Why Yellow Card shuttered its retail business

Pan-African exchange Yellow Card has announced it will discontinue its services for retail users and shut down its retail payments application. 

Instead, the firm is now focusing on business-to-business stablecoin payment services, for which it claims demand has increased in recent months.

The details 

In a mail to users on October 29, the firm said the decision was a ‘strategic shift’ in Yellow Card’s business model that allows it to provide enterprise-level stablecoin infrastructure for business.

• According to the company, providing institutional-grade stablecoin integration services for businesses in emerging markets is its core focus, and it is now pivoting to narrow down on this.
• Notably, the decision is also driven in part by the company’s recent Series C funding, which it raised to power the pivot to B2B offerings.

The scoop

Yellow Card told Mariblock that the decision was driven by strong, growing demand for stablecoin-fiat payment settlement rails, custody wallet services, and stablecoin issuance from businesses in the markets the firm is active in.

• The exchange declined to comment on specific figures showing how much demand for B2B infrastructure stacks has grown compared to its retail users, which were pegged at 1.7 million a year ago.
• It added that while there are no immediate plans to adjust its workforce, the company will eventually realign its staff structure to match its new business focus.
• Yellow Card clarified that regulations did not influence the change in direction, as its product offerings meet global regulatory standards.
• Retail users have till the end of the year to withdraw their funds before the app is finally closed on January 1, 2026.

Key quotes

• A Yellow Card spokesperson wrote to Mariblock; 

“This was a strategic decision driven by strong and growing demand from businesses. By focusing fully on our B2B Institutional Suite, we can deepen our core strengths, scale faster, and deliver the institutional-grade infrastructure that businesses - and by extension, consumers - rely on.” 

• On what has necessitated the shift in focus, the firm said: 

“The demand for our B2B solutions continues to grow at a substantial pace, and our operational scale reflects that ... They rely on us for a full stablecoin infrastructure stack — from payment rails to fiat settlement and institutional-grade custody solutions. That’s what we’re now focused on exclusively.” 

Some context 

• Yellow Card, launched by the American entrepreneur Chris Maurice in 2019, told TechCrunch last year that it processed $3 billion. 
• Maurice explained that after raising $33 million last year, the company decided to pivot to B2B services because managing retail users was too expensive and the profit margins were too small to sustain the business. 
• Instead, Yellow Card is focusing on its tech stack, which incorporates legacy financial rails and stablecoins, enabling businesses and corporations to process payments in crypto and fiat. 
• Earlier this year, global payments firm Visa announced a partnership with Yellow Card to expand its settlement solution into Africa. 
• Specifically, the partnership was to expand Visa’s stablecoin offering in Africa by plugging into Yellow Card’s existing infrastructure.