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Business

Luno Partners with The Makerere University Business School (MUBS)

As part of its extensive statewide cryptocurrency education campaign, Luno, the leading cryptocurrency investing platform with over 10 million consumers globally, recently worked with Makerere University Business School, one of Uganda’s top universities.

Makerere University Business School students were challenged to submit an essay on “The potential application of cryptocurrency to improve the quality of life in Uganda.” The essay writing competition commenced in May this year.

Leone George Okello, the winning essayist, discussed an application of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) to empower Uganda’s creatives with better access to funding directly sourced from their own fan base. As the winning author, he received a Samsung Galaxy S7+ tablet computer worth $1200 while all seven essayists received sponsored access to the top Udemy courses on cryptocurrency.

Speaking during the prize handover, Apollo Sande, Country Manager for Uganda and Kenya at Luno, commented, “As one of the crypto industry’s early pioneers, we strongly believe it is our responsibility to empower everyone to safely and easily unlock the full potential of cryptocurrencies and we are especially proud to be working alongside Uganda’s leading business school to strengthen this mission.”

He added, “Business and finance students encountering crypto for the first time are growing increasingly curious about the opportunities it holds for their future careers and investment. At Luno, we firmly believe that crypto’s underlying technology presents a massive opportunity for a more open, fair, and inclusive financial system for Ugandans and it’s vital we equip the next generation with the knowledge to leverage this.”

Luno’s education campaign aims to empower people to build their understanding of digital assets and investing as part of financial literacy. It is also focused on eliminating common misconceptions around cryptocurrencies.

Launched in 2013 and operational in over 40 countries worldwide, Luno’s products and services make it safe and easy to buy, store, learn about and use cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

To-date, the platform has safely supported over $52bn worth of crypto transactions worldwide. Over 55% of Luno’s new customers are based in Africa with over 60,000 customers in Uganda having transacted over $2,000,000 of crypto on the platform.

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Business

Egypt’s Central Bank Issues Crypto Warning

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has recently renewed its warning about all types of cryptocurrencies, citing a number of risks, including high volatility and use in financial crimes. 

The CBE statement read, “In the same context, the Law of the Central Bank of Egypt and the Banking System promulgated by Law No. 194 of 2020 prohibits issuing, trading, or promoting cryptocurrencies, creating or operating platforms for trading it, or carrying out related activities.”

The CBE added, “Whoever violates this shall be imprisoned, and fined no less than one million pounds and no more than LE10 million [$516,340], or one of these two penalties.”

According to the CBE, crypto is not issued or backed by the central bank or any other official authority.

The Egyptian central bank issued a similar warning about cryptocurrencies in January 2018, stating that they are not issued by the Egyptian central bank or any official central issuing authority that can be held accountable.

The central bank further said, “Moreover, cryptocurrencies are not backed by any tangible assets and are not supervised by any regulators worldwide, and consequently, they lack the official governmental guarantee and support enjoyed by the other official currencies issued by central banks.” 

Additionally, Egypt’s Dar El-Ifta, the Government’s principal Islamic institution for issuing fatwas (religious opinions), issued an edict declaring that all uses of cryptocurrency were ḥarām, or forbidden including purchasing, selling, and leasing.

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Business

Binance Sees Record Increase in Indian Users After Government Starts Imposing New Crypto Tax

After a 1% tax levied on crypto transactions took effect in July in India, crypto exchange Binance has now seen a significant increase in the number of user sign-ups in the country.

According to Bloomberg, the number of Binance app downloads in India jumped to 429,000 in August and this number is the highest this year. In contrast, daily trading volumes at several major India-based cryptocurrency exchanges are reportedly down over 90% since the 1% TDS took effect.

Commenting on the new tax, Rohan Misra, CEO at SEBA India, a subsidiary of Swiss-based SEBA Bank, opined:

“The recent tax regulation is not explicitly clear on whether the 1% tax deducted at source extends to crypto derivatives transactions involving futures, as it does to crypto spot transactions.”

He further stated that the 1% TDS is levied on top of a new 30% tax on gains from crypto assets. 

While Binance’s app downloads soared, some major Indian cryptocurrency exchanges are seeing declines in the number of user sign-ups. Indian crypto exchange Coindcx’s app downloads dwindled to 163,000 in August from 2.2 million in January, according to data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

Indian crypto exchanges are also facing limited support from the banking system, making it difficult for users to move money in and out of trading platforms.

Another Indian crypto exchange, Wazirx, saw its monthly app downloads fall to 92,000 in August from about 596,000 in January. 

Regarding whether Binance has started collecting the transaction tax from users in India, a spokesperson for the exchange told the news outlet that the company is currently monitoring the situation and will make further announcements in due course.

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Business

South Korean Court Issues Arrest Warrant for Terra Co-Founder Do Kwon

A South Korean court has issued an arrest warrant against Do Kwon, the co-founder of the now defunct stablecoin issuer Terraform Labs. 

According to Chosun Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper, the warrant was issued by the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office’s Joint Investigation Team on Financial Securities Crimes led by director Dan Sung-han and 2nd  Division of Financial Investigations led by chief prosecutor Chae Hee-man. 

Additionally, the report stated that the warrant included five additional individuals citing a text message from the prosecutors’ office. These individuals are being charged with violating the South Korean Capital Markets Act.

The warrant is valid for one year and prosecutors are hoping to work with Interpol to carry out the arrests.

The warrant comes four months after the collapse of the $40 billion Terra ecosystem and its algorithmic stablecoin (UST), the first domino to fall in this year’s crypto winter.

In the months since the demise of UST and Luna, Kwon launched an audacious plan to rebuild the Terra ecosystem with a new version of its native currency.

Nonetheless, as a result of the subsequent contagion, the value of digital assets fell by more than 50% from its peak, leading to the insolvency of cryptocurrency lenders Celsius Network and Voyager Digital.

Singapore-based hedge fund Three Arrows Capital was another firm that filed for bankruptcy after the extent of its exposure to the Terra network. The implosion of Three Arrows left a trail of troubled loans across the crypto industry, with billions being owed to creditors.

However, according to his first public interview last month, Kwon had maintained that he is cooperating with authorities.

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Business

Top South African Cryptocurrency Exchange Adds New Trading Pair For Shiba Inu

VALR, a South African bitcoin exchange platform, recently announced that it has launched two new USDC trading pairs, SHIB/USDC, and AVAX/USDC. As per the announcement, the trading pairs went live for trading on September 13th at 11:00 (SAST).


Formerly, VALR already has introduced four new USDC trading pairs on the exchange.

On August 16th, the growing exchange added support for ETH/USDC and BNB/USDC pairs. After two weeks, on August 30th, the South Africa-based exchange introduced a USDC trading pair with Ripple (XRP) and Solana (SOL).

Founded in 2018, VALR is recognized as one of the well-reputed digital asset trading platforms in South Africa. It allows users to buy, sell, store, and transfer over 60 crypto-assets seamlessly and securely. 

The Maker Rewards are VALR’s most alluring feature (negative Maker fees). To add liquidity to their exchange order books, market makers receive compensation from the exchange of 0.01% of their trades. By doing this, as of 2022, VALR had given market makers awards of over $4.6 million (R70 million).

On CoinMarketCap (CMC), VALR is ranked 149th among the list of top cryptocurrency exchanges based on Daily Trading Volume (DTV). CoinMarketCap data states that VALR users have exchanged hands with $10,856,228 ($10.85M) worth of digital assets on the platform in the past 24 hours.

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Business

KoinKoin announces global expansion as revenues reach $40m

One of the leading African digital asset exchanges, KoinKoin, has announced significant expansion plans as its annual OTC transaction revenues surpass $40 million.

The company, founded by London-based entrepreneur Ola Atose, makes it easier for customers to buy, sell and transfer digital assets across Africa, Southeast Asia, and Western Europe.

As part of its expansion plans, KoinKoin intends to double the headcount of its 15 full time staff members across the company’s offices in Nigeria and Ghana and bolster its C-suite team which is operating out of London. 

Additionally, the company announced plans to make new growth hires in its key operating countries of Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Antigua and Barbuda.

Currently, the KoinKoin development team is putting the finishing touches on a revolutionary and innovative new app for its users.  The platform will compete with Blockchain.com and Coinbase with superior customer-focused features and offer unmatched value and access to top-tier crypto assets.

The move will form part of KoinKoin’s wider strategy to begin competing in the retail space and making a bigger impact for retail consumer needs.

This move is part of KoinKoin’s wider strategy to begin competing in the retail space and making a bigger impact for retail consumer needs.

KoinKoin’s unique platform enables users to trade globally the biggest crypto assets 24/7, 365 days of the year. Its deposit system allows customers to quickly begin buying and selling crypto, with APIs providing market data and real time information around the best prices.

Ola Atose, commented on the company’s expansion plans saying,

“We set out to build a highly secure platform, with the aim of becoming the go-to exchange for all cryptocurrency requirements not just in Africa, but for all businesses and individuals with an active interest in Africa from around the globe. In the last year we’ve seen a huge rise in demand with OTC transactions surging as customers seek to access the best liquidity from over 100 exchanges globally.”

According to the company, with the demand for cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology surging, they are committed to growing their global footprint, developing, and launching new services, while bolstering the sales and customer service team with the launch of a radical and exciting new app in the coming weeks.

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Business

P2P exchange service provider makes its entry into the Kenyan crypto market

Peer to Peer (P2P) marketplaces have taken over as the preferred platforms in Africa as a result of financial regulators’ general negative attitude toward digital assets.

Kenya has attracted considerable interest from numerous P2P exchange service providers as the global leader in P2P cryptocurrency exchange. One of them, Bitpapa, has just lately entered the Kenyan cryptocurrency market.

As a global P2P marketplace operating worldwide, Bitpapa has been offering cryptocurrency trading services since 2018. It has been only a matter of time before it tapped into the highly lucrative Kenyan cryptocurrency market.

With the P2P platform, users are able to trade their Bitcoin (Ethereum, TON, Monero, and USDT) for the Kenyan shilling in a safe and secure P2P environment via a website, mobile app, or a Telegram bot (unique among crypto trading platforms).

The platform comes with various perks such as ease of convenience for users with the simple registration process. All users need is their email. No ID verification or confirmation using a phone number is required. Users can start trading immediately after activating their account by following a link sent to their email. Additionally, there are no limits to how much a user can trade daily, even if they stay unverified.

The platform has a policy that dictates the fair and equal treatment of all account users and it purports to have friendly and knowledgeable support staff available round the clock 24/7 to help with any issues or queries.

Regardless of whether a user is a buyer or a seller, the marketplace always secures the transactions on the site. Whenever a user purchases cryptocurrency, Bitpapa ensures that the seller executes their transaction.

The purchased cryptocurrency is locked in escrow, which prevents malicious traders from ripping a user off. If the seller doesn’t release coins once paid, a user can start a dispute, and then the marketplace intervenes.

For the sellers, the coins are released only after receiving payment, and the burden of proof is on the buyer. Therefore, the buyer must prove that the buyer transferred the payment to the seller according to the provided details.

Also, users can create Bitpapa codes and give them to their friends or customers. People can then redeem these codes on Bitpapa to top up their balance on the platform at no cost.

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Business

Starbucks Unveils New Partnership With Polygon to Elevate Its Web3 Experience

Web3 is traveling on a path of global adoption. Enterprises in the automotive industry, technological companies, restaurant chains, and coffee shops are all beginning to adopt Web3. Such initiatives have paved the way for a new collaboration by Starbucks.

The American multinational coffee chain has unveiled a new partnership with Polygon. The announcement was made on each of their websites. As per the announcement, both companies will be working closely to elevate Starbucks’ Web3 experience called the “Starbucks Odyssey.”

Starbucks Odyssey will provide its partners and Rewards members in the US a chance to buy and earn digital collectibles. Customers will be able to acquire digital collectibles in NFTs through the new web3 experience, which will provide users with additional advantages and coffee-related experiences.

Brady Brewer, Executive Vice president, and Chief Marketing Officer at Starbucks commented on the new Web3 experience saying, “The Starbucks Odyssey experience will extend the Third Place connection to the digital world. For the first time, we are connecting our Starbucks Rewards loyalty program members not just to Starbucks, but to each other.” 

In May, the coffee giant dropped its first hints about the upcoming web3 effort. Later this year, the new web3 experience is expected to go live. In the meantime, customers can now sign up on the waitlist to try the new Odyssey from the coffee brand.

With the new Odyssey experience, users can enroll in various activities, challenges and games. For the completion of each task, the users will receive digital collectible rewards in the form of NFTs.

Furthermore, the odyssey will also have a built-in marketplace that the users can utilize to purchase limited edition stamp NFTs. 

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Blockchain

Understanding The Ethereum Merge

After many delays, the long-hyped Ethereum Merge is finally happening. As far as the world of crypto is concerned, the upcoming change is a big one. 

The Ethereum Merge is the joining of Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Beacon Chain with the Ethereum Mainnet to transition the Ethereum blockchain off the legacy Proof-of-Work (PoW) system. This will result in a 99.95% reduction in Ethereum’s energy consumption, and the ability to further scale the Ethereum ecosystem. Since it is currently the most used blockchain in terms of transactions, this will save a huge amount of electricity each year.

It will result in Ethereum 2.0, a new version of Ethereum.

Since 2016, there have been two versions of Ethereum running in parallel. One has used the traditional method of recording transactions, while the other relied on the PoW system. This month, the two versions will be merged into one, adopting the new record-keeping paradigm. 

The merge will move the entire blockchain over to new Proof-of-Stake validator nodes which requires users to have over 32 Ether (ETH) to stake so that they can be able to participate. This is how they will be able to unlock block rewards otherwise the ETH will be locked up until a network update makes withdrawals possible.

Ether tokens will remain exactly the same for investors, and there should be no change to the operations of Ethereum-based applications. Furthermore, during the merge, users may not be able to transfer Ethereum-based assets.

Additionally, there will be a large decrease in the amount of Ethereum issued as block rewards. Currently, 13,000 Ether are mined per day. This amount will decrease to roughly 1,600 Ether each day after the merge. This is a 90% reduction in Ether issues, slowing the inflationary growth of Ether.

After years of delays, the Ethereum Merge is scheduled to go live on September 15, 2022.

However, there are several potential outcomes to the upcoming Ethereum Merge, as it is the biggest update to any cryptocurrency blockchain network to date including;

Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attack Vulnerability

With the move to PoS, network proposers will be known ahead of time, making them vulnerable to a DoS attack. For example, if a potential attacker is in line to propose one of the next blocks in the blockchain, they can attempt to establish a sophisticated networking attack on the current proposer’s node, causing them to lose their slot, and the transactions in that slot can be picked up by the attacker. There are solutions being worked on to make the proposer selection anonymous, but this is currently still a risk.

Scams

Many crypto applications have been referring to the merged and upgraded network as “ETH 2.” This has led to confusion about whether there will be a newly formed cryptocurrency called ETH 2 (there is not) and makes ETH holders susceptible to scams. Scammers may try to take advantage of this confusion and try to get users to swap out their current ETH for “ETH 2,” but in reality, they would be stealing the user’s Ether.

ETH Price Drop

If there are setbacks with the merge, this could cause a drop in Ether price, as well as many of the top cryptocurrencies that have built their platforms on top of the Ethereum blockchain.

According to some investors, the Merge will make Ethereum a more attractive investment than Bitcoin, but it doesn’t necessarily make Ethereum a threat to dethrone Bitcoin as the world’s top crypto.

It is also important to note that some crypto exchanges such as Binance had temporarily suspended Ethereum transactions ahead of the merge.

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Business

Crypto Platform Mara Partners With Ghana National Football Team

The Black Stars, Ghana’s national football team, and Mara, a Pan-African Crypto Exchange company, have agreed to a $1 million collaboration that would make Mara the official partner of the senior national team.

Through this pioneering partnership in Ghana, Mara will forge close connections with football fans all over Africa and beyond, enticing them to join a community where they can ignite their passion for building digital wealth, seize numerous opportunities in digital finance, and experience financial empowerment.

“The passion and excitement for football has the power to offer hope and unify Africans across the continent and beyond in a truly remarkable way, regardless of background, or socio-economic status,” Chi Nnadi, co-founder and CEO at Mara said while commenting on the partnership at the GFA Headquarters in Accra.

“We are particularly excited to partner with Ghana FA as they #BringBackTheLove for Ghana’s national football team and empower people with a common hope and dream. Mara remains committed to empowering the dreams of Africans across the world and offering the creation of wealth through digital finance,” he added.

 Reinforcing this, Susan Younis, Chief Marketing Officer at Mara also said,

“We have very exciting activations and offers that will be rolled out with the upcoming World Cup tournaments. As these activities commence in the next few weeks, we look forward to creating opportunities and environments where Ghanaians can experience the essence of Mara in person.”

Ghana FA President, Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku expressed his joy adding that this partnership is a perfect fit.

Mr. Okraku said, “Digital assets being digital means of exchange have come to stay all over the world. We are delighted that the pairing of Mara and GFA with this commercial relationship has been realized, as such partnerships have become increasingly common in sports worldwide.”

“This partnership, the first of its kind, will bring to fans various opportunities offered by digital assets in our football community. The second reason for a partnership such as this is that it provides crucial revenue to the industry. The next few months will witness an explosion of Ghana Football on digital platforms.” he added.

This follows the recent announcements of betPawa as the Ghana Premier League’s title sponsor and Access Bank as the Division One League’s title sponsor. The Ghanaian national football team has also secured Malta Guinness as the Women’s Premier League’s main sponsor.

Black Stars return to action this month with international friendly matches against Brazil and Nicaragua. The games are part of the team’s preparations for the World Cup, where they will face Portugal, South Korea, and Uruguay in the group stage.