Web3 Needs Africa | BanklessAfrica Newsletter
This is BanklessAfrica Newsletter, a newsletter that helps you stay up to date with well-curated news about crypto and Web3 around Africa.
Hey Bankless fam!
It's the second half of the year and we're excited to be kicking it off by bringing you the 8th issue of our newsletter.
In this week's issue, we will share a bit on why Web3 needs Africa versus the alternative of Africa needing Web3. Intrigued yet? All we can say for now is keep an open mind, you might be surprised.
In our most recent podcast episode, our featured guest is Simon Peters, DAO Architect and co-founder of the Waya Collective, which is a fund DAO built on Cardano. Stay tuned to learn about Waya's objective in building equitable incentive-based networks in order to replace outdated, rigid, and ineffective banking systems in Africa.
How much do you know about stablecoins? Whether you’re an expert or somewhere near zero, this week's issue has got you covered. It can be difficult to understand new concepts when they are in a language you do not speak on a regular basis, so this stablecoin read is all in Pidgin! You can also check out the learning centre to learn more on the basics of Blockchain.
Finally, this week's findings in the airdrop hunt might just leave you breathless. Go check it out.
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Contributors: Teafeh, Og, Oge, Chameleon, Paulito, Anointingthompson1, Miss purple, Trewkat, Yofi.
📈 Historical Snapshots
As of July 03, 2022
Top Assets by Market Cap
Name: Bitcoin (BTC) Price: $19,133.43 Market Cap: $365,281,651,285
Name: Ethereum (ETH) Price: $1,056.43 Market Cap: $128,246,060,619
Name: Tether (USDT) Price: $0.9991 Market Cap: $66,170,685,389
Web3 Needs Africa
Author: Teefah
Despite the fact that the crypto market is currently experiencing a decline, the adoption of crypto-centric technology has drastically increased across the globe and in particular, in Africa.
Whether we choose to call it the blockchain, crypto, DeFi, Web3 or any other term, this new frontier ecosystem is becoming a great force and Africa is refusing to sit this one out in the best of ways. If you've been out of the loop on these crypto-based innovations, there is no better time than now to wise up and get clued in.
Africa is seeing a widespread continental growth in the amount of mainstream financial bodies that have chosen to take some form of participatory action, mostly by recognising that this space has massive economic opportunities.
Whether we see it or not, we as the continent of Africa represent the most potentially profitable of regions in FinTech, DeFi and Web3.
How Crypto Has Thrived in Africa Despite the Stringent Crypto Regulation
According to a report from Chainalysis, cryptocurrency transactions across Africa increased by 1200% between July 2020 and June 2021, and by 2500% from 2021 to 2022. These high adoption rates are being seen in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania; Africa was ranked 3rd in the fastest-growing crypto economy globally during this period. In addition, the continent is home to the world's second-largest Bitcoin (BTC) market after the U.S. and has recorded a cryptocurrency market growth of over $100 billion in the previous years.
Africa also tops the list of continents with the highest overall crypto transactions volume on peer-to-peer platforms.
What's even more interesting is that most of the African countries with the highest amounts of activity have strict regulations regarding the use of cryptocurrency and other digital assets. Despite this unfriendly administration, the crypto sector continues to thrive; Africans are embracing its innovation, finding a workaround for both the implied and definitive crypto bans in their various countries.
With or without regulation, Africa is a force that cannot be stopped in the Web3 revolution. Africa is more important to crypto than meets the eye.
Cross Collaboration of International Firms With African Initiatives and Local Brands
In recent months and years, the rate at which crypto companies are collaborating with the local FinTech and entertainment sectors is quite impressive. Why? Because before, collaborations seemed to be quite heavily interested in the arenas that educate and help Africans embrace crypto-based technology. The goal it seems, outside of vying for exposure, is to encourage the ever growing curiosity of Africans in the adoption of this technology.
A few examples on this sort of collaboration are Binance's partnership with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to sponsor the AFCON 2021 tournament and its sponsorship of one of the biggest singing Talent shows in Nigeria — Nigerian Idol Season 7, all on a mission to bring blockchain to a larger audience.
Leading blockchain networks such as Ethereum, Celo, Stellar and a few others are actively pursuing the thriving Web3 economic market in Africa.
Some of Celo's Africa focused projects include its microwork pilot project with Mercy Corp to drive financial inclusion and easy access to digital jobs in Kenya, and the CeloCamp Bootcamp seeks to support African startup companies.
The Ethereum Foundation, in partnership with ACRE, a company that issues microinsurance. funded insurance for over 17,000 farmers in Kenya.
Sometime back, the Stellar Development Foundation partnered with Flutterwave, a global FinTech company, to launch a Europe-Africa remittance corridor. The foundation also organised a blockchain Bootcamp for African startups. The list of their initiatives goes on.
It is worth noting that FinTech is growing quite positively in Africa. In fact, Africa has one of the top crypto FinTech startups worldwide, and it seems possible that the future of Fintech is in DeFi and Web3.
In 2022 and beyond, powered by Web3, Crypto, DeFi and FinTech will continue to merge even more and give room to more developments; this merging of crypto and FinTech will be an opening to an even wider range of opportunities beyond just the decentralisation of financial flow.
Africa evolving to be a hub of innovation in Web3 and crypto adoption is a realistic possibility; this growing adoption could leave potential investors with no choice but to acknowledge the enormous financial proposition presented to their businesses by this continent.
Final Take
The world is shifting to be more welcoming and central to Web3, a characterised decentralised crypto-based web that uses blockchain technology to create transparency, is permissionless and open source, and anyone who wishes can make use of the available information.
Web3, the newest big thing in crypto, needs Africa, with its drive and enthusiasm towards adopting new technologies, its massively vibrant youth population, as well as its rich desire to strive for better financial opportunities. Africa could be the golden goose of the financial revolution.
No doubt that this current Web3 economy is giving rise to limitless opportunities for users to create, offer services, sell products, and so much more; the significance for Africans goes beyond just the surface.
The earlier more Africans jump on the trend, the better; here, it would seem that everyone can win, no one needs to be left behind.
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📰 News & Opinion In and Around Africa
Lending Network Enables Transparent Credit History in Africa via Blockchain Partnership
Author: Ezra Reguerra
Mobile banking platform Aella, has entered into a partnership deal with the Creditcoin Network to create an open credit banking system through its provision of transaction histories via Creditcoins public blockchain.
The lack of proper financial structures in Nigeria has had a hand in leading a wide mass crypto adoption/autonomy in the country, further prompting citizens to maximize their participation in the crypto space; all this comes about as Nigerians look for better ways to move financial assets.
Funding for startups grew by 11x in 2022 alone, predictions have been made that because of this, a blockchain unicorn might surface in the African region in a few years time.
Central African Republic President Launches Crypto Initiative Following Bitcoin Adoption
Author: Turner Wright
Sango, the crypto initiative launched by the CAR president, intends to establish a ‘legal crypto centre’, increase the use of Bitcoin, and establish a ‘crypto island’ - a unique economic region in the metaverse.
The Central African Republic's President, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, declared that the nation will support the project as it is aimed at building a paramount blockchain infrastructure for the nation. By the end of 2022, the CAR expects to have in place a very specific legislative framework for cryptocurrencies.
Touadéra and the CAR's intentions to adopt cryptocurrency appear to be imitating those of El Salvador, whose Bitcoin Law made digital money legal tender effective from September 2021.
Uganda’s Gold Discovery: What it Could Mean for Crypto
Author: Andrew Singer
The discovery of gold in Uganda is to many more evidence for why the 200 million or more Bitcoin owners may be onto something by believing that Bitcoin, sometimes known as "digital gold," outperforms real gold in terms of its rarity, dependability as a store of value, along with its transparency. Gold as we know it has thrived as a store of value for this long because it is said to be durable, scarce, and is quite difficult and costly to mine; for example, it takes roughly 3000 tonnes of gold ore to produce a single gram of refined gold. This is an inefficient expensive process, that many believe Bitcoin can challenge.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the assistant professor in the Department of Finance at the University of Central Florida, Eshwar Venugopal, says the popularity of Bitcoin as a store of value will eventually tie back to the stock market, he claims that as institutional investors participate more, “I see [it] becoming a risk asset but not as a ubiquitous store of value because it is volatile, highly inefficient to mint and challenges sovereignty.”
Vijay Ayyar, the Vice President of Corporate Development and International at Luno, stated that as a first step to this kind of global adoption, Bitcoin penetration levels would need to first increase drastically. He adds that the current situation of Bitcoin is unprecedented, that the asset class as a whole is being put to the test.
Report: Morocco’s Central Bank to Unveil Crypto Regulation Bill Soon
Author: Terence Zimwara
The Moroccan Central Bank is currently working on a cryptocurrency regulation framework bill, which will be introduced soon, according to the Bank's governor, Abdellatif Jouahri.
Morocco's money laundering and anti-terrorism financing regulations will be upgraded as a result of the regulatory framework being developed.
While the Central Bank has previously acknowledged that Moroccans will most likely adopt cryptocurrencies, it has also, along with the Ministry of Finance and the Moroccan Capital Market Authority, repeatedly warned of the risks associated with their use.
9 Out of 13 African Countries Chasing CBDCs Are in Research Phase, Says The IMF
Author: Kodzilla
Only 13 countries across Africa are in their various phases of researching, administering, implementing and putting to use, the Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) according to reports from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Experimentations with wholesale CBDCs are ongoing in the South African Reserve Bank. These financial assets can only be utilized by institutions involved in finance for inter bank transfer purposes.
The IMF says that governments need to make access to phones and reliable internet connections easier if they expect to be successful in their financial digital migration, particularly countries like Ghana, where the Central Bank plans to incorporate the e-cedi for the purpose of retail, which would mean anyone with a digital wallet or contactless smart card would be able to interact with it.
🥷🏾 Airdrops Hunter
📝 Pidgin Parlour
Wetin Be Stablecoin & Why Stablecoin Dey Important?
Stablecoin na the cryptocurrency wey dey pegged to a stable reserve asset like the U.S dollar. Stablecoins na the crypto currency wey them build to dey help reduce volatility relative to unpegged crypto currency like bitcoin.
Stablecoins na the bridge between crypto currencies and everyday fiat currencies because say their prices dey pegged to a reserve asset like the US dollar.
Before, if you wan travel outside the country you go wan change your currency based on say the country wey you dey travel to no dey use the same currency wey you dey use, but blockchain and crypto currency like stablecoin don make am dey easy based on say you no need to dey go bank or any fiat currency exchange dealer to go dey change currency. Stablecoins don make international transactions dey more easy and faster as far as say your internet connection dey go well, within minutes any transaction wey you do go just go sharp sharp.
Why Stablecoins Dey Important:
Stablecoin users no need plenty international bank accounts to dey send crypto to everybody, na only crypto wallet you need and you fit run any digital transaction anytime and anywhere you dey
Stablecoins dey also help peer 2 peer transactions dey more easy based on say you no need any intermediary to dey manege or dey sign your payments, you get control over any payment you wan run based on say e be part of DeFi.
Stablecoins dey open, global and e come dey accessible to anyone wey dey on the internet
Stablecoins also dey cheap and secure to transmit
Things wey you fit use stablecoins do:
You fit use am trade or save assets; based on say you no need bank account to hold stablecoin
You fit dey earn interest with stablecoins based on say na crypto currency and e fit increase anytime
📚 Learning Centre
Blockchain Basics
Cryptocurrencies, DeFi, and Web3 are all made feasible by blockchain technology. Learn more about the creation and operational functions of blockchain networks.
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