Author: Staff

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Business

Binance CEO Responds to SEC Investigation

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently been investigating Binance, questioning the origins of the exchange’s Binance Coin (BNB) for possible securities law breaches. It all began with Bloomberg releasing a report on the SEC investigating the BNB token for doubt whether it was sold as a security in 2017.

While Binance declined to comment on this last week, Binance founder and CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao finally spoke at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2022 responding to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the stories revolving around it.

He responded saying that the exchange had not yet been subpoenaed. He continued stating that he is unclear about what the media knows about the current situation with the SEC however, Binance is collaborating with the regulatory bodies.

CZ also mentioned that Binance doesn’t believe that BNB is a security.

“We strongly believe that BNB is not a security.” He said

 He also added that they have very strong legal opinions to back that claim. 

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Business

Kenyans Lose KSh 1.18 Billion To Crypto Frauds

According to a new report, Kenyans have lost over $10,077,200 USD (KSh 1.18 billion) in a ponzi scheme run by Kenyan and Chinese fraudsters.

In the days leading up to the downfall of Bitstream Circle, the company that was exploiting money from its investors, mostly Kenyans, began to experience delays while attempting to withdraw their funds. The announcement about the crypto frauds was announced shortly after this.

The company penetrated the market on December, 7th last year promising a daily profit return of five to ten percent of the invested cash.

In such a short period, the ponzi scheme had amassed over 10,000 followers on its Telegram page, dubbed “BT Elite Team.” To be added to the group, one had to make a $20 (Sh2,340) deposit.

A mentor was assigned to each investor who would show them how to convert their shillings into crypto coins, trade, profit, and withdraw their funds. Thousands of Kenyans saw it as a simple method to generate quick cash.

Operations were moving on well until March 13th when users began experiencing withdrawal delays.

When questioned about it, the company claimed that it was upgrading its systems and that the upgrade would take five hours to complete. Then, on March 14, the Telegram group administrator broke the news to the investors that;

“You are a bunch of brainless races, see you on our next plan. Bye, haha. I am living a luxurious life with your dollars. If you have invited friends, wait to be killed by your recommenders. Idiots. There will be a time to meet.” the administrator told the 10,914 investors on the Telegram group.

Bitstream Circle suddenly removed its online presence immediately after the telegram announcement and vanished off the internet without warning. Its website and mobile applications, as well as its Telegram profile, are no longer available.  Crypsense Digital Group’s forensic research has revealed that it had defrauded consumers $10,048,350 (Sh1.18 billion) in just 97 days.

According to its YouTube Page, which is the only digital footprint the company left, it was registered in the UK.

“Bitstream Circle Ltd is an active company incorporated on November 25, 2021, with the registered office in South Croydon, Greater London. There is one active director and one active secretary according to the latest confirmation statement submitted on November 25, 2021,” it says.

Information from the registry names Qian Yang, a Chinese national as the director with 10,000 shares worth KSh 1.45 million. After registering the company, Yang moved to start a website and a mobile application.

Two websites, www.btgroup.win and www.bitstreamcircle.co.ke and a YouTube channel, Bitstream Circle went up on December 7 which is when the company entered the Kenyan market. An application using the same name was also created although investors could trade on the two websites.

According to investigations, the two websites were created to provide the company a worldwide outlook and to make its domain easily searchable on Google. A lot of Kenyans were hired as mentors and customer service agents to give the organization more legitimacy. The majority of them were hosted at www.bitstreamcircle.co.ke

On March 14, Bitstream vanished into thin air, but one of its owners had a parting shot for people who were upset about their money disappearing.

“I still drive my Ferrari every day and some of you can’t afford to eat,” he said.

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Business

Saudi Arabia launches NFT souvenirs at the World Tourism Organization’s Executive Council

The Saudi Tourism Ministry and the Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) have recently announced the creation of non-fungible token (NFT) souvenirs.

The Saudi Arabia Minister of Tourism and Chairman Board of Directors of the Saudi Tourism Authority, Ahmed Al-Khateeb, handed the personalized digital mementos, that is to say, the NFT souvenirs to the Heads of Delegations appreciating their attendance at the 116th session of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Executive Council, which was recently held in Jeddah, a city in Saudi Arabia.

A virtual reality art show was conducted on the sidelines of the UNWTO meeting, where a creative artist painted a selection of 3D landscapes inspired by virtual Saudi landmarks. 

These paintings were then converted into NFTs and gifted to the guests along with a ledger wallet that provides an address on the blockchain to access their exclusively owned artworks.

The NFTs souvenirs, according to Al-Khateeb, represent the leadership’s vision for Saudi Arabia’s future and its commitment to digital transformation.

“As technology advances, it is important that we remain at the forefront of innovation,” he said.

According to him, the Kingdom’s tourism infrastructure is built to allow it to embrace new trends and digital transformation, which is one of the ministry’s major priorities.

“The NFTs serve as a bold statement to the world by showing them how distinguished Saudi Arabia is, which has been able to develop an unparalleled tourism sector, where travelers can expect to see and experience unique and futuristic offerings in the Kingdom.”

The Minister of Tourism expressed his happiness that the UNWTO’s guests were able to obtain a digital embodiment through the NFTs souvenirs.

He said, “We are delighted that our guests will get to take home a digital manifestation of their unforgettable moments spent here in the Kingdom’s most exciting touristic landmarks.”

It’s worth noting that Saudi Arabia has achieved significant progress in digital transformation and is working to accelerate the growth of its digital economy in line with Vision 2030’s directions.

The Ministry of Tourism, as part of its commitment to these goals, released a three-year Digital Tourism Strategy earlier this year.

The plan focuses on nine creative projects consisting of 31 main initiatives, with the goal of boosting the sector’s growth, creating new jobs, and fostering innovation.

It’s also worth noting that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) allow creators from all over the world to keep and prove ownership of a digital asset for their creative products, which can include anything from art to music to audio recordings to a tweet, in order to profit from ownership.

The NFTs can be stored on the blockchain system, which is used to track cryptocurrency transactions.

Categories
Opinions

“Current Bear Cycle To Last Through 2022”, Algorand Foundation CEO Projects.

Over the last 5 months, crypto markets have been on a downward spiral with the exception of a brief recovery period around the end of March and the start of April. According to  Algorand Foundation CEO Staci Warden, the storm is not yet over. 

Since the start of the year, the total market capital has experienced a 43.5% drop from $2.189 trillion to $1.237 trillion as per CoinMarketCap. During this period, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and many other top altcoins, including Algorand (ALGO), have incurred massive losses.

In an interview with CoinDesk TV on Thursday, Warden projected that the “bearish cycle” will likely continue at least until the end of this year.

Warden spoke on the current state of the market saying, “Nobody loves the bear market […] but it is an opportunity for the market to separate the weak from the strong. This [bear market] will last at least through 2022, I think.”

According to Warden’s observations, some blockchain projects (especially those without practical use cases) may not survive this period but added that the Algorand ecosystem will not have a problem surviving the market conditions. 

Warden highlighted how Algorand is investing and positioning itself for the long-term as a builder to survive as she said,

“Protocols, initiatives, and developers that are meme-based and don’t have real-world applications may or may not survive the crypto winter.”

Algorand has already been named FIFA’s official blockchain partner and Warden disclosed how the company is looking to lock down many more partnerships like this. 

The Algorand Foundation recently announced a $1 million fund to help Terra developers migrate following the recent Terra ecosystem collapse. Warden also spoke on the Terra incident noting that algorithmic stablecoin projects will advance unaffected by the collapse. 

Algorand has continued to build its presence on the African continent with projects such as the FlexID initiative in Zimbabwe and a partnership with Development Africa Group and Koibanx in Nigeria. 

Through these partnerships, Algorand aims to enhance financial inclusivity and tap into multiple unbanked populations and solve problems plaguing the African continent for long-term sustainability.

CoinDesk TV interview with Algorand CEO Staci Warden

Categories
Technology

Nigeria Stock Exchange Limited Looks to Blockchain To Attract Investors.

Nigeria Stock Exchange Limited is to launch a blockchain-powered exchange platform in 2023 to attract young investors and facilitate more transactions. 

As a leading integrated market infrastructure in Africa servicing the continent’s largest economy, the Nigerian Stock Exchange enables companies looking to take advantage of the financial markets to access the capital needed to expand their business. 

As interest in distributed ledger technology grows, the move follows an introduction of new guidelines to regulate trade in digital assets at a time when regulators and businesses are opening up to the prospects of blockchain. 

According to Temi Popoola, the CEO of the Nigeria Exchange Limited, blockchain technology will be used to settle capital market transactions. In an interview, Temi said, 

“Blockchain technology can facilitate different parts of the capital market, whether around the creation of products or facilitation of the Exchange to trade financial assets.”

The concept has come up even in the aftermath of a crypto-market crash highlighted by the Terra blockchain’s failure in May. Since its all-time high in November, Bitcoin has also lost more than half of its value.

In the first three months of the year, Nigerians accounted for a quarter of the transactions on the crypto marketplace, Paxful, trading about $185 million in the period. 

While young Nigerians account for the largest volume of cryptocurrency transactions outside the US, they have largely ignored the local exchange services. 

The Nigerian exchange will partner with a technology firm and get the approval of regulators before the launch in 2023. 

According to Popoola, “For a lot of young and upcoming Nigerians, this is the kind of technology they adopt and we want to see how we can deploy it to grow our market. Digitizing transactions will help attract young buyers looking for diversified products as well as fast and easy access to the market.”

Last year, the exchange had its first complete electronic share offering issued by MTN Group Ltd.’s Nigeria unit. This offering was 1.2 times oversubscribed with 85% of the investors under 40 years.

However, a tech policy analyst at Stears in Lagos, Gbemisola Alonge, believes that besides blockchain, the listed companies should be able to deliver returns to attract the target investors. 

Alonge is quoted saying, “It’s almost impossible to think of blockchain without including cryptocurrency, so if the adoption is not in agreement with the Central Bank’s position, there may be scepticism from investors. ” 

Last year, the Central Bank cited a threat to the financial system and prohibited commercial lenders from transacting or operating in cryptocurrencies. At the time, Nigeria’s SEC said this was to protect investors and make the market more transparent.

Nigeria led the way in Africa with the introduction of the eNaira last year to boost financial inclusion and blockchain technology has since continued to spread across the continent.

Categories
Business

Edge Announces ‘Confidential’ Crypto Mastercard

Edge, the company behind the Edge cryptocurrency wallet, recently announced the release of a new “Confidential Mastercard” that does not require any personal information to use.

The announcement on Edge’s official website read, “There is no name or address associated with your Edge Mastercard, making for completely private transactions when your card is used.” 

The announcement further added, “We protect your privacy while complying with all requirements for issuers, card associations, regulations, local, federal and international laws.”

Edge co-founder and CEO Paul Puey emphasized, “Definitely not your actual address, you can create a virtual card in around 15 seconds inside of Edge.”

While confidentiality is a big draw for crypto enthusiasts, Puey emphasizes that economic empowerment is the defining principle behind the Edge Mastercard.

“I’ve known a handful of people that are unbanked; they simply cannot get a bank account for whatever reason,” he said. 

The new card isn’t just for Bitcoin transactions. Users can fund their Edge Mastercard with Dogecoin, Litecoin, and Dash.

Currently, Edge has a $1,000 daily spending limit and can be used with Apple Pay. Later, options to use Samsung and Google Pay are expected to be added. Later this month, users will be able to order a physical card for $20.


Holders of the Edge Mastercard will also be able to execute transactions at no cost. Top-ups will be instant as well, eliminating the inconvenience of needing to wait to use cryptocurrency. Edge consumers will no longer need to worry about “pre-loading” monies onto their cards. The card will be accepted both online and in-store for increased convenience. Those who want to shop at an online store can copy and paste their credit card information into the order, as well as add a shipping/billing address.

In Puey’s words, “I can’t be more excited for the launch of the Edge Mastercard. Bitcoin users will finally be able to privately spend at thousands of merchants around the US without compromising any personal info and without fees or delays to top up their card! Users must first sign up for an Edge account. This will allow them to activate a digital card within the Edge app.”

Edge Mastercard holders are expected to enjoy spending crypto at over 10 million merchants. At the moment, the card can only be used by merchants in the United States. However, Edge is working on expanding its use beyond the United States.

To explain Mastercard’s part in this initiative, Puey added, “Mastercard is involved in the entire process. They fully approved this, it’s fully legal and approved by Mastercard. It fits entirely within their framework.”

However, according to decrypt, a Mastercard spokesperson reached out after publication to emphasize that Mastercard has no official involvement with Edge’s card. 

A spokesperson for Edge then responded, “As far as this template card program is concerned with Patriot Bank, it is approved. The specific item that has not been approved is the custom-designed card that we intend to have… the dark blue card with the mint Bitcoin logo that we’ve shared in our imagery with these announcements.”

Categories
Social Good

Jack Dorsey and Jay Z Launch a Bitcoin Academy in Brooklyn

Block CEO, Jack Dorsey, and Billionaire rapper, Jay-Z also known as Shawn Corey Carter have launched a Bitcoin academy in Jay-Z’s hometown, Brooklyn, New York to offer classes about cryptocurrency. The announcement was made yesterday that the classes will be held at the Marcy Houses and will be free for those residing there.

The Bitcoin Academy will not only teach about cryptocurrency but also financial literacy in general.

A “crypto kids camp” will also be part of the financial education program, with participants receiving a mobile hotspot and a small amount of Bitcoin to practice with.

The Bitcoin Academy’s mission is to educate and empower the community with financial knowledge, with a concentration on Bitcoin, which the website characterizes as the “future of money.” Because the digital asset has no limitations, the pair created the program to demonstrate that making all these powerful technologies more accessible to individuals allows them to gain more independence.

Avid Bitcoin enthusiast, Dorsey added that cryptocurrency will soon replace banks and bring economic opportunities to the developing world therefore this is the right time to encourage bitcoin education.

The program will be offered both in-person and online from June to September and will be provided two evenings per week. The classes will also come along with dinner for the students.

The classes will be delivered by Crypto Blockchain Plug, an educational organization, and Black Bitcoin Billionaire, a nonprofit that aims to introduce black people to Bitcoin and has previously received funding from Block.

Jay-Z and Dorsey have been longtime business partners. Together, they have invested in a number of other blockchain projects, including Alchemy, which has powered a number of web3 giants including the NFT marketplace OpenSea. They have also supported a bitcoin development initiative in Africa and India. Additionally, they’ve been at the forefront of a number of crypto-related charities.

Categories
Business

Case Against OneCoin Founder to Advance in Spain.

A judge in the Spanish city of Cordoba has referred the file against the proprietor of the now-defunct OneCoin Ltd that was behind the OneCoin Ponzi scheme.

Ruja Ignatova and her brother Konstantin Ignatov are among the 14 accused of running the illegal association that allegedly defrauded over $4 billion from clients around the world. 

While Konstantin has been detained in the United States since March 2019, his sister, Ruja, disappeared around the time a secret warrant was issued for her arrest in 2017. 

Ruja has not been sighted since her disappearance and the media soon branded her as “The Missing Cryptoqueen” while her brother pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering and fraud and faces a maximum sentence of 90 years in prison.

Even as Ruja’s whereabouts remain unknown, the Cordoba District Judge and the Comprehensive Crimes Prosecutor’s Office have requested that the file against her be referred to trial. 

OneCoin was promoted as a cryptocurrency run by Bulgaria-based offshore companies, OneCoin Ltd and OneLife Network Ltd registered in Dubai and Belize respectively. 

The venture was revealed to be a Ponzi scheme based on its organizational structure and the involvement of a number of key figures who had been linked to similar schemes. It was described by The Times as “one of the biggest scams in history.” 

OneCoin sank its hooks into the pockets of developed and developing countries alike with victims from China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Germany, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Uganda. 

Many of the key figures involved have been arrested including John Mwangutsya, the director of Crypto Bridge African Limited that allegedly worked on behalf of OneCoin and is suspected to have defrauded Ugandans of over UGX. 3 billion. 

The scheme operated by recruiting members who were asked to make an initial investment of $60,000. This would allegedly give them membership with access to educational trading information and “mining” opportunities ahead of the launch of the OneCoin token. 

The first red flag was raised on 1st March 2016 when the market platform issued an internal notice that it was to close for 2 weeks for maintenance due to the “high number of miners” and for “better integration with blockchain”.

No visible changes were seen when the market reopened on 15th March 2016 as transactions continued to expire and in January 2017, the platform shut down without notice.

Much as OneCoin was marketed as a cryptocurrency it was discovered to lack many of the  key features of a cryptocurrency as it was run on a centralized network that was not powered by blockchain technology. 

As such, some affiliates of the company continued to recruit unsuspecting members with the promise of quick returns even after the exchange shut down. 

Ruja has also been linked to sponsoring terrorism by the Kuwaiti Home Department and in May 2022, was added to Europol’s list of “Europe’s most wanted” with a €5,000 reward offered for any information leading to her arrest. 

Categories
Business

Russian Parliament Introduces Bill to Ban Crypto as a Payment Method

Russia has just added to the confusion surrounding its attitude towards cryptocurrency by introducing a bill that prohibits cryptocurrency as a payment method. In recent months, investors have seen Russian legislators and regulators attempt to fully integrate and institutionalize cryptocurrency. However, the lower parliament chamber is now taking away this hope by introducing this bill.

The country has also been working to make cryptocurrency a taxable financial asset and a tool for international trade. 

The bill was filed on Tuesday by Anatoly Aksakov,  the Financial Markets Committee Head of the Russian parliament’s lower chamber, and it plainly specifies that the use of digital assets for any financial operations, including payment for any goods or services, is prohibited.

“The ruble is the official monetary unit (currency) of the Russian Federation. The aforementioned article sets a prohibition against the introduction of other monetary units or monetary surrogates on the territory of the Russian Federation.” states the cover note of the Crypto Bill.

However, the bill has come after Minister of Industry and Trade of the Federation of Russia, Denis Manturov made a contradicting statement in May saying that, “Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies being legalized in Russia for payments was just a matter of time and would happen “sooner or later.”

The new bill would emphasize and formalize the prohibition and oblige DFA exchange managers to decline any transactions employing cryptocurrencies as a form of payment.

Additionally, it also mentions the concept of an electronic platform, which refers to platforms that deal with digital assets. The digital platforms would have to give up their data to the central bank.

Categories
Technology

South African Company Helps Create Local Art for Virtual World

On a daily basis, Fhatuwani Mukheli, a South African artist, paints two paintings in his Johannesburg workshop. A traditional piece, which is an image on cloth, as well as digital art on the Metaverse.

He does this so that his buyers can receive both the physical and virtual art experience and he has already made some profits from this.

He sells his virtual work on an online marketplace called The Tree. He also uses this platform to empower other South African artists and encourage them to sell their work as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

Some of the artists on The Tree offer up to five limited editions of NFTs or digital prints for each piece and the move already seems lucrative.

Mukheli talks about the Metaverse saying, “There’s a virtual world where people are buying land. It is a non-physical world in which individuals interact through different kinds of digital technology. Technology companies like Microsoft and Facebook say it is the future of the internet.”

“People have properties there, and your art can be on those walls,” Mukheli adds

Trevor Stuurman, one of the artists on the Tree also said,
“I think it’s important as an artist and a creative to always play where the ball is going and not necessarily where it’s at.”

Although critics say blockchains and digital places used to store information are not climate-friendly because they use a great amount of computing power, the Tree says it saves energy by running on Polygon, a blockchain that uses much less power, and offsets each sale by sending money to Greenpop, an environmental organization that plants trees across Africa.