Beluga Spotlight: Chris Maurice, CEO of Yellow Card

About Chris

Chris Maurice, Yellow Card’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, is an American founder who has spent six years living and working in Africa, making significant contributions to the continent’s financial services industry.

In 2016, Chris and co-founder, Justin Poiroux (CTO), started Yellow Card from his dorm room in Auburn, Alabama, before moving the company to Lagos, Nigeria, and launching the mobile app in 2019. Today, Yellow Card is the largest Stablecoin on/off ramp on the African continent; and, in 2022, it became the first licensed virtual asset service provider on the continent.

Yellow Card has facilitated over $3 billion in transactions, grown to over 250 employees across 20 countries, and launched full on-and-off ramps for local fiat currencies in 20 African countries.

Chris has led the company through four successful equity funding rounds, securing $85 million in equity financing. Yellow Card’s investors include Blockchain Capital, Polychain Capital, Galaxy Ventures, Valar Ventures, Third Prime Ventures, Block’s Cash App, Coinbase Ventures, and more. Yellow Card has also developed partnerships with leading global financial companies, including Coinbase, Block, and PayPal.

Chris has delivered keynote addresses at conferences attended by heads of state and advocated for crypto adoption to ministers and financial regulators across Africa. His work has been featured in international media outlets including CNBC, BBC, Bloomberg, Forbes, and Business Insider.

Chris graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Finance. Chris was featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 List (2023) in the "Finance" and "Big Money Startups" categories.

Questions:

1.      Rumor has it, you were very big in Pokemon Cards.  Can you please give some more background on that?

What do you mean, “were”? But yes, in fifth grade I started selling Pokémon cards and other trading cards online through platforms such as eBay and Craigslist. I did this all the way through college, in addition to ghostwriting and sports journalism, which helped me pay for school.

2.      How do you go from Pokemon to Crypto?

I don’t think people realize how much Pokemon prepared a generation for crypto. Especially NFTs.

My co-founder Justin is the one that got me into crypto. He was the guy scanning web forums back in the day, and all he wanted to talk about was Bitcoin. He first introduced me to the technology in 2013, and by 2015 I was fully down the rabbithole and aped my life savings into Bitcoin (which I then lost, but that’s a story for another day).

3.      You grew up in the south in Louisiana.  You are now traveling all throughout Africa promoting international payments.  What is Yellow Card and how did you come up with the idea?

One of the key moments in our founding story came at a Wells Fargo in Auburn, Alabama, of all places. We met a Nigerian man who was charged $90 to send $200 to his family in Nigeria. So we talked to the guy, “Hey, have you heard of Bitcoin? It’s free; it’s instant; it’s fun.” But went home and realized, What is this guy’s family going to do with $200 of Bitcoin? You can’t buy food with that, you can’t pay rent with that, what problem are we actually solving here?

So I wanted to learn everything I could. I found myself skipping class and just doing research trying to understand why it cost so much to send money to the continent. I was skipping class trying to understand the banking systems, the currencies, and Nigeria specifically. As I was doing this, I realized if I want to understand the country, I need to speak to someone from there…

So I put out an ad online which essentially said, “Looking to Speak to Nigerian Men.”

Which, you know, in hindsight…probably could have been worded better.

But I got exactly what I needed. And this was the point in my life when I learned that Nigerians are the most convincing people on the face of this planet because within about a month and a half of meeting this Nigerian man on the internet, he convinced me to go get a passport and take the first international flight of my life. I had been on a plane four times in my life before starting the company. And I land in Lagos, Nigeria, on a six-day-old passport, no visa, no shots, and a one-way ticket that I spent all my money on, four days after graduating college.

Once arriving in Nigeria, we realized the continent doesn’t need another remittance app. There are 7,000 of those to get money from Point A to Point B. The real challenge was infrastructure—the ability to interact with digital assets like Bitcoin and Stablecoins, connect these currencies to the local economy and enable the technology to actually improve the incumbent financial systems.

After extensive research and insights from local communities, we launched Yellow Card in June 2019 in Nigeria. Since then, we’ve grown into the largest Stablecoin on/off ramp on the African continent. We provide people and businesses of all sizes with secure and cost-effective methods to buy and sell Stablecoins and Bitcoin via their local currency directly and through our Payments API.

Yellow Card is more than just a company; it’s a driving force in the evolution of financial systems across Africa. We’ve seen firsthand how this technology bridges critical gaps, enabling greater financial inclusion and economic participation. While crypto in the U.S. often focuses on speculation and investment, across Africa, it’s a practical tool for cross-border payments, international transactions, online purchases, bank transfers, and accessible savings and stability—meeting the continent’s everyday financial needs.

4.      Doing business in crypto is hard in the USA.  What's it like in Africa?  What are some experiences either good or bad in doing business in Africa?

Obviously, the landscape in the U.S. and the rest of the world has changed a lot in the past few months, but looking pre-November 2024, I have told everyone: There is no better part of the world to start a business in the digital assets industry than Africa.

The continent over the past two and a half years has made more rapid progress around regulation and promoting the innovation this space brings than almost anywhere else in the world.

For example, in Nigeria, the new SEC Director General Mr. Agama has really propelled the country to the forefront in terms of regulation since taking office last year.

Outside of Nigeria, there are now virtual asset regulatory and licensing frameworks in Botswana, where we received the first VASP license issued on the continent, South Africa (where we also hold a license), Namibia, Mauritius, and Seychelles. In addition, draft laws and regulations are progressing in a number of countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Morocco. You have sandboxing in Zambia, Rwanda, Ghana, and more countries.

The increasing interest and investment in Africa’s crypto and FinTech industries speak volumes about its potential. While challenges exist, the industry offers a chance to make a meaningful impact by addressing real financial needs on the continent. For businesses willing to adapt and innovate, Africa is a space of unparalleled growth and opportunity.

5.      What is the crypto adoption like in Africa?  I imagine some African countries have more adoption than others?  What are some of the use cases you're seeing for crypto?

Crypto adoption in Africa is growing at an unprecedented rate, fueled by practical use cases that address unique financial challenges. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest global rate of stablecoin adoption globally, with Nigeria leading globally in stablecoin usage and ranking second worldwide for overall crypto adoption. Other notable adopters include Kenya, South Africa, and Ghana, which consistently rank in the Top 20 globally, along with Uganda, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire, where adoption continues to rise rapidly.

The use cases are all very practical: international trade, cross-border payments, hedging against inflation, paying suppliers and distributors, and anything else that businesses struggle with through the traditional financial system.

6.      Nigeria is one of Africa’s most important countries and was in the news about arresting the Binance compliance officer.  Nigeria also has rigorous capital controls and the government seems to be against crypto.  What are you seeing in Nigeria?

Nigeria, which is Yellow Card’s largest market, is much more nuanced than what might be reported globally. The new SEC Director General, Mr. Agama, has really propelled Nigeria to the forefront globally in terms of regulation since taking office last year. With no activity for two years after the SEC introduced crypto regulations in 2022, Mr. Agama opened the SEC’s regulatory incubation programs only months after assuming his position. We have applied to participate

in the SEC’s Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Program (ARIP) and are hopeful that we will be admitted sometime in early 2025. In addition, last year the CBN issued clear guidelines for banks to onboard crypto asset service providers as customers, so we see things moving in the right direction under the new administration. I would also add that, just like every country where we operate, we have had an incorporated company in Nigeria since 2018: we employ staff locally, pay income taxes and employee-related taxes, make pension contributions, etc. We are also registered for financial crime reporting purposes with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, comply with all applicable AML/CFT laws and regulations, are registered with the Nigerian Data Protection Commission as a data collector/processor, etc. This is in stark contrast to the offshore crypto exchanges, who not surprisingly have experienced a number of issues.

7.      You recently raised a $33M Series C round led by Blockchain Capital along with Polychain, Block, Winklevoss Capital and many others.  That's quite an impressive list of crypto investors.  What were some of the key reasons/metrics for why they invested?

Growth. At the end of the day, that’s what matters most to investors, partners, and everyone else. Overall, we are the largest licensed Stablecoin & payments infrastructure for Africa and the emerging world. We’re serving the parts of the world that are set to grow reliably into the future.

Our business model is built to scale and grow with our customers and partners. We serve over 25,000 businesses actively, we have partnerships with Coinbase, Block, PayPal, and other big names in the traditional finance space, and we are bringing Africa to the world and the world to Africa. 

8.      What are your plans for growth in the coming years for Yellow Card?  Will you expand to other regions of the world or just keep focusing on Africa?

Our goal is to use Stablecoins to make it easy for companies to operate in all the fastest growing countries across the emerging world, which can be difficult to navigate, especially for international companies. This technology is doing more to enable international commerce, employment, and growth in developing markets than anything else since the Internet. So while Africa will always be a key strategic focus of ours, we will be adding support to our Payments API and other products for businesses operating in other emerging markets in H1 2025.

9.      What tokens (if any) are you most passionate about or that you hold the most of?  And do you still have a lot of Pokemon cards?

I am so bullish on Stablecoins, Jerome Powell should be sending me a royalty check. 

Outside of that, it’s hard not to get excited about Bitcoin, which is certainly my largest single holding. But overall, I like to diversify into the top market caps. I don’t have time to trade memecoins and play the market, so I take a much more boring approach than many in the industry!

And yes, don’t you worry, I’ve still got a bag of Pokemon cards. The old ones are worth a lot more now that Jake Paul and these guys got into them during COVID. In hindsight, I would have made a lot more money holding them than I did selling them back in the day!