How This Stablecoin Business in Africa Is Taking on SWIFT and Big Banks - Ep. 722
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This is not something that, you know, people want to buy because they want exposure to, you know, Dogecoin or something. Right? It's it's, you know, it's a technology that businesses are utilizing on a daily basis to keep operating, right, to keep their business afloat, to, you know, keep their keep their family fed, to keep the employees, you know, on the team. And it's it's really been incredible to see the impact that we've been able to have on on some of these businesses. Right? Just being able to help them operate, be able to, you know, improve efficiencies and improve, you know, the way
everyone. Hi,
everyone. Welcome to Unchained, your no hype resource for all things crypto. I'm
your host, Laura Shin, author of The Cryptopia. I started covering crypto 9 years ago, and as a senior editor, Forbes was the 1st mainstream media reporter to cover cryptocurrency full time. This is the October 22nd 2nd 2024 episode of Unchained. Robinhood Wallet, Robinhood's DeFi mobile app takes no fees on same chain and cross chain swaps. Use arbitrains layer 2 to swap with low network fees in just a few taps. Other fees may apply. Download on iOS or Android today. Mantle's Amith is now the 4th largest LST with $1,300,000,000 in TVL. Amith offers holders cumulative incentives and airdrops i
It's so great to be here, Laura.
Nice to have you. So Yellowcard is well, I don't know if I'm describing this correctly, but to my to my mind, it's a stablecoin business that focuses on b to b payments in Africa. So if I didn't get that totally accurately, then go ahead and tell us more about it.
No. You nailed that. You don't really need me here, but, you know yeah. So, look, you know, we describe ourselves as the, you know, the the largest of the 1st licensed stable coin on and off ramp on the continent. So we work in 20 countries, all in Sub Saharan Africa, and we work predominantly with businesses, helping them make international payments, manage treasury, and, you know, really access the dollar via stable coins.
And, yeah, I noticed so you use primarily USDC, USDT, Pi USD, some Bitcoin and other crypto assets. And I was curious why US dollar denominated stable coins because obviously, if you're in Africa, then that's not, you know, local currency. So why is that?
Yeah. It's, you know, it's really just the ease of conversion. Right? You know, everybody around the world uses the dollar, whether it's their local currency or not. Right? It's, you know, the dollar is still the official currency for global trade, for, you know, imports, for international payments, for for all of that. And, you know, it's actually it's it's quite funny. Right? Yeah. You know, when we started out, we were only doing Bitcoin, and we saw a, I mean, very noticeable shift between 2019 and then into 2020 and especially late 2020 from Bitcoin over completely to to USDT and and USDC.
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