Ripple's RLUSD Stablecoin Lands in Africa via Yellow Card Partnership: Revolutionizing Fintech Amid Surging Adoption
Lagos, Nigeria – September 10, 2025 – As stablecoins redefine financial access across Africa, Ripple's USD-backed digital asset, RLUSD, has made its continental debut through a strategic alliance [1] with Yellow Card, Chipper Cash, and VALR. This move, announced on September 4, comes at a pivotal moment: stablecoin transactions in sub-Saharan Africa have surged to nearly 50% of all crypto activity, with volumes topping $22 billion in Nigeria alone over the past year, outpacing even Bitcoin and growing 50% month-over-month in key markets like South Africa. By providing a regulated bridge to dollar stability, these assets are slashing cross-border costs, enabling instant remittances, and empowering businesses to sidestep volatile local currencies—fueling a fintech boom that's projected to unlock billions in economic value.
RLUSD and Yellow Card
At the heart of this evolution is the new partnership, which integrates RLUSD into Yellow Card's robust infrastructure, allowing customers to seamlessly convert local currencies into the stablecoin for secure, low-friction transactions. RLUSD, launched in late 2024 and boasting a market cap exceeding $700 million, is issued through a New York-regulated trust company, ensuring compliance and reliability for enterprise use cases like payments, tokenization of assets, and collateral in trading. "RLUSD has quickly become established in enterprise financial use cases," said Jack McDonald, SVP of Stablecoins at Ripple. "We're excited to now begin distribution in Africa through our local partners." For African users, this means faster dollar access without the traditional forex hurdles, directly addressing the 70% of stablecoin demand driven by remittances and intra-continental trade.
Yellow Card
Yellow Card [2], a pan-African fintech leader founded in 2019, is the ideal gateway for this rollout, serving as the continent's largest licensed stablecoin payments orchestrator. Operating in 20 countries [7], it specializes in on- and off-ramping services that link local fiat—like the naira or rand—with digital dollars, now including RLUSD via its API integrations with banks and mobile money providers. This B2B-focused pivot, sharpened over the last two years, caters to 30,000 businesses for treasury management, supply chain financing, and cross-border liquidity, while maintaining retail access to sustain high volumes. $89 million was invested into Yellow Card [8], which had reported revenues of $42 million [9].
Yellow Card’s dominance in Africa’s stablecoin ecosystem is underscored by its transaction breakdown: 99% of its nearly $6 billion [3] including with PYUSD [6]. This near-total reliance reflects the region’s hunger for stable, dollar-pegged assets to navigate economic turbulence. In 2024 alone, stablecoin transactions globally hit $15.6 trillion, surpassing Visa and Mastercard combined, with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for 43% of regional crypto activity. Nigeria led with $22 billion in stablecoin flows, while South Africa saw 50% month-over-month growth since October 2023. These volumes highlight stablecoins’ role in practical use cases—cross-border trade, treasury management, and remittances—fueling Yellow Card’s expansion into markets like Argentina, Brazil, and India, as outlined in its 2025 report, “Stablecoin Adoption in Emerging Markets.”
Chris Maurice, CEO and co-founder of Yellow Card [5], emphasized the synergy: "Our customers demand access to stable digital assets that are useful for secure cross-border payments and treasury management. Offering a regulatory-compliant stablecoin like RLUSD is a natural step in our mission to deliver trusted, enterprise-grade solutions." Beyond immediate efficiencies, the partnership unlocks broader innovations, such as pilots in Kenya using RLUSD for automated drought insurance via smart contracts, led by Mercy Corps Ventures—demonstrating how stablecoins can extend to climate resilience and decentralized lending for SMEs facing high bank rates.
Future
The implications are profound for Africa's fintech landscape: this collaboration could reduce cross-border fees by up to 85%, injecting liquidity into the $3 trillion [4] global stablecoin economy and harmonizing private stablecoins with national digital currencies like Nigeria's eNaira. As institutional adoption accelerates— with corporate stablecoin use up 25% year-over-year—partnerships like this signal a maturing ecosystem, where platforms such as Yellow Card drive financial inclusion, foster policy alignment, and position Africa as a global blockchain hub. In an era of economic uncertainty, RLUSD's arrival via Yellow Card isn't just an expansion; it's a catalyst for sustainable growth, connecting everyday users to a more equitable digital future.