuance by financial institutions.
“Stablecoin is now an infrastructure. It is not about buying and selling digital assets or buying and selling stablecoins anymore. Financial institutions can plug into this infrastructure and offer innovative products for themselves,” she said.
Oludimu added that Yellow Card had introduced foreign currency and US dollar accounts to help businesses receive and make international payments.
She said the company currently operates in more than 50 markets, including over 20 African countries, while expanding into Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.
The Yellow Card executive identified regulation and compliance as critical to addressing the trust deficit associated with digital asset-related financial services.
She said the company was pursuing licences and regulatory approvals in markets where they were required; adding that it currently had regulatory licences or authorisations in Switzerland, Poland, Canada, South Africa and Botswana.
According to her, applications were pending in Nigeria, Namibia and Mozambique, among other markets.
“We are practically pushing for regulation because organisations are funding us, and these are big organisations. We cannot keep operating without regulation,” she said.
Oludimu said Yellow Card also voluntarily registers with relevant financial intelligence and data protection authorities in markets where specific virtual asset regulations are yet to be established.
She added that compliance, cybersecurity, fraud monitoring and customer due diligence remained central to the company’s strategy for winning institutional confidence.
Oludimu also explained Yellow Card’s decision to shut down its cryptocurrency exchange across Africa in December 2025, saying the move was a strategic business decision.
“We shut down our exchange all over Africa. It had nothing to do with Binance or whatever was happening in Nigeria. It was a business and product-related decision,” she said.
She explained that Yellow Card had shifted from a business-to-consumer model to a business-to-business model because its technology was better suited to serving organisations and solving financial infrastructure challenges.
“We have built a name in Africa. Anyone that knows Yellow Card will always say it is a Pan-African company. Now Yellow Card is no longer a Pan-African company. Yellow Card is a global company,” she said.
Despite the expansion, Oludimu said Africa would remain a strategic market for the company.
“We are not done in Africa. We built our foundation in Africa, and it is our responsibility to maintain that position. There will be consistent investment in Africa,” she said.
She disclosed that Yellow Card had more than 200 employees globally, with Africans accounting for between 85 and 90 per cent of its workforce, while Nigeria has the highest number of employees across its operations.
Oludimu further disclosed that Yellow Card had strategic partnerships with Visa, Mastercard and Western Union, saying the fresh funding would enable the company to extend its infrastructure to more markets and help existing customers access new markets through a single integration.
However, she noted that products and services available to customers would remain subject to the regulatory requirements of individual jurisdictions.
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