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Business

Built With Bitcoin Foundation Establishes A Bitcoin Technology Center In Ghana

A new Bitcoin Technology Center has been launched by the Built With Bitcoin Foundation (BWB) in Ejisu, Ghana, a city in the Greater Kumasi region, as a legacy for the inaugural Africa Bitcoin Conference which commenced on 5th December, 2022. 

According to BWB, the center will be run by Ghanaians, for Ghanaians.

BWB Founders Ray Youssef and Yusuf Nessary plan to reveal the campus on Thursday, December 8, 2022, with a tour attended by various members of the international Bitcoin community.

BWB also highlighted, “The main goal of the Bitcoin Technology Center is to equip the local community with skills and knowledge within the finance and technology industries. It’s also intended to build community and foster a safe environment to learn.”

Support for the facility comes from the Edwinase community, Blockchain Foundation Africa, and the Bitcoin community. For now, eight employees will work there, including administrators and lecturers.

According to a BWB press release, some of the various subjects to be taught at the center include Financial literacy: Understanding money, Introduction to Bitcoin, Entrepreneurship, Introduction to computers, and Introduction to coding.

The facility will be free to access and the center aims to educate and train approximately 400 people in the first year. The platform will also host monthly meetups in addition to offering education and training.

BWB is a humanitarian organization devoted to creating equitable opportunity by providing clean water, access to quality education, sustainable farming, and humanitarian support, all powered by Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. 

The foundation has completed a number of humanitarian projects in the past, including a school in South Africa that was built in partnership with Bitcoin Ekasi, a ferry for a school in El Salvador that had no access prior to that, and a well project in Nigeria that gave clean water access to more than 1,000 villagers.

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NFTs

What Are Utility NFTs?

When the global economy was drifting towards a not-so-fortunate historic collapse, the market for Non-Fungible Tokens was emerging like a ray of light from the creeks. Non-Fungible Tokens or NFTs are digital collectibles that represent real-world items. They can represent anything and everything starting from a human cell to a thousand-dollar-worth exclusive art piece. 

Investors looking for new revenue streams are actively participating in the market growth of NFTs. Utility NFT initiatives are gaining attention in the midst of all of this to expand the reach of NFTs throughout the financial industry. These digital assets provide non-fungible token benefits while serving a utility or other purpose for token owners.

With utility NFTs, holders get a chance to avail rights and privileges otherwise unavailable to them in traditional setups.

Utility NFTs are special. Special in a way that the scope of their potential is not limited to the title of a typical digital collectible. When we talk about utility NFTs, we emphasize the word ‘utility’ because that is where the heart of this asset class lies. Precisely, utility NFTs refer to virtual assets that offer their owners privileges, benefits, or rewards that are otherwise not available for use. They bestow upon a right to extract a service or an advantage to the asset holder. 

For example, if someone is an event organizer and plans to pull 500 people for the recent concert organized by his team. Instead of paper tickets, they issue utility NFT tickets for entry. Interestingly, NFT tickets will work just the same way as paper tickets. Each ticket will bear a unique ticket number and seat number. Also, each ticket will satisfy the ultimate utility of the ticket owner, which in this case, is the entry to the concert. 

It is needless to say that NFTs are way better than paper tickets because they are digital, so you do not have to bother about losing them, have an in-built track on the blockchain to ensure originality, only the owner can claim the ticket, and better yet, each utility NFT ticket will be unique and so cannot be duplicated. 

How do Utility NFTs work?

NFTs rely on blockchain and smart contract technology for their infrastructural excellence. The digital collectibles help holders to enforce a claim of ownership on tangible and intangible real-world items. Each transaction is stored on the decentralized public ledger to ensure the highest level of safety, transparency, and immutability. Most of the utility NFTs thrive on the Ethereum blockchain network to access smart contracts. The structure of utility NFTs is similar to normal NFTs. They also use cryptographic encryption to ensure the best safety and immutability of transactions. 

The one-of-a-kind ID and metadata that no other token can duplicate help to sustain the element of uniqueness in NFTs. These non-fungible assets depend on smart contracts for offering ownership and limit transferability. At the time of minting an NFT, the miner executes the code in the smart contract that conforms to multiple standards like ERC-721. The information so retrieved is included on the blockchain managing the NFT. The minting procedure passes through three steps, that is to say, the creation of a new block, verification of data, and entry of the verified data on the blockchain.

The craze for utility NFTs is now on a surge. Industries are spending a hefty amount of investment on the research and development of these digital assets. Though the sector is growing, some industries have become powerful incubators for utility NFT projects. Presently, the market offers a wide range of NFT training programs that help participants to learn about the multiple use cases of NFTs. 

They are also now being used in E-gaming, real estate, and art and fashion.

Additionally, as utility NFTs have evolved, they’ve presented new ways to provide holders with digital access to events and platforms. Americana, for example, is an online marketplace for physical collectors seeking luxury items, similar to resale sites like Grailed or StockX. To buy or sell items with Americana, users are required to hold a Something Token (their native NFT) to signify their membership to the ecosystem.

Another example is Token Proof, a token gating platform, and app, where users can verify the ownership of their NFTs and access real-world events without connecting their crypto wallet. Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, as another example, issued tickets to his VeeCon crypto conference using utility NFTs.

Beyond ticketing to one-off events, utility NFTs are also frequently used as membership cards for exclusive clubs or restaurants. NFT social clubs have created more long-term options for NFT holders looking to meet up with their community and collaborate in the same space. And earlier this year, internet collective Poolsuite launched Manor DAO, which will provide token-gated access to a property they plan to purchase called Poolsuite Manor.

To sum up, utility NFTs have been well-received because they encourage a community-focused ecosystem. Members get a fair chance to get rewards, discounts, preferential access to events, etc. Social, community and in-game utility NFTs are quite popular in the market presently. Experts suggest that in the near future, there will be more variants of utility NFTs leading the digital asset bandwagon effortlessly.

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Business

TIMEX Launches $2,500 Bored Ape Watches And Matching NFTs

Owners of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs will soon be able to wear personalized TIMEX watches on their wrists that display their profile pictures (PFPs). Timex made this announcement recently on Twitter.

According to Timex, this collaboration with the Bored Ape Yacht Club community will bring the release of 500 timepieces that will display an owner’s Ape or Mutant prominently on the watch’s face. Those who buy the watch will be able to customize it, with a choice of case, strap, and selected etchings. However, only BAYC and MAYC holders will be able to create their set.

Timepiece Forge Pass NFTs, which can currently be purchased for 2 ETH, or around $2,500, went on sale today. Around mid-December, Forge Pass owners will be able to design their own watch on TIMEX’s website.

Each physical watch will be accompanied by an identical, digital version as an NFT, separate from the Forge Pass NFT. However,  they won’t arrive in time for the holidays and are expected to be shipped to purchasers sometime in the second quarter of 2023.

Shari Fabiani, Timex Group’s Senior Vice President of Global Marketing and Creative services emphasized that Timex is entering Web3 by keeping creativity and community at the forefront. 

“We are redefining and pushing the boundaries of physical, virtual, and now “digital-physical” products,” she added.

It should be noted that Timex commenced its digital journey earlier. Just last month, the watch-making brand declared itself timekeepers of the metaverse with a release of a branded challenge in the game Fortnite.

Long-time Ape community members Josh Ong and CryptoVonDoom supplied the artistic guidance for the BAYC watch cooperation. In an announcement, VonDoom remarked, 

“As a member of the OG Bored Ape community, it’s been dope to collaborate with the OGs of watchmaking.”

A presale took place at an invite-only party for the Ape community that ran alongside Art Basel in Miami last Friday. The event represented the continued emergence of brand-name NFTs as a force in the world of art and fashion. A few custom-made timepieces from TIMEX featuring Apes were visible at the art fair, where the watchmaker hosted an event.

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Business

Be Mobile Africa Launches Crypto Payments Gateway

Be Mobile Africa, a pan-African startup in virtual banking, has announced the opening of its cryptocurrency payments gateway, which will let companies and merchants in Africa accept and process payments in Bitcoin (BTC), other cryptocurrency portfolios like Ethereum (ETH), as well as USD stablecoins like USDC and USDT.

Customers will have the option of storing all of their cryptocurrency on the virtual bank platform, or they may choose to automatically convert incoming crypto payments into ZAR, USD, or EUR, the statement claims. The start-up stated that real-time transactions and costs up to ten times less expensive than those of traditional banks will be available to SMEs through the new cryptocurrency payment gateway.

Be Mobile Africa CEO, Dr Cédric Jeannot stated that the payment gateway would enable accessibility to Africa’s thriving crypto market. “It’s important to remember that for a multitude of reasons, Africa is one of the fastest-growing crypto markets in the world. Many African businesses don’t have access to the same tools that are available in the western market and are therefore leapfrogging to crypto when it comes to payments…This new payment gateway is a game changer.”

In September, the Canadian neobank made its formal debut in South Africa. Be Mobile Africa, an organization with a presence in 30 other African nations, aims to provide financial services to the unbanked and underbanked in the nation. In addition to not charging monthly account fees or requiring a minimum balance, the platform allows South Africans to transfer, receive, retain, and save money in both US dollars and euros. It is presently accessible in 30 nations throughout the continent, and it intends to open up new markets and provide its commercial offering shortly.

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Business

Russia’s Sber Bank Aims For Blockchain Integration With Ethereum

The blockchain platform developed by Sber, Russia’s largest bank, will be technologically compatible with Ethereum, the world’s largest decentralized finance (defi) ecosystem. The financial institution made the announcement during an international meeting with members of the blockchain industry.

The lender noted during the event, which was put on by the Sber Blockchain Laboratory, that the connection will let programmers freely move whole projects and smart contracts between its own blockchain and open blockchain networks.

According to a press release, the Sber blockchain will also support an integration with Metamask, a popular crypto wallet used to interact with Ethereum, with which users will be able to perform operations with tokens and smart contracts hosted on the bank’s platform.

The Central Bank of Russia granted Sber, formerly known as Sberbank, permission to act as an issuer of digital financial assets in March of this year, and Sber then developed its blockchain. Participants on the platform can design their own coins and smart contracts. The bank said in September that they will be able to create non-fungible tokens as well (NFTs).

Payments under smart contracts can be ordered in Russian Rubles thanks to the interaction with the bank’s information systems. According to prior remarks, people will also be able to access the site in the latter quarter of 2022, since it was initially only accessible to legal businesses.

“The Sber Blockchain Laboratory works closely with external developers and partner companies, and I am glad that our community will be able to run defi applications on Sber’s infrastructure,” the lab’s Director Alexander Nam was quoted as saying.

The Director is certain that with Web3’s quick development, there will be a rise in the need for platforms that handle multiple blockchain protocols. According to Nam, “Sber will be able to bring together developers, businesses, and financial institutions both in the context of collaborative market research and during the course of producing useful commercial applications.”

Russian authorities have been considering a more thorough legislative framework over the last year that would allow some crypto-related activities, such as mining and maybe the use of crypto assets for international transfers. Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, advocated for the creation of a new blockchain-based and cryptocurrency-based system for international settlements during a conference hosted by Sber.

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Business

Ripple ODL Joins Amazon’s Payment Service Provider Program

Amazon’s PSP program has partnered with Inter & Co., a Ripple On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) client. Globally, a lot of people are using Ripple’s ODL service. Inter & Co. (previously Banco Inter), the company behind the well-known Brazilian financial services app Inter and a user of Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity services, recently announced that it has enrolled in Amazon’s Payment Service Provider (PSP) program.

A press release from the digital bank stated that with the partnership, Inter’s Brazilian clients who are sellers with Amazon US will now be able to receive and send cross-border payments directly to inter-accounts.

Inter is now one of the 28 suppliers globally that have enrolled with the Amazon PSP program as a result of the agreement. The initiative was launched by Amazon in 2021 as part of its continued efforts to be the most trusted online marketplace for consumers and businesses worldwide, shielding them against fraud and abuse.

Aloisio Matos, head of cross-border at Inter, commented on the agreement and emphasized how significant it is for the organization to be a partner with Amazon US. Additionally, he mentioned that in order to accomplish the accomplishment, Inter had to adopt important technical and security advancements that will “provide advantages and peace of mind to users.”

Following the acquisition of USEND by Banco Inter, a customer of Ripple ODL services since 2019, and a subsequent reorganization to become the Nasdaq-listed Inter & Co., the business made a notable expansion to the United States early this year. In terms of banking, investments, credit, insurance, retail, and remittance-related services, the Inter app provides a full variety of options.

In the meantime, Ripple’s ODL service has also been observing rapid growth. With the addition of additional markets including Africa, Argentina, Belgium, Israel, Australia, Brazil, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom, among other tier-one payment gateways, Ripple’s ODL services now cover the whole world, according to an update made earlier this month.

The update also said that the ODL service now uses machine learning to optimize user wallets and guarantee that liquidity is always available.

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Business

South Africa Adds Crypto Businesses to List of Accountable Institutions

According to a recently released amendment document, lawmakers in South Africa have now included cryptocurrency enterprises on the list of institutions that must be held accountable.

The Financial Intelligence Centre Act stated that the list of accountable institutions includes, 

“A person who carries on the business of one or more of the following activities or operations for

or on behalf of a client:

(a) Exchanging a crypto asset for a fiat currency or vice versa;

(b) exchanging one form of crypto asset for another;

(c) conducting a transaction that transfers a crypto asset from one crypto asset address or

account to another;

(d) safekeeping or administration of a crypto asset or an instrument enabling control over a

crypto asset; and

(e) participation in and provision of financial services related to an issuer’s offer or sale of a crypto asset, 

where “crypto asset” means a digital representation of perceived value that can be traded or transferred electronically within a community of users of the internet who consider it as a medium of exchange, unit of account, or store of value and use it for payment or investment purposes, but does not include a digital representation of a fiat currency or security as defined in the Financial Markets Act, 2012 (Act 19 of 2012).”

Furthermore, businesses that offer exchange services, or are responsible for taking care of the safekeeping of crypto will have to identify and define new and existing clients and keep records of their identity. The rule was added as an amendment to the country’s Financial Intelligence Act of 2001 and will take effect on December 19.

Following the early November collapse of the world’s largest exchange, FTX, regulators from all over the world have been advocating for higher standards and more openness in the cryptocurrency industry.

The South African Reserve Bank’s Deputy Governor, Kuben Naidoo, announced in July that the nation would establish a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. South Africa categorized cryptocurrencies as financial items in October.

Categories
Business

Apple Blocks Coinbase Wallet Release On iOS

The Coinbase wallet for iOS has been disabled by Apple. According to facts from a Coinbase tweet thread, iOS users won’t be able to transmit NFTs from their wallets on iOS devices any longer.

Coinbase also claimed in the tweet that Apple has halted the rollout of their most recent feature until they turn off the functionality.

According to Coinbase, the main reason cited and mentioned is that the gas fees required to send NFTs need to be paid through their In-App Purchase system so that they can collect 30% of the gas fee.

Additionally, Coinbase mentioned that, for anyone who understands how NFTs and blockchain work, Apple’s request is impossible.

“Apple’s proprietary In-App Purchase system does not support crypto, so we couldn’t comply even if we tried,”  Coinbase said.

Coinbase also stated, “Apple has introduced new policies to protect their profits at the expense of consumer investment in NFTs and developer innovation across the crypto ecosystem.”  

Coinbase also mentioned that this is similar to Apple trying to grab a cut of fees for every email sent over open internet protocols. One of the biggest troubles with this action by Apple is that iOS users holding their NFT in an iPhone wallet have to go through a lengthy process to transfer the NFT.

The decision will undoubtedly have an impact on a large segment of iOS users who keep their NFTs in their iPhone wallets. If the decision is overturned, how that will impact the ecosystem as a whole is unknown.

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Business

Appzone rebrands as Zone, a blockchain payment infrastructure company

Appzone, one of Africa’s leading Fintech Software Providers,  has rebranded to Zone, a regulated blockchain Payment Infrastructure company. By building Africa’s first layer-1 blockchain network, Zone will enable payments and the acceptance of digital currencies for Financial Service Providers globally. 

According to data from Techcabal, Africa’s remittance market has historically been plagued by several challenges. In fact, the average cost of remittance in sub-Saharan Africa (7.8%) is higher than in any other region in the world. For a continent so reliant on cash, intra-continental money transfers are notoriously difficult. Furthermore, it costs $54 to send $200 to Tanzania, while in Nigeria, the cost for the same amount is $38. For context, to send $200 to any country in South Asia would only cost $8.6.  

The speed of sending money across Africa is also another serious issue. It could take days for the money to move across borders, a significant impediment to trade across the continent. 

To remedy this problem, Appzone, a fintech software provider, has rebranded as Zone, a regulated blockchain payment infrastructure company. The company has built Africa’s first Layer-1 blockchain network, which will enable direct transaction flow between financial service providers without an intermediary. 

With this platform, there will be reduced transaction costs, instant dispute resolution, and reliability across Africa’s payment borders and beyond.

Zone supports both fiat currencies and digital currencies. Earlier this year, it was issued a payment switching and processing license by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), making it the first payment infrastructure company running on blockchain to be licensed in Africa. 

Speaking about their compliance with regulation Zone’s CEO, Obi Emetarom, stated, “CBN has been really skeptical about cryptocurrencies because a lot of them do not comply with the regulation. Those cryptocurrencies run on blockchain as infrastructure, and to some extent, blockchain has inherited those concerns as well. What we did, however, was to kind of sit down with the CBN, before we started talking about licenses, to showcase our blockchain network, clearly separate the capabilities of the blockchain network from cryptocurrency itself, and explain how cryptocurrency is just one application of blockchain.” 

Commenting on the rebrand, Zone Co-founder and CEO Obi Emetarom also stated, “We have led Africa’s fintech sector in global firsts for over a decade. At Appzone, we launched the first core banking and omnichannel software on the cloud as well as the first multi-bank direct debit service based on single global mandates. With this transition to Zone, we are utilizing the power of blockchain technology to connect every monetary store of value and enable reliable, frictionless, and universally interoperable payments. In doing this we are building one global network to pay anyone through any means, in any currency, which will ultimately maximize financial inclusion and accelerate economic prosperity for Africa and the rest of the world. ”

Co-founder and CTO for Zone, Wale Onawunmi, added, “At Zone, we’ve always been early adopters of innovative technology with the potential to transform industries – in this case, the finance industry. Our next-generation decentralized payment technology which is the first of its kind, will challenge the status quo and become the future of payments for the world. We are encouraged by the pace of adoption we have seen so far and remain passionate about enabling financial services providers to reach their full potential.”

According to Emetarom, Zone plans to expand across the continent through the current financial institutions that use Appzone’s platform. 

He said, “This is a decentralized payment network. Today, the nodes sit within licensed financial institutions in Nigeria, and the roadmap for the next five years is that we expand nodes to sit across institutions and partners, everywhere on the continent. We can deliver in-country payment services like we’re doing today in Nigeria, but then we will also be able to connect those nodes across the continent. The nodes will be connected in such a way that our cross-border settlement feature could allow funds to flow from one country to another in real-time.”

Appzone’s cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform is also rebranding into Qore, while Zone will be the blockchain-based payment gateway. Appzone was founded by Emeka Emetarom, Obi Emetarom, and Wale Onawunmi in 2008. Two other co-founders, Mudiaga Umukoro and Elendu Uche, have since joined their ranks. 

Qore will be led by Umokoro and Emeka Emetarom, while Zone will be led by Obi Emetarom, Onawunmi, and Uche. 

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Business

Telegram plans to build a crypto exchange and non-custodial wallets

Telegram is one of the most underrated instant messaging apps. It is free to use and offers a fast and secure platform with end-to-end encryption. The platform offers not just the features to send and receive messages, but also a wide array of features.

One such feature is the Telegram bot feature. It allows users to automate tasks for various tasks, including creating to-do lists, getting weather updates, and getting automated alerts while tracking a particular wallet address. These bots are automated by programs and can be customized as per the user’s needs.

Additionally, Telegram is edging its way into the cryptocurrency space. In April, the TON (Telegram Open Network) Foundation tweeted that it had implemented support for bitcoin payments. On Telegram, cryptocurrency payments can be made using the TON token.

Thanks to the campaign, blockchain technology, and cryptocurrencies are already accessible among Telegram’s 550 million members.

However, new announcements have surfaced about the instant messaging app. It is now planning to launch a non-custodial wallet and a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange.

According to the most recent statement made by Telegram’s founder and CEO Pavel Durov, the instant messaging service is preparing the groundwork for accelerating its cryptocurrency journey. Durov claimed in the statement that many people have lost money as a result of centralized exchanges like FTX. He emphasized the blockchain’s promise of decentralization and how it devolved into the current centralized situation.

He further emphasized, “The solution is clear: blockchain-based projects should go back to their roots – decentralization. Cryptocurrency users should switch to trustless transactions and self-hosted wallets that don’t rely on any single third party.”

Durov also mentioned that the next step for Telegram is to build a set of decentralized tools. These include non-custodial wallets and decentralized exchanges for safe and secure storing and trading of cryptocurrencies. He also stressed that with technologies like TON, the blockchain industry will be able to give power back to the people.