Yellow Card Secures Swiss AML Approval, Paving Way for Regulated Stablecoin Gateway to Africa
Yellow Card, a prominent player in the digital asset infrastructure and payments sector, has achieved a significant regulatory milestone with its acquisition of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) affiliation in Switzerland. This development positions the company’s Swiss subsidiary as a supervised financial intermediary, enabling it to serve as a regulated counterparty for banking partners and institutional clients seeking compliant capital flows into Nigeria and 19 other African markets.
The strategic approval underscores Yellow Card’s commitment to regulatory adherence and its ambition to facilitate seamless, compliant digital asset transactions across emerging economies. According to Chris Maurice, CEO and co-founder of Yellow Card, stablecoins are increasingly vital infrastructure for global institutions, and regulated access to these payment rails is a prerequisite for companies looking to leverage this technology. “Our Swiss subsidiary,” Maurice stated, “provides them with a regulated, supervised counterparty for accessing our global Stablecoin infrastructure in Switzerland and across the U.S., Africa, LATAM, and other emerging markets, built on the network we already operate at scale.”
Craig Stoehr, General Counsel at Yellow Card, highlighted the critical importance of robust compliance frameworks for the company’s partners. “For our banking partners and international clients, the compliance framework is not a formality, but rather a foundation,” Stoehr commented. “Switzerland holds financial intermediaries to some of the highest regulatory standards in the world, and our Swiss subsidiary was built to meet them. Combined with the licensed infrastructure already in place across our global network, this standard provides our partners a rare combination of regulatory confidence and real operational reach.”
The Swiss subsidiary will be led by Ms. Olpha Bribech, a senior member of Yellow Card’s management team. The company expressed its anticipation of expanding its presence in Lugano and contributing to the city’s burgeoning blockchain and digital asset community, while simultaneously broadening access to emerging markets.
Yellow Card currently operates as the largest licensed Stablecoin-based infrastructure and payments provider across more than 50 emerging markets. Its comprehensive suite of services includes Stablecoin payment infrastructure, fiat settlement rails, wallet services, and custom local Stablecoin issuance, providing businesses with the complete operational framework required for managing digital assets and payments in these regions. The company has previously forged partnerships with major financial entities such as Visa, Mastercard, Western Union, Thunes, and MoneyGram, and has secured significant equity financing from leading venture capital firms including Polychain Capital, Blockchain Capital, Valar Ventures, and Third Prime Ventures.
