Author: Staff

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Business

Central African States Bank Board Urges Adoption of Common Digital Currency

The Bank of Central African States also known as Banque des États de l’Afrique Centrale  which serves Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo could be closer to releasing a central bank digital currency.

According to reports from Bloomberg, the board sent an email recently calling for the regional bank to introduce a digital currency in an effort to modernize payment structures and promote regional financial inclusion.

Surprisingly, the advisory comes after the Central Bank strongly opposed the decision of the Central African Republic (CAR) to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender earlier this year.

The regional monetary union released a statement on that matter on Thursday, saying that adopting BTC as legal tender in CAR is incompatible with the agreements and conventions governing the Central African Monetary Union and the Statutes of the Bank of Central African States.

However, CAR is proceeding with its BTC plans despite the criticisms from authorities and international agencies.

Furthermore, as more nations struggle with inflation that keeps undervaluing their own currencies, bitcoin use in Africa has increased over the past several years.

According to a KuCoin report, crypto transactions in Africa have grown by 2,670% since 2021.

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Business

Cardano Accelerator, Adaverse Invests in Afriguild’s Mission to Onboard Africans Into Web3

Adaverse, a Cardano ecosystem accelerator set up to encourage the growth of Web3 crypto-native enterprises in Africa, announced yesterday its investment into a seed funding round for Afriguild, a blockchain gaming guild-turned Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) providing opportunities for Africans through gaming, education and community building. 

In order to accelerate Afriguild’s goal of onboarding 100 million Africans into Web3 over the next five years, Adaverse and EMURGO Africa have joined other notable investors in this investment round.

Following the announcement, the co-CEO for the Middle East & Africa at EMURGO Africa, Shogo Ishida emphasized, “Social communities will re-engineer the structure of global commerce while leveraging Web3 applications running on blockchain technology. Africa is socially communal and Afriguild is building the bridge to financial breakthrough by connecting young Africans to the emerging Web3 world.”

The founding partner at Adaverse, Vincent Li also added, “The roadmap for the partnership with Afriguild, which aims to become the “LinkedIn” of the Metaverse, a Web3 hub that connects Africans to multiple earning opportunities on the Metaverse with P2E models and a marketplace where game developers are directly connected to hire the services of scholars, gamers, testers, and all kinds of contributors.”   

He also mentioned that through this partnership, Afriguild will expand its operations across Africa and surpass its five-year goal of empowering one hundred million Africans with the means to build wealth with available resources.

Commenting about this decision, Toyosi Abolarin, co-founder at Afriguild stated that “At Afriguild, our strength lies within our community and this has been the driving force behind all we do. Cardano has one of the most vibrant communities in the blockchain industry and will play a crucial role in achieving our goal of putting Africa on the map. Cardano’s technology is an innovative protocol that provides a robust infrastructure for Afriguild to develop an ecosystem of impactful and reliable products”.

He added saying, “We are equally excited about the Adaverse accelerator program, which provides unparalleled access to world-class mentors and advisors to build on Cardano, and who support our growth every step of the way. It is always a good thing to have investors who are invested, and this is just what Cardano represents to us.”

To apply for the Adaverse accelerator program, apply here.

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Business

Dubai Racing Club to launch a unique NFT art collection

The horse racing industry will soon benefit from a brand-new NFT artwork collection being launched by Dubai Racing Club (DRC). The collection will offer both online and real-life benefits for owners.

Sheikh Rashid bin Dalmook Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Racing Club said, “Horse racing has always been an integral part of the DNA of Dubai, a city that is shaping a glorious future with foresight, innovation and excellence. We believe it is time for us to take the sport to a whole new level from a technological point of view. A first in the industry, the initiative that we will be launching in the upcoming season will be available to everyone.”

“Guided by our visionary leadership, Dubai continues to support technology innovation in various fields, and today we are proud to pioneer virtual assets in the horse racing industry that offer all our fans a new way to celebrate the sport. The Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) that we are issuing can be utilised both in the real world and online,” he added.

DRC’s new NFT digital artwork collection has three categories with the first set called the Dubai Sprinters. These  will be released with both publicly available artwork as well as limited-honorary NFTs, followed by the Hall of Fame and the DWC Runners. 

The Dubai Sprinters collection will feature exciting offers and benefits connected to the real world as well as a metaverse project the organizers of the Dubai World Cup are set to launch soon.

The new NFT project is in line with the Dubai government’s initiatives to support the development of digital assets that can enhance several emirate industries. 

Dubai also unveiled a new strategy earlier this week with the goal of tripling the number of blockchain and etaverse businesses operating there. Additionally, the emirate has introduced a series of regulatory and business enablers to transform the country into a global leader in advanced digital technologies.

The NFT initiative from Dubai Racing Club will debut during the upcoming racing season at Meydan Racecourse, which begins on November 4.

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Business

Former Coinbase employee is detained by US authorities for insider trading

Former Coinbase Project manager, Ishan Wahi, was detained by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and prosecutors in the Southern District of New York due to allegations that he gave confidential information on token listings on Coinbase to his brother, Nikhil Wahi, and his friend, Sameer Ramini.

When he advised his associates to make purchases for the tokens, Wahi allegedly provided illegal financial advice in addition to disclosing insider information. According to authorities, by doing this Wahi violated SEC’s anti-fraud rules.

Additionally, both Wahi’s brother and his friend are subject to the regulator’s investigation given they ostensibly utilized the illicit financial advice to trade cryptocurrencies from June 2021 to April 2022. Nikhil Wahi who is 26 years old and Ramani who is 33 years used anonymous Ethereum blockchain wallets to acquire the assets before Coinbase’s announcements and then sold those assets for a profit of at least $1.5m (£1.25m), prosecutors claimed.

Damian Williams, the US attorney for the southern district of New York mentioned that Web3, the catch-all term for the latest iteration of the internet, is not immune from the authorities. 

He said, “Today’s charges are a further reminder that Web3 is not a law-free zone. Just last month, I announced the first-ever insider trading case involving NFTs, and today I announce the first-ever insider trading case involving cryptocurrency markets. Our message with these charges is clear: fraud is a fraud, whether it occurs on the blockchain or on Wall Street.”

Howard Fischer, a partner at New York law firm Moses & Singer said the individuals had been charged with wire fraud, which refers to fraud committed on any kind of electronic device because crypto assets are not technically defined as securities that are tradable financial assets such as shares or bonds.

Historically, this has enabled crypto assets to swerve regulation by the SEC and the US treasury department which has both enhanced the appeal of crypto assets while also making them more susceptible to fraud due to a lack of investor protections.

Coinbase’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, said that the SEC’s decision to file securities fraud charges against the three men was an unfortunate distraction. Armstrong added that Coinbase had flagged concerns about the three individuals to the Department of Justice.

“Coinbase takes allegations of improper use of company information very seriously, as demonstrated by our rapid investigation of this matter. Again, we have zero tolerance for this kind of misconduct and will not hesitate to take action against any employee when we find wrongdoing,” Armstrong said.

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Business

Luno Announced As Headline Sponsor for ‘The Next Titan’

Luno, the leading global cryptocurrency exchange with over 10 million customers worldwide has announced its headline sponsorship for Season 9 of The Next Titan, Nigeria’s foremost entrepreneurial reality TV show.

The first 5,000 applicants for the new season of the show will receive $5 in Bitcoin as part of the debut of the new partnership redeemable through the Luno app for Android and iOS. 

Aired on DStv, The Next Titan brings together Nigeria’s most ambitious founders to battle it out through a series of entrepreneurial challenges and elimination rounds. The candidate who wins will get a cash reward of 20,000,000 Naira (USD $47,000) to support their new or existing business idea. This competition will take place over the course of ten weeks under the direction of the nation’s top business leaders. The prize for second place is 5,000,000 Naira (USD $11,750).

Speaking at the launch of the partnership, Owen Odia, the Country Manager of Luno Nigeria, said, 

“Since launching in Nigeria seven years ago, we’ve prided ourselves on empowering millions of people to safely explore the potential of a new and upgraded financial system.”

“Over the last eight years, The Next Titan inspired the entrepreneurial spirit of young people throughout Nigeria and has undoubtedly been one of the leading business reality TV shows. With this in mind, we’re especially proud to support their drive to find the next generation of elite business leaders who can continue to push Nigeria forward. Through our new partnership with The Next Titan, we have a unique opportunity to expand this mission by supporting some of Nigeria’s most innovative minds as they unlock an entirely new range of possibilities for people across the country,” he added.

Mide Akinlaja, Executive Producer of The Next Titan also highlighted, “Luno’s partnership with The Next Titan is as a result of both parties’ shared interest of empowering entrepreneurship among Nigerian youths through identifying the best business minds and providing them with the required support that would propel them into successful business personalities.”

He added, “This partnership is a step in the right direction as Luno is working to make crypto easily accessible to everyone, most especially young business owners thereby empowering them to be game changers in their businesses.”

Registrations for the show close on Sunday, July 31, 2022, and applicants must be between the ages of 21 and 40.

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Business

₿trust Launches Africa Open Source Cohort

₿trust, a non-profit organization created to decentralize Bitcoin (BTC) software development, announced the Africa Open Source Cohort and welcomed its founding member Vladimir Fomene yesterday. 

Fomene is a Cameroonian software engineer with a self-confessed preference for JavaScript and Rust. He discovered Bitcoin development through the Qala Africa developer program, where he had the opportunity to learn about and build on Bitcoin. He is drawn to Bitcoin’s ability to reduce the economic power held by governments and the possibility of frictionless global payments.

The Open Source Cohort is ₿trust’s first step in achieving its goal to locate, educate and remunerate Bitcoin developers in the global south including Africa, Asia, Oceania, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Through the initiative, ₿trust will fund and support developers looking to contribute to Bitcoin-free and open-source software.

₿trust was first introduced in a tweet by Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z in February 2021, when they gave 500 BTC to support the growth of the Bitcoin protocol, initially concentrating on teams in India and Africa. The inaugural board was revealed in December 2021 and since then, they have been striving to realize the original vision. This vision is finally becoming a reality.

The Africa Open Source Cohort program is meant for long-term contribution. Starting off, new members will be required to sign a one-year contract. The amount of each developer’s contribution to open-source Bitcoin projects will be one of several criteria used to determine compensation. Cohort developers will receive qualified leadership, mentorship, peer support, help managing relationships, and financial assistance such as stipends for hardware and other incidentals.

Obi Nwosu, a member of the ₿trust board, describes this type of investment into the Bitcoin ecosystem as speculative philanthropy investing that aims to boost the ecosystem’s overall worth rather than maximizing conventional financial metrics of return.

Nwosu stated in an interview with CoinDesk that he believes the benefits of Bitcoin decentralization will be comparable to those of the collaborative approach used by mathematicians and other scientists.

He added, “Mistrust in government is a common theme throughout the global south. This makes the region fertile ground for bitcoin adoption. Regions dominated by authoritarian governments need bitcoin the most. If that is indeed the case, why not invest and nurture Bitcoin developer communities in those regions?” 

The ₿trust Africa Open Source Cohort will enrich the existing grant model with additional structure to make it more suitable for newcomers to Bitcoin open source development. ₿trust will iterate on this model as developers learn but will begin with a focus on mentorship, management, peer support, and project relations.

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Business

According to recent research, NFT artists can still make $121 monthly in the bear market

In a recent study, published on the cryptocurrency and blockchain news website Crypto.news, sales data from 2,675 NFT collections on CoinMarketCap from the previous 30 days were evaluated to determine the average salary for an NFT artist using exchange rates as of July 2022.

The analysis also revealed the monthly earnings potential of NFT artists. The study found that the top 35% of NFT artists made more than the U.S.minimum wage, the top 20% made at least $96,000 annually and the top 10% made more than the top 5% of Americans in terms of income.

According to the data, the average cost of an NFT artwork during the previous 30 days was $232.24. Based on the average NFT price and an average sales volume of 183 sales each month, the average 30-day sales for an NFT collection come to $42,499.92.

The top 20% of NFT artists have a sales potential of $8,000 to $41.5 million per month, with a minimum yearly income of $96,000. Based on income data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, effective NFT artists may be able to make more than an architect, engineer, or fashion designer.

According to yearly estimates, the top 10% earned more than $41,000 in the previous 30 days, placing them in the top 5% of earners in the United States.

The bottom 35% of NFT collections generated no sales, while the top 35% generated at least $1,160 in sales each month which is the monthly U.S. minimum wage. However, the median monthly earnings are $121.47. With an average artwork price of $862.52 for this quartile, the top 25% earn at least $3,773.63 per month or $21.77 per hour from NFT art collections.

These calculations are based on sales data from the previous 30 days and a 40-hour work week.

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Opinions

Uganda is considering launching its own digital currency

According to the Sunday Vision, Andrew Kawer the Director of National Payments at the Uganda Central bank said that despite the Central Bank’s concerns about technology risks such as consumer protection and financial inclusion, the Bank of Uganda is considering launching a digital currency.

He said, “The Bank of Uganda is currently conducting preliminary studies on whether or not to consider a Central Bank Digital Currency, in particular exploring the policy objectives it will address. Is it financial inclusion that we want to solve, is it payments, is it to support innovations in the financial field? That is an unanswered question.”

African countries have approached issues related to crypto in various ways. While countries such as Nigeria’s Central Bank banned local banks from dealing with cryptocurrency before launching its Central Bank Digital Currency, others like the Central African Republic have adopted bitcoin as legal tender.

Due to the poor prevalence of key infrastructures such as smartphones, computers, and the internet, Kawer explained that access to CBDCs may be problematic.

He also stressed that the Central Bank places a high focus on consumer protection.

He said, “In Uganda, we have low levels of digital financial literacy and the population needs a little bit of protection against some of these fairly advanced financial innovations. It could lead to financial exclusion for those who do not have access to the currency.”

On the other hand, he mentioned the bank’s concerns about the volatility of cryptocurrencies which affects its ability to act as a store of value.

Kawer also highlighted that cryptocurrencies have already been used unofficially in Uganda but the Central Bank has warned licensed payment service providers to slowly use them while the regulator studies the technology and develops regulatory mechanisms.

“So the Bank of Uganda has not banned cryptocurrencies, we have put some speed brakes on,” Kawer said.

The Sunday Vision reports that between March 2019 and March 2022, Ugandans received cryptocurrency worth around $4.8 billion.

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Business

Digital partnership to empower 10,000 African tech startups

Three digital platforms, Humanity Node Protocol (HNP), Web3Africa, and Adanian Labs have formed a partnership known as the African Startup League to empower 10,000 startups across Africa. The enterprises will compete for a grand prize of $1,000,000 and access to required tools such as talent, new markets, and resources to scale their businesses and monetize their ideas.

Aly Ramji, Managing Editor and Co-Founder of Web3Africa, the first Pan-African crypto-social network platform said, “A new startup ecosystem is forming in Africa to address the continent’s most pressing issues using crypto and blockchain technology. In the midst of the next digital revolution of the global economy, Africa has yet to realize the promise of blockchain technology fully. So we are committed to changing the perception and understanding among millions across the continent.” 

The African Startup League aims to demonstrate how the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries are expanding across the continent, as well as how businesses are deploying these technologies in a region that is typically seen to lag behind in the adoption and use of cutting-edge digital technology.

“Blockchain and Africa are inevitable. There is no bigger opportunity on the planet today to do good for humanity and get returns while at it,” said Marcus Dukes, the Founder of the Humanity Node Protocol (HNP).

As part of this initiative, at least 300,000 investors from Africa will receive NFTs from Humanity Node Protocol.

“As we’ve seen leapfrogging from the developed world, African techpreneneurs and future innovators can deploy new technologies for the betterment of the continent,” Dukes added.  

For individuals who are chosen, HNP estimates that this business model might produce $1,000 in monthly revenue.

Conclusively, John Kamara, Founder of Adanian Labs emphasized, “The opportunity for young Africans to take part in this initiative has come at a time when the world is witnessing a change in how decentralized finance and blockchain technologies are impacting societies globally and they stand to benefit from this change.”  

“We are using our unique positioning to create and spearhead the sharing economy for Africa by building a socio-economic ecosystem revolving around the sharing of resources, creation, production, distribution, trade, and consumption,” he added.

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Business

Morgan Stanley encourages investors to buy battered El Salvador Eurobonds

As the El Salvadorian President’s bet on Bitcoin fails, Morgan Stanley is prepared to buy El Salvador’s battered bonds which are some of the worst-performing notes this year.

The El Salvadorian Government’s $7.7 billion in Eurobonds have been “overly punished” by the market despite the country having better metrics than other distressed peers, Simon Waever, the Global Head of Emerging-market Sovereign Credit Strategy at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a note yesterday.

The country’s 2027 bond has slumped 32 cents on the dollar to 28 cents this year, touching a record low of 26.3 cents.

Even if the nation is headed for default, according to Waever’s assessment, the debt should trade on average at 43.7 cents on the dollar. However, he acknowledges that is unlikely to happen anytime soon as global liquidity tightens. The estimates do not consider a January 2023 payment of $800 million valued substantially higher at 65 cents on the dollar.

Waever argued that the nation could manage without making late payments for at least another year. It has smaller maturities coming due than other distressed peers like Argentina, Egypt, and Ukraine, and it runs a primary surplus.

The market pessimism toward El Salvador has often been attributed to President Nayib Bukele’s unpredictable policies, from firing some of the country’s top judges to making Bitcoin legal tender and announcing a failed dollar-bond sale linked to the token. 

The price of Bitcoin has dropped by about a third since peaking in November last year, resulting in losses of around 48 percent on Bukele’s Bitcoin bet that began in September. According to statistics gathered by Bloomberg, approximately $56 million worth of Bitcoin is currently held by the country.