Calaxy, a Black-owned Web3 social marketplace, announced its $1 million fund to give creators more independence. The social marketplace, where users can produce more purposeful experiences to interact with their fans, was founded by tech entrepreneur Solo Ceesay and NBA star Spencer Dinwiddie. Calaxy, short for “The Creator’s Galaxy,” allows each creator to mint their own cryptocurrencies that their fans can buy to interact with their economy or trade value for a social media engagement. In 2022, it raised $26 million in strategic funding co-led by Animoca Brands and HBAR Foundation with
Nigeria is suing Binance for $79.5 billion in economic losses, which it alleges were caused by the cryptocurrency exchange’s actions in the country, and $2 billion in unpaid taxes, according to court documents seen by Reuters. Nigerian officials condemned Binance for Nigeria’s currency problems and detained two of its executives in 2024 following cryptocurrency websites emerging as preferred platforms for trading the local naira currency. Binance is one of the most significant crypto exchange currencies globally but is not registered in Nigeria. It did not respond to a request for
Pryce Yebesi, 24, has sold Utopia Labs, his crypto invoicing business, to Coinbase and announced the launch of his new startup, Open Ledger. Open Ledger implants automated accounting software into products that small businesses currently use and has already raised $3 million in a round led by Kindred Ventures and Blank Ventures, as first reported by TechCrunch. Why did Yebesi launch Open Ledger? Pryce Yebesi started thinking about Open Ledger while running Utopia Labs as the product and operations lead. After noticing that the businesses he operated with still used
Rapper 50 Cent recently claimed that his online accounts were hacked by a cryptocurrency schemer who made millions of dollars in the process. 50 Cent Fans Get Scammed 50 announced on Instagram that the scammer used his Twitter account to promote a crypto-token called $GUNIT – a reference to G-Unit, a hip-hop group that 50 was previously part of. Last Friday the scammer posted “$GUNIT for winners only…” which led an unknown number of users to buy the coin. The scammer also posted screenshots of the $GUNIT crypto, which showed
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%
