Yellow Card: licences, security, fees and reviews
Crypto trading infrastructure (B2B)
In short
- Legal entity
- Yellow Card Inc. (site footer); US operating company Yellow Card Financial Inc., a Delaware corporation.
- Risks and caveats
- The retail app is closed; individuals can only request refunds by email with ID verification.
- Checked
- 1 November 2026
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Key facts
- Type
- Crypto trading infrastructure (B2B)
- Operator
- Yellow Card Inc.
- Official site
- yellowcard.io
Key facts checked on 1 November 2026 against official sources.
What is Yellow Card
Yellow Card is a stablecoin payments infrastructure company for emerging markets. It lets banks, financial institutions and other businesses access, store, send and manage stablecoins and make payments across USD and 50+ local currencies.
Good to know
- Yellow Card calls itself the largest and first licensed stablecoin on/off ramp in Africa (company claim). ↗
- Yellow Card says it is not going out of business: it is moving its model to the B2B market. ↗
- Individual customers who still hold funds must email Yellow Card with ID photos, a selfie with a signed handwritten refund note and a bank or wallet address; refunds take 3-5 business days. ↗
Services
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Business accounts | Stablecoin and fiat infrastructure for banks, financial institutions and corporates; payments across USD and 50+ local currencies. |
| Products | Treasury Portal, API, trading on-ramp and trading off-ramp (product filter on the home page). |
| Supported stablecoins | Send and receive USDT (TRC20, Celo, Solana, Polygon), USDC (Ethereum, Stellar, Solana, Base; Celo for receiving) and PYUSD (ERC20) via the API and payments dashboard. |
| Retail app | Closed: services for individual retail customers are no longer available. |
Licences and registrations
| Jurisdiction | Entity | Licence / registration | Regulator |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | Yellow Card Financial Inc. is registered with FinCEN as a money services business (MSB No. 31000334522123). | — | |
| — | Yellow Card Financial South Africa (Pty) Limited is an FSCA Category I financial services provider authorised for crypto assets (FSP 53790). | — | |
| — | Yellow Card Botswana holds an NBFIRA virtual asset service provider licence issued on 29 September 2022. | — | |
| — | Yellow Card Ghana has been registered as a VASP with the Bank of Ghana since August 2025 and joined the Ghana SEC digital assets sandbox on 8 April 2026. | — | |
| — | Yellow Card Services Zambia is registered as a VASP with the Bank of Zambia (March 2026). | — | |
| — | Yellow Card Financial Nigeria was admitted on 14 August 2026 to the Nigeria SEC Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Program on a conditional approval-in-principle basis. | — | |
| — | Afritech Services Sp. z o.o. is on the Polish register of virtual currency businesses (RDWW-1069, 18 December 2023) and does not serve EU customers. | — | |
| — | Alkepay Inc. is a FINTRAC-registered MSB (C10001750) for fiat services only. | — | |
| — | StaaS Fintech Services SA has been affiliated with the SRO SO-FIT since 11 June 2026 and serves only corporate and institutional clients. | — |
Security and audits
- Yellow Card says it holds ISO 27001, SOC 1 and SOC 2 certifications, available through its Trust Center.
- Stored sensitive data is encrypted with AES-256 and data in transit with TLS, per the security page.
- MFA is mandatory for internal and external access to critical systems.
Security incidents
No security incident is recorded in the sources checked on 1 November 2026 (the company’s own channels and incident databases): defillama.com/hacks, hacked.slowmist.io, rekt.news/leaderboard, help.yellowcard.io, yellowcard.io/security
Who can use it
- Verification: Business customers only; the help centre describes KYB verification for businesses.
- Yellow Card does not transact with 29 countries and regions, including Afghanistan, Belarus, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Venezuela and Zimbabwe; retail (individual) customers are no longer served.
History
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2016 | Yellow Card is founded by Chris Maurice (CEO) and Justin Poiroux (CTO), per its about page. |
| 29 September 2022 | Yellow Card Botswana receives a virtual asset service provider licence from NBFIRA. |
| 18 December 2023 | Afritech Services Sp. z o.o. is entered on Poland's register of virtual currency businesses. |
| August 2025 | Yellow Card Ghana is registered as a virtual asset service provider with the Bank of Ghana. |
| 22 January 2026 | Yellow Card's South African company becomes a third party payments provider under a Standard Bank sponsorship. |
| 11 June 2026 | StaaS Fintech Services SA in Lugano joins the Swiss self-regulatory organisation SO-FIT. |
| 14 August 2026 | Yellow Card Financial Nigeria is admitted to the Nigeria SEC Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Program (conditional approval-in-principle). |
Risks and caveats
- The retail app is closed; individuals can only request refunds by email with ID verification.
- Yellow Card does not guarantee that any stablecoin on its platform is backed by cash reserves.
- Accounts and balances are not covered by government deposit insurance.
- Crypto transactions are generally irreversible; Yellow Card is not liable for losses from mistaken or fraudulent transfers.
About the company
- Legal entity
- Yellow Card Inc. (site footer); US operating company Yellow Card Financial Inc., a Delaware corporation.
- Founders
- Chris Maurice (CEO) and Justin Poiroux (CTO).
- Team
- 200+ team members across 20 countries (company figure).
- Funding
- US$85 million in completed equity financings (about page).
Official links
- Website: yellowcard.io
- About: yellowcard.io/about-us
- Licences: yellowcard.io/legal/licenses-registration
- Legal: yellowcard.io/legal
- Security: yellowcard.io/security
- Help centre: help.yellowcard.io
- Developer docs: docs.yellowcard.engineering
Questions and answers
Is the Yellow Card app still available?
No. Yellow Card closed its retail mobile app and says services for individual retail customers are no longer available; it now serves businesses only.
How do I get my money back from Yellow Card?
Yellow Card's help centre asks former app users to email support with photos of a government ID, a selfie with a signed, dated refund note, and a matching bank, mobile money or wallet address. It says refunds take 3-5 business days.
Is Yellow Card licensed?
Yellow Card lists an FSCA crypto authorisation in South Africa (FSP 53790), a FinCEN MSB registration in the US, VASP registrations in Botswana, Ghana and Zambia, and others. These are the company's own statements.
Is Yellow Card shutting down?
Yellow Card says no: it is not shutting down as a company but moving its business model to the B2B market.
Sources
- Yellow Card - Home
- Yellow Card - About us
- Yellow Card - Legal
- Yellow Card - Licenses & Registrations
- Yellow Card - Security & Compliance
- Yellow Card - General Risk Disclosure
- Yellow Card Knowledge Base
- Yellow Card Retail App Closure - Important Information
- Countries and regions we do not support
- Supported Digital Assets for Send and Receive on your API Dashboard
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