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By Chinenye Anuforo
Mastercard has partnered with Yellow Card, a licensed stablecoin infrastructure provider, to accelerate stablecoin-enabled payment solutions across emerging markets in Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
The collaboration, announced in Lagos, is expected to focus on practical and compliant applications of stablecoins in cross-border remittances, business-to-business (B2B) settlements, digital loyalty ecosystems and treasury management.
Nigeria is among the first markets selected for the initiative, alongside Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Under the arrangement, both organisations will work with banks, financial institutions and regulators to pilot solutions aimed at improving payment efficiency, reducing settlement delays and lowering transaction costs for businesses and consumers.
Speaking on the development, Vice President of Operations and Managing Director of Yellow Card Nigeria, Lasbery Oludimu, said the partnership would help strengthen payment systems across Africa.
According to her, “For markets in Africa, the real opportunity is to improve how value moves within and across borders, especially for remittances, B2B settlement, treasury management and digital asset security.”
Sje explained that Mastercard and Yellow Card are already exploring the use cases in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and the UAE.
Oludimu noted that the partnership would also help bridge the gap between traditional finance and blockchain-powered payment systems.
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“For Nigeria specifically, the practical change is that stablecoins can move from being seen mainly as a crypto product to becoming part of the broader payment infrastructure,” She said.
“When a global financial network like Mastercard works with a stablecoin infrastructure provider like Yellow Card, it helps create a bridge between traditional finance and blockchain-powered payments.”
Industry analysts say the partnership comes at a time when stablecoins are attracting increasing institutional interest globally, particularly for cross-border transactions and treasury operations.
Across Africa, businesses and consumers continue to grapple with high remittance charges, foreign exchange constraints and fragmented payment systems, driving demand for faster and more efficient financial solutions.
Also speaking, Executive Vice President, Market Development, EEMEA, Mastercard, Mete Güney, described stablecoins as an important option in the evolving digital payment ecosystem.
“Stablecoins are an exciting and useful option for some payments, and we look forward to working on additional use cases with Yellow Card, while continuing to leverage Mastercard’s expertise to make stablecoins seamless and secure,” Güney said.
He added that the collaboration would help unlock efficiencies in cross-border trade, B2B settlements and digital asset security across emerging markets.
The partnership further strengthens Mastercard’s growing blockchain and digital asset ecosystem, while expanding Yellow Card’s role as one of Africa’s leading stablecoin infrastructure providers operating in more than 20 African countries.
Both companies said the initiative reflects a shared commitment to building secure, scalable and utility-driven digital payment infrastructure for emerging markets.
