A fintech company, Yellow Card on Wednesday said it had raised $40 million to accelerate its global expansion, strengthen stablecoin infrastructure and pursue regulatory approvals across key markets.
Mrs Lasbery Oludimu, Group Vice President, Operations, and Managing Director, Yellow Card Nigeria, disclosed this at a media conference in Lagos.
Yellow Card is a fintech company that provides stablecoin and digital asset payment infrastructure in emerging markets, primarily across Africa and has expanded globally.
Oludimu said that the funding had lifted Yellow Card’s total equity financing above $120 million, enabling it to expand beyond Africa into Latin America, Asia-Pacific and United Arab Emirates.
She said Yellow Card now operated in more than 50 markets, including over 20 African countries, with businesses increasingly using its infrastructure.
According to her, the company has shifted completely from business-to-consumer operations to a business-to-business model, serving registered organisations rather than individuals.
“Yellow Card is no longer a crypto exchange, we are a stablecoin infrastructure provider focused on the technology itself,” Oludimu said.
She said financial institutions and businesses could integrate Yellow Card’s infrastructure to make cross-border payments, provide stablecoin wallets and develop related financial products.
According to her, Yellow Card no longer offers investment products, cryptocurrency trading or peer-to-peer services, having shut down its former crypto exchange.
Oludimu said the company’s infrastructure included payment APIs, fiat settlement rails, wallet infrastructure and custom local stablecoin issuance.
She said financial institutions could also use Yellow Card’s infrastructure to issue branded stablecoins for internal payments and other customer-facing products.
The vice-president cited South Africa’s Absa Bank as an institution already exploring stablecoin issuance, saying regulation remained crucial to such developments.
Oludimu said Yellow Card was prioritising regulatory compliance as it expanded, particularly in markets developing frameworks for stablecoins and digital-asset payments.
“Without regulation, nothing can happen. We cannot have all the best ideas, but regulation will help us roll out products to the public.”
She said the company had applications or regulatory engagements across several markets including Nigeria, Namibia and Mozambique, while participating in regulatory sandboxes.
According to her, Yellow Card is also pursuing licences where formal frameworks exist and working with regulators in markets without established digital-asset frameworks.
Oludimu said the company recently secured regulatory authorisation in Switzerland, alongside virtual-asset and money-service registrations in other jurisdictions.
She said that within Africa, Yellow Card held crypto-asset service provider and virtual-asset service provider licences in South Africa and Botswana respectively.
He said the company also voluntarily registered with financial intelligence and data-protection authorities in markets where such registration was permitted.
Oludimu said Yellow Card’s compliance framework covered anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, sanctions screening, fraud prevention and transaction monitoring.
She said the company had received seven nominations for the 2026 Morgans Governance, Risk Management and Compliance Financial Crime Awards.
Oludimu said Yellow Card’s leadership had also been recognised on Fortune’s inaugural Crypto Innovators list, describing the recognition as independent third-party validation.
The vice president said the company’s strategic partners included Visa, Mastercard, Western Union, Thunes and MoneyGram, while major investors included Standard Chartered and Sony.
According to her, the latest funding will strengthen connectivity between financial institutions and global businesses seeking compliant stablecoin payment solutions.
Oludimu said Africa remained important to Yellow Card despite its global expansion, noting that the company planned significant further investment in Nigeria.
She said Yellow Card was awaiting relevant regulatory approvals before scaling its operations and introducing more products in the Nigerian market.
On regulation in Nigeria, Oludimu said the emergence of stablecoins as payment infrastructure had increased interest from both securities and banking regulators.
According to her, the Securities and Exchange Commission had initially provided the principal regulatory framework for digital assets, while the Central Bank of Nigeria was increasingly relevant.
“CBN is focused on payments. As long as your infrastructure is cross-border payments, CBN is focused on payments,” she said.
Oludimu said Yellow Card was therefore engaging with both regulatory structures, adding that the company’s priority was compliance, regardless of which agency ultimately supervised specific activities.
She said the company viewed regulatory approvals as essential to building sustainable infrastructure and expanding its stablecoin services globally.
“Whoever regulates us is not our problem; we are interested in regulation,” Oludimu said.
He said the company’s latest investment would therefore support both international expansion and the regulatory processes required to operate compliantly across emerging markets.
The Country Manager, Mr Jackson Osaro, in his closing remarks, assured all of a proper utilisation of the company’s latest investment.
Stablecoins are a type of digital currency built on a blockchain and designed to have a steady value.
