Mastercard collaborates with Yellow Card for payment innovation

Mastercard has partnered with stablecoin infrastructure provider Yellow Card to roll out regulated stablecoin-based payment solutions across Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA), with an eye to a later global expansion.

The initiative aims to bring faster, cheaper blockchain-enabled payments into mainstream financial networks, using Mastercard’s Crypto Credential system to add security and compliance safeguards.

Focus on four pilot use cases

The partnership will initially test applications in four key areas:

• cross-border remittances
• business-to-business (B2B) settlements
• digital loyalty programs
• treasury management

Each pilot is designed to cut costs and settlement times by integrating stablecoins into existing banking and payment rails, rather than building parallel systems.

Joint working groups from both companies will select specific projects and work on interoperability between traditional banking infrastructure and blockchain networks.

Initial rollout in Africa and the Gulf

Early pilots will focus on Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates.

The working groups will develop country-specific models that comply with local financial regulations, recognizing that regulatory regimes for digital assets differ widely across EEMEA.

Yellow Card’s existing footprint across 20 African countries will provide local infrastructure and operational experience, while Mastercard contributes its global payment network and regulatory relationships.

Tackling high remittance costs

A key target is Africa’s costly cross-border transfers. Sending a $200 payment within the continent can average 9.5% in fees, far above the sub-1% costs seen in some other corridors.

By using regulated stablecoins within Mastercard’s network, the partners aim to create a new payment rail that can challenge the pricing and speed of traditional remittance channels.

B2B settlements and the shift to on-chain payments

The B2B pilot will test stablecoins as an alternative to the correspondent banking system, where funds often remain locked in transit for days and tie up working capital.

Stablecoin-based B2B payments have already seen sharp growth, with volumes reported to have risen more than 730% in 2025. The partnership seeks to capture that momentum by offering on-chain settlements that clear faster and with more transparency than legacy systems.

Crypto Credential: simplifying and securing blockchain payments

Mastercard will deploy its Crypto Credential system as part of the tests.

This technology replaces long, complex blockchain wallet addresses with user-friendly aliases, reducing the risk of misdirected transfers. It also verifies in advance that a recipient’s wallet can accept a specific asset before a transaction is processed, adding an extra verification layer to on-chain payments.

Stablecoin adoption already high in Africa

The pilots will take place in a region that is already deeply engaged with stablecoins.

Across the continent, stablecoin ownership among active users is estimated at 79%. In Sub-Saharan Africa, stablecoins account for around 43% of on-chain activity, indicating that both individuals and businesses are comparatively comfortable with dollar-linked digital assets as a store of value and payment tool.

Market participants that depend on dollar access, particularly in countries with volatile local currencies, are expected to track the pilots closely.

Digital loyalty programs move toward tokenization

Beyond payments and settlements, Mastercard and Yellow Card will explore digital loyalty programs built on blockchain.

The concept extends traditional loyalty points into programmable, tokenized assets that can be traded, transferred, or redeemed across multiple platforms and ecosystems.

The global market for tokenized loyalty points was valued at $7.3 billion in 2025 and is projected to expand significantly, reflecting growing commercial interest in blockchain-based reward structures.

Regulatory landscape in pilot countries

The partnership will operate against a backdrop of rapidly evolving regulation across Africa and the Middle East.

• South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority has issued more than 248 licenses to digital asset providers, creating a comparatively structured environment for regulated experiments.
• Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission has implemented a formal licensing regime for digital asset businesses, giving clearer rules for stablecoin-related activity.
• In the UAE, the Central Bank regulates fiat-backed stablecoins under its Payment Token Services Regulation, which will frame the guardrails for any domestic pilots.

How regulators in Ghana and Kenya respond, and how established financial institutions in these markets engage with Mastercard and Yellow Card, will shape the speed and scope of any broader rollout.

Bridging traditional finance and blockchain

The collaboration builds on Mastercard’s years of work in blockchain-based payments and Yellow Card’s experience integrating stablecoins in emerging markets under regulatory oversight.

Both firms say their joint infrastructure is intended to scale as digital-asset rules mature, connecting banks, payment providers, and blockchain networks into a unified settlement layer.

For traders and businesses watching cross-border payment innovation, the outcome of these pilots will serve as an early indicator of how quickly stablecoin rails could move from tests to mainstream use across EEMEA and beyond.