Trump's Embrace Of Crypto Is Seen Forcing A Regulatory Shake-up In Africa

"With the US moving this way, I think that you'll see a lot more speed from various governments around Africa in terms of getting to a point regulatory clarity," CEO Chris Maurice said in an interview on Wednesday. "This gives us more confidence that over the next year or so, you're gonna see sweeping regulatory change across the African continent."

His remarks came hours after the US Securities and Exchange Commission said it will launch a cryptocurrency-focused task force to come up with ways to regulate the market, part of Trump's plan for the sector. Despite widespread adoption of crypto assets by young Africans and businesses hedging against unstable currencies, many nations on the continent still lack the required legislation for use of digital assets in the financial markets.

Crypto trading is still illegal in most African nations and trading activities are closely monitored by central banks concerned that investors will use stablecoins to transfer their assets abroad, causing capital flight. The arrest and trial of an executive of the Binance exchange in Nigeria last year, accused by authorities of currency manipulation which he denied is a pointer to how far governments can go.

Maurice though, said he has witnessed a change in sentiment since Trump's victory in November, with the industry taking off in ways that he didn't think was possible even just a couple of months before. The company which has several backers, including from Jack Dorsey's Block, Valar Ventures, which was co-founded by Peter Thiel, and Coinbase Ventures, has received several offers of acquisition, Maurice said.

Yellow Card missed out on the so-called accelerated regulatory incubation programme rolled out by the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission to two crypto exchanges last year, but Maurice is hopeful that his firm will receive a permanent operational licence this year.