Coinbase has announced the expansion of its services to emerging economies, with an initial focus on 20 countries in Africa.
The crypto exchange revealed in a blog post on Jan. 11 that it is now focusing on African markets through its new partnership with Yellow Card, an on-and-off ramp service for cryptocurrencies in Africa.
With the partnership between Yellow Card and Coinbase‘s investment arm, Coinbase Ventures, the U.S.-based crypto exchange aims to provide millions of users with access to Circle’s USDC stablecoin on Base, a layer-2 network developed by Coinbase. The exchange added that starting from February, users from Africa will be able to buy USDC using the Yellow Card widget directly in Coinbase Wallet, a non-custodial digital wallet.
“Many of these countries are high-inflation and remittance-dependent. This partnership with its emphasis on USDC will increase economic freedom in places that have lacked it, and help stand up a modern financial system where one hasn’t existed […]”
Coinbase
Yellow Card co-founder and CEO Chris Maurice says the partnership is expected to help the firm empower the next “one billion people across Africa to participate in the future of finance.”
Established in 2016 by Chris Maurice, Justin Poiroux, and Munachimso Ogueke, Yellow Card has secured over $56 million in funding to date. In August 2023, the company announced a $40 million Series B funding round, led by Polychain Capital. Other investors such as Valar Ventures, Third Prime, Sozo Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, and Fabric Ventures also participated in the funding.