YellowCard Granted a Virtual Assets Service Provider (VASP) License in Botswana – The First in Africa

In yet another significant milestone, YellowCard says it has been granted a Virtual Asset Provider (VASP) license in Botswana.

This stride comes on the heels of the news of the Series B fundraise of $40 million.

In an exclusive with BitKE, CEO, YellowCard, revealed the company’s growth and the license milestone.

‘We have over a million customers and the only crypto exchange on the continent that has a license.” – Chris Maurice, CEO, YellowCard

The license was issued by the Non-Bank Financial Institution Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA) making YellowCard the first company in Botswana, and Africa, to get a VASP license on the continent.

NBFIRA is mandated with regulating and enforcing compliance within the non-bank financial insitutions sector in order to safeguard the stability, fairness, and efficiency of the non-bank financial sector. The authority’s regulatory portfolio encompasses a wide variety of industries including:

• Insurance
• Pension
• Capital markets
• Non-bank lenders
• Collective investment undertakings (CIUs)
• Asset managers
• Investment advisors
• Custodians

among others.

In early 2022, Botswana passed a virtual assets bill to regulate the trading of cryptocurrencies and digital tokens. The Virtual Assets Bill and Law is expected to help the country further tighten anti-money laundering following the country’s remove from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list of countries that have shortcomings in combating money laundering and terrorist financing in October 2021.

Check out the bill and the Central Bank of Botswana’s position on cryptocurrencies published by BitKE in February 2022 here.

While the announcement is exciting to the entire crypto industry in Africa, Chris is eager to see what the future holds.

“We’ve done a lot over the past year, but I think I’m always more excited about the future than I am about the past.” – CEO, YellowCard