Kenya’s recently passed law to regulate crypto assets is one of the “most comprehensive” of its kind in the world, said the co-founder and CEO of Yellow Card, a cryptocurrency startup.
Speaking at Semafor’s Global Economy Summit in Washington, DC, Chris Maurice cited the legislation as an example of regulators “learning from some of the mistakes that have been made” in the United States and Europe.
Yellow Card has expanded rapidly on the continent, raising $33 million in new venture capital from Blockchain Capital and other investors last year. It capitalized on the growing use of stablecoins in Africa, with people using cryptocurrencies beyond cross-border trade in areas such as remittances, savings and payroll systems. In a recent report, the company said its operations in 20 African countries – particularly Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa – as well as other emerging markets allowed it to process $6 billion in transactions, primarily in Tether and USD Coin.
“There was no better region in the world than Africa to build a business in stablecoins and crypto more broadly” last year, before the U.S. election, Maurice said, highlighting what he called a “very hostile environment” in America at that time.
