African banks are now showing interest in crypto—Chris Maurice 

Maurice, who stated this in an interview, also highlighted how the inauguration of crypto-friendly US President Donald Trump is likely to accelerate regulatory developments across the African continent.

“We’re having conversations with banks and other major financial institutions that a couple of months ago, they didn’t want to hear about crypto, they didn’t want to talk about it,”  

“Now these guys are calling us, they’re interested. They want to understand how do they get into the space. I think obviously part of it is the Trump effect,” Maurice said.

Maurice expressed optimism that more African governments would soon come up with crypto regulation on the back of the recent global shift and the changes coming from the US.

“With the US moving this way, I think you’ll see a lot more speed from various governments in Africa in terms of achieving regulatory clarity.  

“This gives us more confidence that over the next year or so, we’ll see sweeping regulatory changes across the continent,”  Maurice said.

Maurice highlighted Africa’s significant role in global cryptocurrency adoption noting that Nigeria is number one globally for stablecoin adoption and number two for overall crypto adoption.

“South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana are all in the top 20 globally for adopting this technology,” he added.

“The question now is whether the continent can sustain this momentum and keep its lead,” he said.

Maurice said ongoing regulatory conversations in countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, and Ghana are encouraging companies like Yellow Card to invest and expand.

“These developments give companies the confidence to invest, hire more, and grow their teams,” Maurice added.

While Yellow Card missed out on Nigeria’s accelerated regulatory incubation program last year, Maurice remains optimistic about securing a permanent operational license from the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

He views regulatory progress as a critical step for the industry’s growth.

Last August, Nigeria’s SEC  announced that it had granted an Approval-in-Principle to two crypto exchanges Quidax and Busha, greenlighting its readiness to regulate the crypto industry in the country.

The two exchanges were approved under the Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Program (ARIP) program of the Commission.

The two exchanges were approved under the Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Program (ARIP) program of the Commission.