Browsing: bitcoin

Nala Money has Payment Service Provider licenses in several countries, including its founder’s home, Tanzania. In 2020, Africa’s e-payments industry,…

Currently, financial inclusion is a target that all African countries must achieve. Boosting Africa’s financial inclusion will have a positive impact on economic growth and the prosperity of society. Through financial inclusion, everyone has access to a variety of quality, effective, and efficient financial services. Increasing public accessibility to financial service products will further reduce the level of economic and social inequality which in turn will improve the welfare of the community.

One of the efforts to achieve this financial inclusion target is through technology in the form of digital finance. When financial products and services use internet technology, it makes it easier for people to directly access various kinds of payments, shopping, savings, and investments, including loan and credit facilities. Among these digital financial elements, the payment facility is the service that is experiencing the fastest development and contributes greatly to the achievement of Africa’s financial inclusion targets.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recently published the Economic Development for Africa 2023 Report. The document, titled “The Potential of Africa to Capture Technology-Intensive Global Supply Chains,” looks at Africa’s capacity to become a prominent player in global supply chains for “high-technology” industries, which include automobiles, mobile phones, green energy, and healthcare.

However, integrating cryptocurrencies with conventional financial systems becomes increasingly essential as they become more commonplace. This presents several obstacles to overcome before cryptocurrencies can realise their full potential. For instance, traditional institutions may be hesitant to work with cryptocurrencies due to concerns about money laundering and other illicit activities. Moreover, the technical difficulty of integrating cryptocurrencies with existing banking systems can prove intimidating.

When CBDCs first came to the fore, many touted such a move as a game-changer in digital finance. Many had thought that the adoption of CBDCs in Africa would take the shape of the adoption of cryptocurrencies, where the region leads in many aspects. However, challenges remain. Lack of the requisite infrastructure, low levels of financial literacy, and operational and regulatory challenges have combined to contribute to low penetration and adoption rates for CBDCs.

The lack of adoption is a current failure point for many launched CBDCs. Nigeria’s eNaira had a million customers one year into its launch, a smattering of its 221 million population. The real challenge of CBDCs lies in developing a clear sense of purpose. African central banks must answer to the kind of role that CBDCs will play in the economy and financial systems.

Among the ways that the colonizers slowed down the growth and unity of Africa is through the demarcation of boundaries 60 years ago. These boundaries gave birth to over 41 different currencies on the continent that have complicated intra-African trade.

The continent uses over 5 billion dollars in currency conversion, monies that could have been directed to other economic development projects. African countries’ attempts to form a common regional currency have proven futile precisely because of all the frameworks of laws that need to be revised and harmonized in the different countries.

African countries’ attempts to form a common regional currency have proven futile precisely because of all the frameworks of laws that need to be revised and harmonized in the different countries. For example, the eco in West Africa and the shilling in East Africa.

Ghana and Nigeria have even gone ahead to create their central bank digital currencies, indicating their lack of belief in the workability of the eco.

What does this mean? In the next 100 years or more, Africa cannot create a common currency acceptable throughout the continent.

Cryptocurrencies and the technology that enables them, blockchain, are here and they are here to stay. They are not a…

The race to adopt cryptocurrencies is hitting new ceilings in Africa as their popularity increases, despite hostile policies from several governments in the continent.

One of the main reasons investors across the globe are seeking to diversify traditional assets in Africa into cryptos is to counter rising fiat inflation, with a majority of crypto investors and traders believing that crypto coins and tokens are safer and more secure than traditional investments such as gold, oil, stocks, liquid cash and real estate.

The roles that these cryptos and alternative coins play in society are not well defined, but they have a vivid description as each day passes as to which purposes they serve.

The trio bought bitcoins worth KSh5 billion (US$43 million) in the UAE, the United States and several other European countries,…