Fintech Centi extends its African footprint through a partnership with Yellow Card
In the dynamic world of finance, partnerships between global payment companies and African crypto firms are making significant strides in transforming cross-border remittances across the continent.
One such partnership that has made waves is the collaboration between Coinbase and Yellow Card. This alliance enabled users in Africa to convert their fiat currency to cryptocurrencies and vice versa with ease, paving the way for seamless cross-border transactions via stablecoins.
Yellow Card's recent partnership with Block, founded by Jack Dorsey, expanded this reach further, allowing cross-border remittances into 16 African countries.
These collaborations are not just about enabling faster, cheaper, and more accessible digital payment solutions. They are about integrating crypto and stablecoin technologies into everyday finance, allowing users to send, receive, and convert funds seamlessly across borders with reduced costs and enhanced convenience.
For instance, African crypto platforms partnering with global players have introduced real-time conversion and settlement options in bitcoin and stablecoins, making remittances more efficient compared to traditional methods. This trend is not limited to Centi and Yellow Card; firms like MoneyBadger are partnering with payment processors like Peach Payments to enable merchant acceptance of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies across multiple African countries such as South Africa and Kenya.
Moreover, strategic alliances with global stablecoin issuers like Tether and Circle are driving innovation in stablecoin payments across Africa. Shiga Digital’s partnership with Tether aims to expand stablecoin use, empowering businesses and individuals to manage cross-border payments more securely and efficiently. Onafriq’s collaboration with Circle using USDC-powered settlement exemplifies efforts to connect a vast network of wallets and bank accounts across African markets, democratizing access to financial services.
These developments are occurring against the backdrop of a rapidly growing cross-border payments market in Africa, expected to reach $329 billion by 2025 and potentially exceed $1 trillion by 2035, driven largely by mobile remittances and increasing crypto adoption. The partnerships enable cost-effective remittance channels that bypass expensive traditional intermediaries, promote financial inclusion, and offer access to digital asset investments within the continent.
In summary, collaborations between global payments companies and African crypto firms like Centi, Yellow Card, MoneyBadger, Shiga Digital, and Onafriq contribute to transforming cross-border remittances by making them more accessible, affordable, and integrated into local economies, supported by crypto and stablecoin innovations tailored to African markets. This shift not only simplifies and expands cross-border remittances but also paves the way for mainstream adoption of crypto payments that facilitate local and cross-border transactions with greater speed and lower friction.
Financial technology, or fintech, is playing a crucial role in transforming Africa's finance landscape, as partnerships between global payment companies and African crypto firms have led to the integration of crypto and stablecoin technologies into daily finance. For example, Shiga Digital's partnership with Tether and Onafriq's collaboration with Circle demonstrate the efforts to increase stablecoin usage across Africa, thereby enhancing the efficiency of cross-border payments.
