Yellow Card has announced it is expanding its service to South Africa and Botswana as African cryptocurrency usage skyrockets.
The cryptocurrency exchange, which graduated from the Binance Labs Incubator and is fairly popular in Nigeria intends to expand out of West Africa into the Southern African market.
Trading of bitcoin on Yellow Card will go live on Friday, May 15. The addition of Botswana’s BWP and South Africa’s ZAR trading pairs will make Yellow Card the first high profile exchange in Botswana.
Yellow Card was launched in 2016, as a bitcoin gift card platform that has evolved into an exchange by Chris Maurice and Justin Poiroux. According to them, they started the project after they met a man at Wells Fargo who was trying to send $200 dollars to his family in Nigeria.
The high fee charged by the bank, made the two realize how hard it was for people on the continent to participate in the global market place. The platform initially launched in Nigeria, where it claims to have over 20,000 merchants and has completed over $25 million dollars in transactions.
In the last few weeks, cryptocurrency activity on the continent has increased significantly, with most people sighting the halving and the current pandemic as the driving factors. Speaking to BlockNewAfrica, CEO of YellowCard, Chris Maurice mentioned that the current crises has highlighted the need for a better form of currency.
I think COVID is helping to bring the importance and practicality of crypto mainstream, especially in Africa. When you look at what has happened across the continent in terms of inflation and currency devaluation over the last few months, people are trying to find something to help secure their wealth. Others are out of work and are looking for a new source of income.
Crypto offers so many opportunities to people around the world, and we’re excited to continue expanding across the continent and the region to make sure that anyone, anywhere has access to this technology.
CEO of YellowCard, Chris Maurice
The exchange also intends to expand to more markets soon. Have you used Yellow Card in the past? Are you excited about the expansion? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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