Given the proliferation of fraudulent exchanges following the cryptocurrency boom, along with the prevalence of pump-and-dump practices, many individuals in the crypto trading community exercise caution when considering a new platform.
In terms of novelty, the Yellow Card App is one such platform. However, the question remains: Is it a legitimate platform for Africans to trade on? This review aims to answer that question by providing my honest opinion about the app.
This will also encompass aspects such as buying and selling, depositing and withdrawing funds, tracking crypto performance, upgrading your account for higher trading limits while we’ve explained in another post how its cross-border payment product Yellow Pay is transforming transactions across Africa.
Table of Contents
What is Yellow Card App?
Yellow Card is a centralized exchange for buying and selling 10 supported cryptocurrencies across 20 African countries.
I’d like to begin with the intuitiveness of the app.
Downloading from official platforms:
The desire for digital wallets by some ill-intentioned individuals looking to exploit and steal your digital assets is mind-boggling. Therefore, only use the official site link if you intend to download the crypto app.
Also, be vigilant and pay attention to the site’s spelling and its encryption.
Having said that…
In my opinion, the developers of the Yellow Card app have done an excellent job by creating an easy-to-use app, even with little or no guidance.
The app epitomizes what one would expect from a cryptocurrency application; however, it is crucial to pay attention to the instructions at every level of the options you might want to use.
Any avoidable error you make could result in a permanent loss of your crypto assets.
The home page of the Yellow Card App
After signing up and successfully navigating the verification process—details of which I will discuss later in this review—the first thing you encounter upon logging in is your wallet.
The home page has the following features:
- Buy
- Sell
- Deposit
- Withdrawal
- Wallet
- Crypto
- Yellow Pay
- Recent transactions
- Balance on your wallet
It will display the total value of your digital assets if you’ve begun accumulating coins in your wallet. Additionally, if you’ve made any deposits or sales, this page will show your transaction details.
Therefore, before commencing trading, the second step I took after signing up was to verify and upgrade my account for a higher trading limit. This is particularly crucial for ‘big’ traders aiming to handle trading volumes exceeding N500,000 per day.
How to Verify Your Yellow Card Account
- On the app, login to your account
- Click on the thumbnail or photo (if you’ve uploaded one) by your name
- Click “Verify Identity”
- Upload the required documents and submit them.
This section contains 3 levels of verification:
- Tier 1 allows you to trade N500,000 per day
- Tier 2 gives you N2 million daily trade limit
- Tier 3 N50 million daily limit.
To advance through each stage, you must submit specific documents. For example, a three-month bank statement with the same name as your Yellow Card account details is required.
In my case, the verification process took less than 60 minutes. If you submit documents over the weekend, it may likely take more time.
Key points to note during the verification process:
- Ensure the document submitted contains your name and address.
- The address on the document submitted should match the address on your profile.
To ensure a prompt verification process, please enter an address that matches the one on your bank statement or any other document you are submitting.
How To Deposit Funds into Your Wallet
- Click the “deposit” option
- Click on the page, which takes you to the amount deposit page.
- Enter the amount you would like to deposit, the minimum deposit on Yellow Card is N500 while the maximum depends on your account verification stage
- Now, allow the system to match you with the account to deposit.
- Make sure that you send funds or make transfers from a bank account that exactly matches your Yellow Card account details, meaning your bank account name must be the same with your Yellow Card account name.
- When the transfer is completed, head back to the app and click I have completed the transaction.
- Check your wallet balance, it takes less than five seconds for your wallet to be funded. It’s very fast!
Minimum Trading Limits
The minimum deposit varies from country to country. While it is N500 in Nigeria, it is GHS20 in Ghana. Minimum deposit for other supported countries:
- South Africa: R100
- Botswana: P150
- Congo: 1,000XAF
- Benin Republic: 500XOF
- Tanzania: TSH2500
- Burkina Faso: 500XOF
- Cote D’Ivoire: 500XOF
- Cameroon: 1,000XAF
- Malawi: MWK2,000
- Rwanda: RF1,500
- Togo: 500XOF
- Kenya: Ksh300
- Senegal: 500XOF
- Zambia: ZMW30
- Mali: 500XOF
- DRC Congo: CDF10,000
- Gabon: 1,000XAF
- Uganda: UGX15,000
Attention: When sending money to the provided account, use your mobile number as the transaction description (e.g., +2348065200000) for easy tracking in case of any issues.
What I love about Yellow Card Deposit
- It uses peer-to-peer bank transfer and it’s free.
- It is fast
- The minimum deposit on the app is N500, making it affordable to start small and grow big.
- I receive email messages every time a transaction is performed and completed, even when I’m not logged in to the app, I can check my inbox to know the status of my transaction.
What Coins Can You Purchase On The App?
There are 10 cryptocurrencies including stablecoins you can buy:
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- USDT
- USD Coin (USDC)
- Cardano (ADA)
- Solana (SOL)
- Celo Dollar (CUSD)
- PayPal-USD (PYUSD)
- Gold Tether (XAUt)
- Matic (MATIC)
How To Make Your First Crypto Purchase
Your deposit is also included in the total value of your wallet, I mean your combined total.
- Click on crypto to choose among the list of available digital assets
- For this guide, I chose Cardano (ADA), you can see the graph from the screenshot below.
- There is a “buy” and “receive” option. Choose buy
- Enter the amount you want to buy
- You can see, it shows the deposit in my wallet. Let’s buy N1,500 worth of ADA. The minimum trade for ADA at the time of this review is N1,200
- And click next to confirm your purchase
- Enter your transaction 4-digit PIN to finalize the purchase.
How To Use The App To Track Cryptocurrency Performance
Before making a purchase, I typically monitor crypto trends on the app, specifically the performance of available cryptocurrencies in the last 24 hours—identifying which crypto is showing a + sign (progression) and which one is showing a – sign (retrogression).
The app isn’t just for buying and selling, I personally use it to guide my buy decision, you can do the same.
Here is how to:
- Login to your account
- Click “Crypto” to see the list of supported digital assets
- You see the performance of the coins in the last 24 hours
- You can toggle the currency sign either in Naira (N) and US Dollar ($)
- To see the graph, click a specific coin to get more details
Caution: Cryptocurrency trading is volatile. The fact that a digital asset has been doing well in the last 24 hours doesn’t mean it will continue with the trend and vice versa. Trade with caution.
How To Sell Your Digital Asset
- Click on the “sell” button
- Choose the asset you want to sell
- You can only sell the asset you have on your balance. Again, let’s choose ADA
- Click the confirm button
- The local currency equivalent of the ADA and SOL I sold appeared in my naira wallet.
- To check how much you can withdraw to your local bank account, click the withdrawal button.
I also tested the withdrawal option on the crypto app.
How To Withdraw Fund
If you don’t have sufficient funds in your wallet, you can sell a portion of your digital assets by following our guide on the sell option( find it above).
- On the homepage, click “withdrawal”
- Enter the value you want to withdraw in your local currency. The minimum is N1,800
- Add the bank you want to withdraw to.
- Click on “Find My Match” . Here, the system will find a peer-to-peer match for your withdrawal
- Submit your request to withdraw and confirm.
- Check your transaction history “recent transactions” for the status of your withdrawal.
When the withdrawal is completed, it will show completed if not you’ll see “pending”.
How to add a bank account for withdrawal
There are two options to add a bank account to your Account:
You can do this at the point of initiating a withdrawal and by updating your account details. For me, I chose the second option. And this is how to do it:
- Logging to your account
- Click on your profile photo (on app) to select the preferred option, which is “Banks”
- Click bank account
- Choose bank name among the supported ones
- Enter your bank account
- Click check details for the system to verify it.
Next time you want to withdraw from your wallet, this bank account will be your default account unless you have added multiple banks, then you can select the account to be credited.
Can I use my business bank account to withdraw from the Yellow Card wallet? Yes, I tested this feature and successfully transferred money from my wallet to my business bank account.
However, it’s essential to note that this advice may not be the best, as authorities in Nigeria might implement stricter policies on cryptocurrency at any time, potentially leading to an account-banning spree. The future regulatory landscape is uncertain.
Limitations Of Using the App
While the company is simplifying crypto trading and payments across Africa, there is room for improvement. Here are some limitations that may hinder broader usage and coverage:
Exclusion of MFBs:
The app currently only supports withdrawals through “big banks.” The co-founders of Yellow Card App, Chris Maurice, Justin Poiroux, and their team may need to explore including technology-driven Microfinance Banks (MFBs) to accommodate the increasing number of Nigerians shifting their finances to such platforms.
Many believe that MFBs are more accessible and offer quicker issue resolution than larger banks.
If deposits can be made via mobile wallets like Opay, it raises the question of why the same mobile wallet is excluded during withdrawals from your wallet to the Opay account.
Limitation against MFBs in Time of Withdrawal:
Users who exclusively use FinTech MFBs to fund their Yellow Card wallet may encounter challenges when attempting to withdraw to their local bank accounts. This limitation could pose significant hurdles for some users
Limitation Due to Verification:
Even though your NIN details can confirm that you’re the actual owner of an account, Yellow Card may reject your account upgrade application if the address on the document submitted doesn’t match the address on your profile.
For example, if you set up your bank account when you were a tenant, with the address of the rented apartment, but have since moved to your own home, your trade could be limited to a particular tier.
This is because your Yellow Card profile reflects your permanent home address while your bank statement shows your former rented apartment.
This poses a limitation, as NIN or other means of identification should ideally be sufficient for verification and upgrading.
Limited Crypto Selection:
Despite the thousands of coins in the market, the app only lists 10 cryptocurrencies.
While I understand that the app continues to expand its list of supported coins—considering there was a time when only two or three coins were available—it should further expand to accommodate crypto enthusiasts and allow them to trade their favorite coins.
Coins I Would Like To See On the App
For me, there are a couple of promising coins in the crypto market, but I would like to specifically see the app list on its exchange the following cryptocurrencies based on the popularity and performance in the market:
- Binance Coin (BNB)
- Chainlink (LINK)
- Ripple (XRP)
- Dogecoin (DOGE)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Monero (XMR)
- Shina Inu (SHIB)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
- Ethereum Classic
How To Safeguard Your Assets On Yellow Card App
In an attempt to deposit money into your wallet, you risk losing funds if you send money from a bank account that doesn’t bear the same name as your Yellow Card. Once sent, the money will be lost and unrecoverable.
To avoid this, ensure that your bank account name matches your account details.
1) You will lose money if you attempt to fund the wrong crypto wallet address.
For example, you can only send ERC-20 tokens to a partner or client who intends to send XAUt tokens to you through the same network address. You cannot use TRON to fund the Ethereum blockchain.
2) Like any other crypto wallet, it is crucial to keep your login details safe.
Do not share them in a public forum or entrust them to a third party, as doing so may result in the loss of your digital assets.
3) Yellow Card exchange is a centralized exchange. Decentralized exchanges are generally considered safer than centralized ones.
While both centralized and decentralized exchanges are susceptible to attacks, take precautions when transferring your digital assets to a decentralized app.
Is It A Safe Platform For African Crypto Enthusiast?
It has operating licence in Nigeria and other African countries it has branches.
Also, in October 2022, it became the first crypto firm in Africa to be granted a Virtual Asset Service Provider licence to operate in Botswana.
From my experience, Yellow Card App is a legitimate crypto exchange company. I tested all the features and they work seamlessly.
