New Partnership Unlocks Instant Money Transfers Across 20 African Countries
This will mean businesses and consumers will have access to fast, open cross-border payments - fiat to fiat sending and receiving bitcoin
Viral Tea Ke Writer 
Yellow Card, Africa’s largest fiat-to-crypto and off-ramp, has announced a new partnership with Lightspark. For the first time businesses and people on the Universal Money Access (UMA) network will be able to send and receive cross-border payments to 20 African countries through an integration with Yellow Card’s Payments API - powered by Lightspark Extend.
This will mean businesses and consumers will have access to fast, open cross-border payments - fiat to fiat sending and receiving bitcoin - with easy and instant pay-out methods, including mobile money and bank transfer in African countries—a first at this scale.
Additionally, Yellow Card plans to offer Universal Money Address (UMA) to businesses across the continent soon. A UMA is like an email address, but it is for money. It lets anyone send and receive money (fiat and crypto) 24/7 using their favourite UMA-enabled wallet, exchange, or bank.
Using UMAs will mean African businesses and consumers will connect to millions of other companies and people globally - the leading open payments solution.
Nicolas Cabrera - VP of Product at Lightspark speaking to the media at the Africa Bitcoin Conference held in Nairobi, Kenya on December 9, 2024. /MARVIN CHEGE.VIRAL TEA KE
Justin Poiroux, Chief Technology Officer of Yellow Card, shared his excitement about the partnership, saying “Africa is the crypto continent, and we’re excited to partner with Lightspark to continue our mission of providing financial freedom and easy access to digital assets for people across Africa.”
“For those doubting the utility of crypto, look to Africa. The future of finance is being built right here. We are thrilled to work with Lightspark to expand access to fast, cheap, and seamless payments in Africa," he added.
Yellow Card has built a reputation as a leading platform for cryptocurrency access in Africa. Its solutions allow businesses of all sizes to seamlessly transfer funds into, out of, and across the African continent.
The ramp offers secure and cost-effective ways for users to buy, sell, and hold a range of digital assets, including stablecoins like USDT, USDC, and PYUSD, as well as popular tokens like BTC and ETH. Through local currency payments, customers can easily trade digital currencies and send and receive Bitcoin payments instantly.
With Yellow Card's Payment API integrated into Lightspark Extend infrastructure, UMA users worldwide can seamlessly interface with businesses and consumers in Africa.
On his part, Kevin Hurley, Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder of Lightspark, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration: “We’re proud to support Yellow Card in bringing UMAs to their users.
"This integration will allow their customers to make instant, low-cost Bitcoin transfers, and we’re excited to be part of this journey as they continue to innovate," he continued.
With this partnership, Yellow Card is poised to lead the charge in bringing efficient scalable global payments solutions to Africa, offering its users the future of digital payments today. The Lightspark Extend and UMA integration will be live early in 2025.
