📌 Emerging Onchain This Week #19
Our first week of EOTW for 2024 brings us lots of reports to read through, and interesting developments in multiple regions of Africa.
Welcome back crypto friend, we hope this calendar year brings good vibes!
Know others who are looking to know more about the African crypto space? Well…
- Coinbase partners with Yellow Card in 20 African Counties
Through a partnership with Coinbase, prominent African stablecoin exchange Yellow Card, is broadening its offerings in a partnership similar to the one with Moonpay. Starting with the 20 Yellow Card supported countries, Coinbase says this marks its latest step in the “Go Broad, Go Deep” strategy of compliant international expansion.
Expected to empower millions of users with access to USDC and dependable, cost-effective transactions, this enhanced accessibility will be available through Coinbase Wallet where users will be able to send USDC without fees on any platform where they can share a link, and on Yellow Card, where one can purchase USDC on the L2 chain Base, which has cheaper payments and transfers.
- TradFi companies can work with crypto companies in Nigeria
Back in 2021 the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a circular which stated that licensed financial institutions could not operate financial accounts for cryptocurrency traders or platforms. Whilst not banning crypto, it separated crypto from TradFi.
The recent circular from CBN reversed this decision, seemingly following the trend across several African countries of taking a crypto-friendly stance.
- South Africa’s FSCA reviews 128 Crypto License Applications
The South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) received 128 operational cryptocurrency license applications last year in November. Since the closing of applications, there have been 19 withdrawals due to lack of operational frameworks. The FCSA addressed 36 of the applicants in December, with the remaining expected to be addressed in phases between February and March.
The evaluation process is said to include assessing market services, operational policies, and risk management. As the first country to mandate crypto exchanges be licensed, South Africa declared Crypto Assets as a financial product in October 2022, and quickly reached an all-time monthly transaction value of over R8 billion in November 2022.
- Helicarrier Discontinues Buycoins Pro
Crypto company Helicarrier, has announced the ‘sunsetting’ of its professional traders exchange, Buycoins Pro. The company urges users to withdraw their assets within the next three months. Although Buycoins Pro will no longer be available, users can still trade with its Over-the-Counter (OTC) service through Desk.
While the reasons are undisclosed, there are suggestions of possible challenges generating sufficient trading activity, leading to delayed order fulfilment. This closure is another in a long trend of African crypto exchange companies having to either shut down or alter their business models in response to market dynamics and changing industry focus.
- Canza Finance raises $2.3 million
2020 founded Nigerian cryptocurrency startup Canza Finance successfully closed a $2.3 million funding round led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Protocol Labs, Ava Labs, Stratified Capital, and many others. This funding will support development of Canza's DeFi products, including the recently launched Baki.
With approximately $2 million in weekly transactions, Canza serves markets in Senegal, Nigeria, Cameroon, and the United States. The company plans to use the funding to obtain operational licenses across multiple African countries and expand its DeFi infrastructure products. They also plan to comply with regulatory requirements while accelerating infrastructure development, particularly in Africa.
- Borderless Africa’s Magma Residency closes Applications
Borderless Africa announced its two-week in-person residency last year, magma, which is meant to take place on the 3rd - 14th March of 2024 in Kenya, closed applications on the 20th of January 2024. It’s expected to host workshops & office hours with ZK researchers, experts in security, token design, stablecoin infra, DAOs, wallets, Account Abstraction, privacy & payments in Africa.
Shortlisting & interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis, with the final decisions to be made by the 1st of February. Residents can expect hands-on support for the building of the continent’s economy onchain through fireside chats with the likes of Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong, Figma’s Dylan Field, Scroll’s Sandy and Base’s Jesse Pollak.
Product Launch
- Onboard Branches into Kenya
Onboard, which officially launched Onboard Direct last month, continues on its mission to make money more borderless, with its latest P2P exchange expansion into Kenya. In an X post from a week ago, founder Yele Bademosi shared his excitement on this expansion, saying it “marks the start of [Onboard] moving to another frontier.”
Kenyan users can now fund their Onboard USD Cards with Kenyan Shillings, as well as convert their KES to stablecoins at reasonable rates - and vice versa - within minutes. As Onboard continues to grow, more countries are to be expected to be supported through their various products.
According to Circle’s “State of the USDC Economy” 2024 report, Ethereum continues to be the chain with the longest settlement time for USDC with roughly 3 minutes per settlement transaction. Arbitrum One, which is also known for its low fees, comes in first in terms of settlement speed, with 280 milliseconds per settlement transaction, followed not far behind by Solana at 400 milliseconds per settlement transaction.
A non-exhaustive list of some of the useful and/or informative resources we are reading to catch up on the emerging trends affecting crypto globally and in Africa:
Circle’s “State of the USDC Economy” 2024 report
“The Last Mile Report” on the future of DeFi in the LatAm region by Ethereum Foundation fellow Marcus
Electric Capital’s 5th annual “2023 Crypto Developer Report”
James Hunt on the US’s likelihood to pass laws on stablecoins in 2024, written for the Block
Kaito’s explorative think-piece on “The Challenges Behind a "Stablecoin Venmo”
Blog post by Kafka Mining titled “Benefits of Blockchain: Unveiling the Transformative Power”
Sam Adeyemo’s take on the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) saying “token-based CBDCs like the eCedi pose counterfeiting and money laundering risks”
Gwera’s thread comparing Kenyan and US treasury bill rates and why it matters
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