Aptos integration enables seamless low-cost USDT and USDC trading for Yellow Card customers in 20 African countries.
Aptos Labs and Yellow Card have launched instant gas-sponsored stablecoin transfers across 20 African countries, giving millions of customers faster and more affordable access to USDT and other stablecoins supported by Yellow Card. During this campaign all transfers on the Aptos network will settle instantly with sponsored gas fees, enabling frictionless payments for everything from cross-border transfers to daily purchases.
Stablecoin adoption is accelerating across Africa, fuelled by practical everyday use cases like small business payments, treasury management and cross-border transfers. Today Sub-Saharan Africa leads globally in stablecoin usage with over 54 million digital asset customers across the continent, according to Yellow Card research, a clear signal that users are seeking faster, cheaper and more stable alternatives to traditional financial systems.
With this integration Yellow Card customers can move stablecoins instantly without high fees or long delays. Whether it is a small-to-medium-sized business managing cross-border payroll, a financial institution facilitating high-volume transfers or a family receiving support from relatives overseas, customers can access sub-second transaction finality and zero gas fees. Built for mobile-first high-volume markets, Aptos delivers the speed, scale and affordability needed to power the next generation of real-world payments across Africa.
“We’re excited to support Yellow Card in bringing millions of users seamless access to USDT and USDC across 20 countries,” said Alex Heuer, Head of Payments, Aptos Labs. “Africa is leading the way in stablecoin adoption for practical use cases and our zero-fee instant settlement capabilities are perfectly suited to meet this demand.”
This initiative builds on Aptos’ integration of the largest stablecoins by market capitalisation – Tether’s USDT, Circle’s USDC and USDe – expanding the network’s role in global payments infrastructure. In 2024 global stablecoin transfer volume reached $27.6 trillion, surpassing the combined annual volume of Visa and Mastercard.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Aptos Labs to bring instant zero-fee stablecoin transfers across 20 African countries,” said Gillian Darko, Chief of Staff and Director of Strategy, Yellow Card. “As demand for stablecoins continues to grow across the continent, cost effective and frictionless transactions are critical – and that’s exactly what this partnership delivers. By eliminating gas fees and enabling instant settlement on the robust next generation Layer 1 Aptos network, we’re empowering millions to access faster more affordable USDT and other stablecoins for everything from cross-border transfers to everyday purchases. This is a major step forward in advancing financial inclusion and stability across Africa.”
Aptos’ architecture is purpose-built to support real-time high-volume stablecoin transactions. With sub-second finality, extremely low fees and throughput consistently above 11,000 TPS in production, it offers the performance needed to move stablecoins from niche use cases into everyday payments, especially in high-demand regions like Africa. As stablecoins evolve into critical payment infrastructure, Aptos’ scalable design, developer tooling and support for advanced features like parallel execution and account abstraction make it one of the few blockchains capable of powering instant cost-effective transactions at scale.
