Nigeria, Africa’s top cryptocurrency market, is in a major dispute with Binance, one of the biggest names in the crypto world. Nigeria’s government has intensified its crackdown on unregulated crypto activities, resulting in a serious impasse following escalating tensions between Binance and the government. Binance is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. Nigeria cracks down on crypto Nigeria is currently grappling with a debilitating economic crisis, with inflation soaring to nearly 30%. The Nigerian government has turned its attention to cryptocurrency in an attempt to stabilize its currency, the naira (NGN). The
Young Black people are more likely to invest in stocks than their white counterparts, according to a recently published survey by Ariel Investments and Charles Schwab. The survey, conducted in 2022, found that 68% of Black respondents under 40 invested in the stock market, compared to 57% of white under 40s. More Black Americans Investing In Stock The 2022 survey compared Black and white survey respondents with an average household income of $99,000 and $106,000. The study found that overall, the stock market participation is higher among younger Black Americans,
Blockchain research and development lab Polytope Labs aims to transform Africans from consumers to creators in the blockchain space. Founded by Nigerian engineers Seun Lanlege and David Salami, Polytope Labs’ first product is Hyperbridge, a cross-chain protocol designed to facilitate secure communication between blockchains. Africa’s Crypto Adoption and Consumption African countries have some of the highest rates of grassroots crypto adoption among everyday people. However, the continent has mostly been a consumer rather than a builder of blockchain technology. Lanlege drew on his experience of helping to build the Ethereum and Polkadot networks to establish Polytope Labs with David
FTX seeks to reverse payments made to Shaquille O’Neal, Naomi Osaka, Stephen Curry, and other celebrity athletes who promoted the crypto exchange before it filed for bankruptcy. FTX’s collapse Sam Bankman-Fried started FTX in 2019 as a digital currency exchange platform that lets people buy and trade cryptocurrency. Customers began opening accounts on FTX to trade and buy cryptocurrency, and top venture capital investors began pouring into it. According to Tech Target, by January 2022, the company was worth $32 billion. However, that ended in November 2022 when an accounting
Pryce Adade Yebesi is the 23-year-old co-founder and COO of Utopia Labs, a startup on a mission to bridge the gap between crypto and traditional payment systems, and ultimately, create a new internet economy. Recently, Utopia Labs raised an impressive $23 million, making Yebesi one of the youngest Black founders to achieve such a milestone. Driving the adoption of crypto payments Utopia Labs’ founders Pryce Adade Yebesi, Kaito Cunningham, Jason Chong, and Alexander Wu first met on Discord and Twitter. The quad was brought together by an interest in Decentralized
The cryptocurrency market has drastically fallen over the years, with the market decreasing in value by more than $1 trillion. The recent downfalls have shaken the entire cryptocurrency market and resulted in many Black investors experiencing severe losses. One of the most popular cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, fell below $20,000 for the first time in 2020 and has been steadily declining by more than 70%. Over the past seven months, its value has shrunk more than ever, consequently impacting millions of investors in the cryptocurrency market. According to the Financial Times, 25%
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can now track and identify cryptocurrency users using a new software program, Coinbase Tracker. The software, offered on a subscription basis, allows the government and private sectors to trace incoming and outgoing funds made through various digital currencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, and Tether. Last year, Intercept revealed that Coinbase had sold its analytics software license to ICE for $29,000. The analytics program, which provides ICE with crypto users’ “historical geo-tracking data,” is one of several small contracts between Coinbase and the U.S. government. In April 2021,
As cryptocurrency adoption gains steam on the African continent, it will be important for potential investors—and ultimately, regulators—to learn from the scams that have come before. Some high-profile examples of these scams include; back in 2019, Uganda’s Dunamiscoin Resources closed suddenly with $2.7 million in investor money. Dunamiscoin Resources had taken money from more than 4,000 people, promising them returns of 30% returns in 21 days by investing it in bitcoin. The returns never came. Kenya Another is Velox 10 Global, a pyramid scheme with roots in Brazil, in which Kenyans lost
Nestcoin, a Black-owned company founded last November with a mission to build, operate, invest in web3 applications and make crypto accessible to everyone, has raised $6.45 million pre-seed. The company’s products cut across Decentralized Finance (DeFi), media, digital art, and gaming. Described by its founder as a venture collective, it launched its media arm called Breach last year to create bite-sized and informative crypto content for the average African. It also set up Metaverse Magna (MVM), a gaming guild that introduces users to the world of play-to-earn crypto-powered games like Axie
Singer-songwriter Mariah Carey has teamed up with cryptocurrency platform Gemini to inspire more women to get into investing. The app founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss helps people buy, sell, and store their bitcoin and cryptocurrency. The star will be gifting fans $20 in the form of bitcoin when users sign up with the code “MARIAH.” A portion of the trades will be allocated toward Black Girls CODE, a nonprofit on a mission to train one million Black girls on coding to increase their involvement in the digital arena by 2040. “It’s
