Issue 7
Title | BanklessAfrica Newsletter
This is BanklessAfrica Newsletter, a newsletter about staying up to date with well-curated news about crypto and Web3 around Africa.
Hey Bankless fam!
t's been a very eventful week in the crypto space; while others like Three Arrows Capital are potentially becoming insolvent, others are being bailed out — Blockfi and Voyager by FTX. We hope this will be the end of the insolvency parade, but we shall see.
According to a report by Business Insider Africa, crypto adoption on the continent has increased 880% in the past year alone. Nigeria ranks #1 in the world in terms of search volume for the terms "Bitcoin" and "crypto, which is quite interesting for a country that has outright banned cryptocurrency.
We have included a video of what one can do in a bear market, of course #NFA, we also explore African crypto regulation in our main editorial.
This week's podcast features someone who literally didn't have any experience of crypto but was able to land a job as a PR & Marketing Manager at one of the biggest crypto exchanges in Africa. Do you want to know how he did it? Listen to the podcast to find out.
Check out our learning centre, "Intro to Defi", which is a 10 mins slide by the Bankless Academy and read about it in our Pidgin Parlour.
Last but not least, if you love airdrops, we got the perfect one for you.
BanklessAfrica, BanklessDAO strong.
Wamukelekile (Welcome)
📈 Historical Snapshots
As of June 25, 2022
Top Assets by Market Cap
Name: Bitcoin (BTC)
Price: $21 573.58
Market Cap: $410,064,069,796
Name: Ethereum (ETH)
Price: $1 233.45
Market Cap: $149,610,058,057
Name: Tether (USDT)
Price: $0.9995
Market Cap: $66,832,550,779
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🏴 Inside BanklessAfrica
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📰 News & Opinion In and Around Africa
Bank for International Settlements (BIS) to Launch a Market Intelligence Platform for Crypto Assets
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is launching a market intelligence platform. The international financial institution owned by central banks aims to safeguard against threats to digital assets as a part of several projects it is pursuing in its innovation hub.
The bank, which is trying to secure the security of the Central Bank Digital Currency, CBDC, is also exploring how blockchain, smart contracts, and other related technologies will be used for the tracking, delivery, and transfer of digitised Mitigation Outcome Interests.
Their goal is to create an open-source market intelligence platform to shed light on market capitalisations, economic activity, and risks to financial stability.
Bitcoin in Zimbabwe: Importing Cars and Sending Money to Family
When he returned to his country during the COVID-19 outbreak, a young Zimbabwean Bitcoin enthusiast, Ovidy, set up a business using Bitcoin as the backbone, importing automobiles and sending remittance payments.
Ovidy is an entrepreneur who initially encountered Bitcoin while residing in the US and has since developed a company with Bitcoin at its core. He was compelled to return to Zimbabwe from the United States at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Ovidy makes a small commission on car sales and balances his earnings using a reversible Bitcoin remittance money transfer service. He receives Bitcoin from family members across Zimbabwe or from the families of friends who live in Kenya or elsewhere and pays them the money he earns from selling automobiles in exchange due to dollars being in short supply in Zimbabwe, his dollars for their Bitcoin.
African Countries Continue to See an Increase in Cryptocurrency Interest
- Bitcoin finally went up beyond the $18,000 fall mark to $20,000 on Monday after weeks of unbearable market cap loss of about $850 billion, from the initial $1 trillion.
- Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency rates of adoption have enormously grown to over 880% in the last year, not minding the news and trend of the market. With the outstanding idea of the P2P method of transaction, Africans are able to override their local bank payment options, thereby bringing crypto holders across Africa to the forefront.
- Despite the Nigerian government's ban on crypto, citizens of Nigeria still have the highest number of crypto holders across the continent. Nigeria has the highest number of natives searching for "Bitcoin" and "Crypto" keywords on Google in the whole world.
Study: 7.6 Million South Africans Are Crypto Investors, Social Media Main Source of Crypto-Related Information
Research studies carried out by KuCoin cryptocurrency exchanges have shown that about 7.6 million people, 22% of them South Africa's adult population, are cryptocurrency investors, and 65% of them consider crypto as the future of finance.
The report revealed that a higher percentage of the respondents prefer digital assets as a means of saving to acquire stable returns. It also added that 72% of respondents source information on the crypto projects they are interested in investing in via social media. Other sources include influencers and media personalities.
According to this report, however, South African cryptocurrency investors remain positive about the matters of cryptocurrencies, seeing as it is having the right impact on the local crypto market in general.
4 Million Kenyans Suffer Crypto Crash Losses
- A wide number of Kenyans who have adopted cryptocurrency, mostly young people, potentially experienced more devastating and crippling losses despite heavy warnings from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) as Bitcoin dipped below $20,000 again.
- Kenya is among the leading dealers on P2P platforms, with over four million crypto investors and more than the 3.07 million native formal employees across the country.
- The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) in February piqued the public’s interest with the potential introduction of a digital currency — one that could offer benefits mainly in the reduction of cross-border payments costs.
📝 Pidgin Parlour
Contributors: Og, Oge.
Wetin Be DeFi & Why E Make Sense?
DeFi na the financial technology wey dey make products and services dey accessible to anyone wey fit use am, and anyone wey get internet connection.
Wetin DeFi dey do be say, e dey remove the control wey bank and financial institution get for where your money dey. You fit run any transaction wey you want anytime as far as say you get network wey dey work well.
People like DeFi based on say:
- E dey remove all fees wey bank and other financial institution dey collect because say you wan use their services.
- You fit keep your money or secure your money for your digital wallet based on say na you go dey pilot all your transactions and nobody go charge you anything or even ask you questions.
- As far as say you get internet connection, anywhere you dey you fit run any transaction wey you want and e go just go sharp sharp and nobody go even know say you run transaction.
Another thing wey make sense for DeFi be say:
E dey use blockchain technology wey cryptocurrency dey use. E dey use another technology wey dem dey call Dapp(decentralized Finance application) to dey handle transactions and to dey run blockchain.
DeFi dey designed to dey use cryptocurrency dey run transactions and e also get products wey dey help make am make more sense, and the product na wetin we dey call “Peer to Peer”(P2P).
P2P transaction na the one wey be say two parties go gree say dem go exchange cryptocurrency for goods and services, and na only them go run the transaction based on say third party mechanism no comboard for DeFi transactions and third party mechanism no go ever come board.
Peer to peer lending no mean say interests and fees no go dey, just that say plenty option go dey based on say lender fit be anywhere in the world.
📚 Learning Centre
Intro to Defi
Learn the basics of Decentralized Finance. Get familiar with protocol tokens, stablecoins and decentralized exchanges; how to select the best DEX for your needs and understand how DApps work.
🎬EMERGENCY BEAR MARKET LIVESTREAM What to do if you're scared!
😂 Meme Humour
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