From Courtrooms to Crypto: How a Nigerian Lawyer Built Africa's Stablecoin Future

Lasbery Oludinmu never planned a digital assets career. A former head of chambers in a Nigerian law firm, she deliberately shifted to corporate practice, completing CIArb and ICSAN qualifications to become an in-house lawyer. By 2018, she was head of legal at an oil and gas firm. Her first contact with Yellow Card was handling its Nigerian CAC incorporation—just another client file. The shift came after conversations with CEO Chris Maurice, leading her to consult, then join full-time in 2021 as in-house counsel. As Yellow Card evolved from a digital asset exchange to a stablecoin infrastructure provider operating in 20+ African markets, Oludinmu moved from legal to operations, now supervising product and regulatory expansion as VP.

She sees clear signs Africa moved beyond hype: 1) Regulatory maturity—from bans to frameworks like Nigeria's ARIP and Zambia's sandbox, with countries now licensing infrastructure, not just P2P. 2) Institutional participation—global banks (JPMorgan, Citibank) and MasterCard's BVNK acquisition are building stablecoin infrastructure. 3) Stablecoin utility—beyond speculation to treasury management and payments, with Africa showing high adoption rates. Markets like Kenya (with a substantive Virtual Assets Service Provider Act), South Africa (integrating crypto into existing law), and Nigeria (despite challenges) lead due to clear rules and sandbox programmes.

Yet Oludinmu flags a critical gap: digital ID systems. She calls for official, scannable IDs linked to central databases to enable real-time KYC/AML across borders, tracking suspicious transactions continent-wide. Her vision: a fully regulated industry where digital assets are normal financial infrastructure, with banks offering stablecoin strategies and seamless provider integrations.

With Nigeria's ARIP easing restrictions and Kenya's VASP Act attracting players, should startups now prioritize compliance over product speed? And how can we accelerate cross-border digital ID systems to catch bad actors in real time?

SOURCE: https://techcabal.com/2026/04/02/lasbery-oludinmu-left-oil-and-gas-for-crypto/