In order to increase access to its products in emerging economies, Coinbase has teamed up with Yellow Card, an African stablecoin exchange and one of Coinbase’s portfolio companies. The partnership will first target 20 nations on the continent.
Through the Coinbase Wallet app, the agreement will enable over half of Africa’s population to make USDC purchases starting in February. Additionally, it will enable users of the app to transmit stablecoin without paying fees using email and well-known messaging services like Telegram, iMessage, and WhatsApp.
Users of Yellow Card can also purchase USDC on Base, an Ethereum layer 2 that allows less expensive transactions and was developed by Coinbase.
In its official blog post, Coinbase stated, “Many of these countries are remittance-dependent and have high rates of inflation.” “In areas where economic freedom has been lacking, this partnership’s concentration on USDC will improve economic freedom, and assist in establishing a contemporary financial system in areas without one.”
Yellow Card launched its $1.5 million seed round — which includes Polychain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and the Celo Ecosystem Fund — back in August 2020. September 2022 saw The Block announce the completion of a $40 million Series B fundraising round headed by Polychain. That came after a $15 million Series A the previous year.
The global growth of Coinbase
The San Francisco-based crypto exchange highlighted that its relationship with Yellow Card is part of its “Go Broad, Go Deep” strategy, which focuses on compliant international expansion.
It follows the exchange’s announcement last week that it intends to extend its derivatives business in the European Union by purchasing a firm licensed under the MiFID. With such a license, Coinbase would be able to provide cryptocurrency-based futures in Europe, as the exchange now only provides spot trading in the EU.
Coinbase introduced spot trading for institutions based outside of the United States in December, broadening its range of global services. Last year, Coinbase’s overseas division started providing institutional non-US clients with access to futures trading.
