Author: Staff

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Social Good

Bitcoin Donation Used to Build New Schools in South Africa

A generous donation of 1 BTC (about $31,832.78) has aided in the construction of two new schools in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. An unidentified donor with “deep roots in South Africa” is said to have made the donation, after discovering the Built With Bitcoin Foundation earlier this year and speaking with Yusuf Nessary, Director of Philanthropy at the foundation.

The Built With Bitcoin Foundation is a humanitarian organization backed by Bitcoin and its investors. Its aim is to use Bitcoin funding to uplift communities by providing clean water, access to quality education, sustainable farming, and other humanitarian causes.

According to Coinbase, currently, 1 BTC, or Bitcoin, translates to R492,252.52 or 118,842,310.77 Ugandan shillings.

A primary school, nursery school, three libraries, and three literacy and numeracy centers have all been built thanks to the funding. It was also utilized to purchase desks, chairs, stationery supplies, and books, as well as pay 10 community educators to work closely with the school’s 720 students.

The anonymous donor is said to have collaborated closely with Yusuf Nessary, the Foundation’s Head, to ensure the project’s success.

Nessary said, “Many of the children in the schools in Port Elizabeth fall well below the national averages for literacy and numeracy. This project is special because it provides all the structures and tools for the children to succeed.”

The Built with Bitcoin Foundation has so far built 10 schools (eight in Africa), seven solar projects, and several water and farming systems around the world.

Ray Youssef, Executive Director of Built With Bitcoin, said, “Africa has a very special place in our heart as we built our very first school in Rwanda in 2017. Since then, we’ve built schools in Nigeria, Kenya, and El Salvador, serving thousands of students and community members, all through the power of Bitcoin. We are proud to complete our eighth school on the continent in South Africa and continue our mission of bringing education and support to the communities that need it most.”

In addition, he says, “The projects provide jobs for community members that are trained through the Masinyusane Development Program, a non-profit organization dedicated to the upliftment and development of disadvantaged South Africans.”

Categories
Business

In partnership with Zzoopers, Windvane Launches NFT Launchpad, as its Debut Project

KuCoin, a prominent worldwide cryptocurrency trading platform, has partnered with Zzoopers to establish a brand-new NFT Launchpad on its Windvane NFT Marketplace. Zzoopers is an NFT project that allows users to acquire and use vivid animal avatars as digital identities across the metaverse, and it will now be the first NFT project open to launchpad users across the world.

On June 20, 2022, Zzoopers Genesis, an NFT collection of anthropomorphic animal characters, will go on sale for the first time on the Windvane NFT Launchpad. Windvane will hold a whitelist event on Twitter and Discord from today till June 17 to pick 500 lucky winners.

KuCoin hit another significant milestone in the NFT market when it launched Windvane last month. Windvane will now feature an NFT launchpad, mint, trade, and management functionality, as well as many other user-friendly services, as a comprehensive NFT trading platform. The platform’s professional function meets all of the essential requirements of NFT traders and enthusiasts, including project listing, incredibly low fees, priority whitelists, and the greatest level of security.

Built on the Ethereum blockchain, Zzoopers Genesis is a collection of 5,555 distinct animal avatars of various species, each with its own personality and attributes. The Tiger, Elephant, Panda, Unicorn, Cheetah, Deer, Fox, Monkey, Penguin, and Rabbit are among the ten distinct animal species in Zzoopers Genesis. Across the metaverse, each Zzooper has its own distinct appearance, personality, and storyline.

Zzoopers Genesis was created by MetaOasis DAO together with Season Studio. MetaOasis DAO is one of the first decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) dedicated to the investment and development of metaverse assets. Season Studio is a top-tier metaverse design firm with more than 50 experienced 3D voxel artists and creators on staff. The team hopes to create a varied, inclusive, and joyous spirit in the metaverses, where everyone can accept and enjoy each other’s uniqueness, thanks to a shared love of animal stories and a strong enthusiasm for metaverses.

Fungi Chic, the Founder of Windvane, commented at the launch:

“The launch of our new Windvane NFT Marketplace has the aim of creating a top user-friendly NFT trading market in the industry with a thought-out approach in terms of functionality and user experience. This is another major milestone for KuCoin in the field of decentralization. We have strong faith that Windvane will not only enrich the KuCoin ecosystem but also promote the overall development of the industry.”

Cecilia Maple, the founding contributor of MetaOasis DAO, added:

“As a DAO with a special focus on investment and building on metaverse lands, we are creating the Zzoopers with the vision of expanding and enriching user experiences across many metaverses. We can see that the new world is coming, and we are thrilled to work closely with strategic partners like Windvane in the near future to bring the new world to you.”

Categories
Business

South Africa charges Monero co-founder with 378 counts of fraud.

Riccardo Spagni, the co-founder and former primary developer of the cryptocurrency, Monero has been charged with 378 counts of fraud and forgery by the South African Government. Spagni is reported to have defrauded a former employer of over $93,500 (1.4 million Rand) 

Spagni, who is also known as “Fluffypony” stepped down from his position with Monero in December 2019 after five years with the company but is now haunted by crimes allegedly committed between October 2009 and June 2011. 

The case against Spagni dates back to his time with the baked goods company known as Cape Cookies. According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Spagni “fled” SA in March last year when he was expected to be in court for a trial date in the Cape Cookies fraud case.  

A warrant was issued for his arrest on 19 April that same year when he failed to appear in person at the next routine court hearing.   

In July 2021, Fluffypony was detained by US law enforcement officials in Tennessee at the request of the South African Government. He was intercepted on the way to a cryptocurrency conference in Mexico when his chartered flight stopped for refueling.

After being held for 60 days, Spagni was released pending an extradition hearing from a Tennessee court. His passport was seized and he was ordered to stay in Tennessee.

In an affidavit filed on May 25th 2022, the South African national “knowingly and voluntarily” waived his right to an extradition hearing in the United States and is reported to have requested the court to speed up his transfer to South Africa so that he may face the charges there.

Records filed in the case show that Spagni had just emigrated to the U.S. from South Africa and had purchased property in New York. His lawyers deny that he fled South Africa and claim that strict COVID-19 protocols are what hindered his travel to South Africa for his court date. 

The Tennessee court ordered that he be handed over to South African authorities and when the arrangements are finalized, his surrender will be coordinated by the United States Marshalls.

The court released Spagni’s passport to his legal team allowing him to apply for a social security number indicating an intention to return to the US. 

Spagni is accused of defrauding Cape Cookies and is suspected to have submitted falsified and inflated invoices while syphoning off the difference between the inflated and actual amounts to a bank account controlled by him. 

Fluffypony insists on his innocence and has come out saying, “I am actively working with my attorneys on a way to return to South Africa as soon as possible so I can address this matter and get it behind me once and for all.” 

Court documents submitted in May 2022 list the 378 counts against Spagni as 126 counts of fraud, 126 counts of forgery and 126 counts of uttering. 

Spagni’s lawyers tried to have the charges removed from the record claiming these late submissions violate the due process safeguard but were unsuccessful.

Categories
Business

Solana Suffers Outage, Network Halted Globally

The Solana network had been halted because of a bug that interrupted the network’s operations. The outage, which Coinbase announced first on Twitter, affected the Solana mainnet. The “Ethereum killer” which is the current outage, appears to have been a series of recurring outages. An outage had last happened in early May of this year when the network remained down for around seven hours before being successfully restarted.

Solana gave an update explaining how the outage happened and what caused it minutes after it occurred.

“Earlier today a bug in the durable nonce transactions feature led to nondeterminism when nodes generated different results for the same block, which prevented the network from advancing.”

A developer from Solana also added on Twitter, “Chain splits occur when two parts of the network compute a different state given the same transactions for any reason. They are a class of bugs that are hard to prevent entirely, even with large test coverage, and affect any chain.”

He also stated that using many nodes to protect against chain-split vulnerabilities is a good idea. The developer further clarified that this restart is only a workaround for the situation, not a permanent repair.

At the moment, the system has been stabilized after 4 hours of the outage.

Categories
Social Good

IETSA & Threefold Partner for Web3 Internet & Education in South Africa.

The Institute of Emerging Technologies of South Africa (IETSA) has teamed up with ThreeFold to distribute the ThreeFold Decentralised Internet throughout South Africa. 

The partnership will also offer education in blockchain protocols as well as decentralised and digital technologies including the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence and Extended Reality.

The autonomous and decentralised ThreeFold-powered internet infrastructure will be deployed across IETSA facilities with the purpose of creating an affordable, local and sovereign internet capacity to benefit South African communities, training institutions and organisations. 

IETSA aims to empower vulnerable groups of youth, women and persons with disabilities with the most sought after digital resources and skills to participate in the fast and explosive emerging technologies global economy and unlock new market opportunities. 

Threefold taps into the combined processing power of computers worldwide including servers, desktops and laptops to create an open-source, peer-to-peer, carbon-negative internet for the deployment of any current and future technology. 

The Threefold Grid leverages blockchain technology and cloud storage services to generate a network that has achieved over 86 petabytes (86 million gigabytes) across more than 60,000 CPU cores in 78 countries. 

Threefold co-founder, Adnan Fatayerji explains the principle behind the company.

The network solves the security and autonomy issues of the internet, uses less energy and is more affordable than any comparable alternative while allowing the infrastructure to scale to anywhere electricity and the network exists. 

Threefold co-founder, Chris Hutton said the company is proud to support IETSA and their efforts to make the decentralised internet more accessible in underserved South African communities.

On a personal note, Hutton added,  “…as a fellow South African, this partnering with IETSA to bring the power of Threefold to our country is a special milestone as we embark in unlocking the full potential of the internet economy in our beautiful country and continent.”

In the past 6 months, IETSA has also been working closely with the South African Ministry of Communication and Digital Technologies and the Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) to develop a curriculum for some emerging technology qualifications.  

The IETSA Education program will resume on 18 July 2022 in commemoration of Mandela Day as a tribute to Nelson Mandela’s quote saying, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” 

IETSA founder and CEO, Mpho Machaka is of the view that, 

“This will empower all South Africans, for a global stage to participate in the worldwide data and digital economies through skills development and practical real-world programs that bring about innovative, decentralised solutions across many industries.” 

ThreeFold and IETSA training programs will target the corporates, SMEs and public sector workspaces for their skilling to create Centers of Excellence across South Africa and eventually the rest of Africa with the overall objective of providing “access for all”. 

Categories
Opinions

Block Inc Reports a Rise in Bitcoin Awareness.

A research report by financial services and digital payments platform, Block Inc has found a growing awareness of Bitcoin worldwide which bodes well for adoption plans. The research also found a lack of correct information to be a major barrier to adoption. 

The company co-founded by former Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey reported last month that it had recorded $1.73 billion in Bitcoin sales through its Cash App in the first quarter of 2022 and Block Inc intends to contribute to awareness campaigns to boost usage and adoption further.

Block Inc partnered with a market research consultancy firm known as Wakefield Research to approach 9,500 individuals from 14 countries around the world. The respondents were grouped by region into The Asia Pacific, Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. 

According to the findings, higher-income earners see Bitcoin as a tool for investment while those who earn less are more focused on the utility Bitcoin provides as a network to move money in a more efficient and reliable way.

The survey also discovered that a person’s degree of cryptocurrency knowledge (or at least how much they believe they know) is the biggest predictor of whether they will buy Bitcoin in the coming year. 

41% of those with “fair to expert” crypto expertise said they were likely to buy Bitcoin in the coming year, compared to 7.9% of those who don’t know anything about it or have very limited knowledge.

Women in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the Asia Pacific have a better understanding of Bitcoin than women in the Americas and have expert levels of knowledge at higher rates than men regarding crypto. 

People from countries that have gone through periods of hyperinflation were also found to be significantly more optimistic about Bitcoin’s future compared to those living in countries with relatively stable monetary and payment systems. 

While the survey was carried out in January and February before major market events like the recent drops in the Bitcoin price and TerraUSD losing its peg, Block Economist Felipe Chacon expects the main reason for low engagement with cryptocurrencies is still around knowledge. 

51% of respondents said the main reason they do not buy Bitcoin is that they “don’t know enough about it” while other major reasons like cybersecurity and theft risks had 32% worried whereas price volatility was the main concern for 30%.

Chacon pointed out, “Given that the biggest chunk of people just don’t know enough about it or haven’t heard much about cryptocurrencies in general or bitcoin specifically, I would guess that a lot of people have been fairly insulated from recent price movements.” 

Nigeria stood out as one of the most optimistic countries about Bitcoin’s future alongside India, Vietnam and Argentina. It is worth noting that these countries also recorded the highest levels of crypto knowledge among respondents. 

In 13 years of existence, Bitcoin has pulled off an impressive feat of climbing to become one of the top 10 largest base monies in the world but there is still a lot more education to be done as we transition to the digital Web3 age.

Categories
Business

Binance’s venture capital arm secures $500 million to invest in Web3 projects

Yesterday,  the global leading crypto exchange platform Binance said that its venture capital arm closed a $500 million investment fund for a range of Web 3 projects such as DeFi, NFTs, and the Metaverse.

Binance Labs received funding from prominent investors DST Global Partners and Breyer Capital. The funds will expand Web3 and blockchain technology at Binance Labs.

“The goal of the newly closed investment fund is to discover and support projects and founders with the potential to build and to lead Web3 across DeFi, NFTs, gaming, Metaverse, social, and more,” Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s Founder, and CEO said.

The funds will be invested in three stages, incubation, early-stage venture, and late-stage growth.

While Web3  still lacks a concrete meaning and application, it often refers to the next stage of the internet that is further decentralized and accessible.

As the crypto markets remain volatile, the influx of cash arrives. Bitcoin, the most valuable cryptocurrency by market value, is down more than half of what it was in November 2021, when it hit an all-time high of $69,000.

Meanwhile, other crypto-assets like NFTs have also seen valuations drop and sales volumes slow down as more hawkish central bank policies have created an overall shift away from risk assets.

Categories
Business

South African Hip-Hop Legend Cassper Nyovest Joins Bitcasino

South African hip-hop star, Cassper Nyovest is now an ambassador for the popular crypto casino, Bitcasino.  

Having made a name for himself not only as a rapper but also as an entrepreneur, he will now represent Bitcasino as a global ambassador for an initial period of two years.

“I’ve got to where I am today by hustling and making smart decisions, and that’s why I play at Bitcasino. These guys know how to treat their players, and are setting the standard for crypto gaming. It’s the only choice for me.” Cassper Nyovest, Global Ambassador for Bitcasino said. 

Cassper has been joined as an ambassador to encourage more youth to participate in crypto gaming. He will be demonstrating how to join the crypto revolution with Bitcasino, where gamers can play dozens of fun casino games using a variety of cryptocurrencies, including industry giantsBitcoin and Ethereum.

Tauri Tiitsaar, Director of Casino at Yolo Group, said: 

“Like Cassper Nyovest, Bitcasino players enjoy the finer things in life, and that’s why we work so hard to offer the best rewards and promotions to our players. By choosing crypto and Bitcasino alongside Cassper, you’ll have access to more games and more chances to win than ever before.”

Following the acquisitions of King Kaka and Tekno Miles earlier this year, Cassper Nyovest is the newest big-name ambassador to join Team Bitcasino.

Categories
Opinions

Why Uganda Should Embrace Crypto

Over the years there has been a lot of skepticism and misunderstanding about cryptocurrencies. Just when Ugandans were catching up, the Central Bank issued a press release in 2017 warning the general public about “One Coin Digital Money’ operations in Uganda. The statement warned that One Coin’s dealings in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin fall outside the regulatory purview of the Central Bank. 

Additionally, the Bank of Uganda issued a circular warning against converting cryptocurrencies into mobile money in April this year. This has not only discouraged most crypto enthusiasts but also motivated most crypto exchange platforms that had tapped into the Ugandan market to suspend operations.

However, with the increasing technological advancements, there is need to adopt digital currencies too. Here is why Ugandans should embrace crypto;

  1. Crypto adoption creates decent employment opportunities

Cryptocurrencies are popularly known as investment opportunities but there are more opportunities to look out for. For example, Brindon Bamwiine and Daniel Mulondo are crypto coaches that are using their teaching skills to engage and educate people about cryptocurrencies and how to invest in them through their educational institutions, Skill Haven and Nileone Academy respectively. This has been an income source for them over time. 

One can also become a crypto researcher, blogger, or journalist.

  1. Crypto offers financial inclusion to all

With crypto, no one suffers from the constraining policies of the traditional banking system such as owning a bank account and paying an account maintenance fee.

Daily, both banked, underbanked, and unbanked citizens express the desire to have control over their finances. The decentralized finance system attempts to make such desires a dream come true. Cryptocurrency companies’ mode of operation proves that adopting crypto can grant financial access to all. Thus, they can bypass the accrued difficulties of using the traditional finance system. 

  1. Low transaction cost

Financial transactions in and across national borders always have a price tag that varies depending on the amount you are sending. Clients have to pay transaction charges when sending money. Some internal charges can be minimal however, most cross-border transaction charges, especially remittances, are exorbitant.

The good news is that crypto transactions charge little or no fee. Wallet to Wallet transactions are mostly free of charge. 

  1. Easy, fast, and limitless  Services

Traditional banks allow clients to store their finances in Savings or Current Accounts through long processes for acquiring an account and signatures that are acquired physically. With crypto, there is a simple and fast KYC process.  Crypto users can send and receive huge sums of money in their wallets from anywhere in the world with little to no interruption. 

Further, one can actually easily convert the amounts received in crypto and withdraw in fiat currency.  

There are various reasons why Uganda should adopt crypto. The increased depreciation of fiat currencies and inflation could be significant contributing factors as well.

Categories
Coins

Active Trading Strategies For Crypto Traders

A trading strategy is a method or technique designed to help a trader make a profit from buying and selling crypto assets.

Cryptocurrency trading involves speculating on price movement and the strategy one chooses reflects the results they achieve. Trading cryptocurrency comes with several trading strategies and over the years a few have been implemented to suit the trader’s need, risk, and tolerance level. 

For a new trader, it is important to properly determine and outline, your aim of trading, your risk tolerance, and basically, your trading personality. This, however, does not mean that you have to stick only to one trading strategy. The important thing is to understand whatever strategy you want to use and how it helps you meet your trading goals.

Below, we explain some of the trading strategies that crypto traders can utilize to have effective results.

  1. Position Trading

Position trading is a long-term trading strategy. It requires traders to purchase assets and hold them for long periods (a month, 6 months, or more). The goal is to make profits by selling those assets when the price goes high in the future.

A position trader is concerned with trends and reversal of asset trends. The position trade is the simplest form of trading and ideal for beginners, but it also takes a lot of discipline. 

A perfect example of a position trade is to enter the Bitcoin market at $30000 and take a position at $37000 not regarding the price fluctuations in between, whether it rises or falls. The position trader endures the bear and bullish runs of his asset.

  1. Scalping Trading

Scalping is a trading strategy that involves making a series of fast trades in a short period of time. The purpose of this trading strategy is to produce consistent gains over a short period of time.

A scalper trader tries to profit on price volatility in cryptocurrency assets. The trader frequently joins and departs positions in a matter of minutes (or even seconds). In most cases, a scalper uses technical analysis to predict price moves and then executes a transaction.

Scalpers frequently receive a small percentage of profits due to the short time frames of the scalping type of trading. However, because scalping is all about numbers, even if the gains are minor, they act as turnover at the end of the trade.

  1. Day Trading

Day trading is a strategy for executing trades by entering the market and exiting the market on the same day.

A trader in day trading conducts his trade using technical analysis to select his trading asset. Because profits in such short periods can be slim, day traders sometimes trade multiple markets or asset classes. Stop losses and scaling in and out of positions are still used, but you’re seeking a little more profit per trade than a scalper.

A day trading strategy, like any other trading method, has risks, and good risk management is necessary.

As always, it is always important to Do Your Own Research and educate yourself before adopting any style of trading or implementing a trading strategy.