This was an eventful week for the crypto community worldwide. The crypto market has crashed several times this week, and FED has everything to do with these price plunges. But here in Africa, we had a lot going in our crypto industry, with the Binance massive account suspension being one of the most talked-about topics, and that's where we will start our news digest.
On Thursday, some parts of Africa woke up to a massive crackdown by Binance. Twitter was on fire on the morning of 27th July 2022 as Binance users across Africa demonstrated the company's decision to suspend or close some African accounts.
On Twitter, #BinanceStopScamming was trending in most parts of Africa in the early hours of the morning. But why would the largest crypto-to-crypto cryptocurrency exchange decide to suspend or close their customers' accounts?
The major reasons a Binance account can be suspended include Risk control, P2P Violation, and TOU (terms of use) Violation. There have been issues of increasing cryptocurrency scams in Africa, with Nigeria being the focal point, according to a Whitestream report.
This explains why the most affected by the recent crackdown were Nigerians. However, it seems like the account closing spree may have also affected innocent Binance users. This could be the reason why Binance decided to address the issue after numerous complaints of users pleading innocent
On the Binance Africa Twitter handle, this is what they put up" (1/4) If you're a Nigerian #Binance user and you believe your account is wrongly suspended, please fill in this form and we will investigate." Binance Africa (@BinanceAfrica) 26th January 2022. Maybe some got their accounts restored.
Even with a vicious crackdown on scammers using its exchange, Binance is also highly interested in the African crypto market. This can be seen from its participation in the TotalEnergy African Cup of Nations, AFCON 2021. The tournament came at the perfect time when Binance is trying to capture the budding African crypto market.
This is one of the events that brings together millions of Africans, especially youths, cheering their favourite teams. Binance is not just a mere official sponsor of the biggest football tournament in Africa but also the first crypto sponsor of the event.
The deal, which is between the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the crypto company, includes the promotion of the CAF content by Binance. This is why Binance has been highlighting the events on its social media platforms.
From the sponsorship, Binance is promoting the assist of the day, assist of the week, and the assist of the tournament. So the sponsorship has been good for African football, and it will be getting coverage from the global Binance community.
With the sponsorship, Binance will have reached millions of potential customers because football is one of the most popular sports in Africa.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/binance-sponsors-afcon-to-further-develop-crypto-adoption-in-africa
In other news, Africa could soon be home to millions of Crypto-loving anti-vax groups. Yes the group is staying in Tanzania and now looking for experts to live with them in what they call the 'African Paradise.' The anti-vax group have settled in archipelago Zanzibar, Tanzania, under a real estate company called Liberty Places Ltd.
But why Tanzania? The country has become an ideal place for anti-vaxxers because it is one of the implementing COVID measures recommended by the WHO. The country did not accept the presence of the coronavirus during the reign of former President John Magufuri, and life went on in Tanzania just like nothing was happening.
Even with the current regime, very few COVID measures have been taken, and vaccination is very minimal. This is why the anti-vax groups have been finding Tanzania a perfect 'paradise' away from Europe, the US, and other countries observing covid mitigation measures.
The crypto-loving anti-vax groups want to use the latest technology for its' African Paradise, including blockchain and cryptocurrency.' How this will work remains to be seen because the government of Tanzania banned cryptocurrency in 2019. However, the current president recommends a review of the ban and looking more into Bitcoin adoption.
Another exciting story this week is Bitcoin providing sustainable energy in Africa. Staying to its core principles of making financial services available to people across the world, Bitcoin holders through Sun Exchange have been enabling various parts of Africa, and more so Southern Africa, to get access to solar energy.
The latest is a $1.4m solar project in Zimbabwe. It is one of the biggest installations that Sun Exchange has handled in Africa so far. The Nhimbe Fresh project is for farmers growing berries and vegetables and comprises about 250 smallholder farmers.
The project was funded by Bitcoin users from over 98 countries, with more than 1,905 participating in the crowdfunding. According to Sun Exchange, the Nhimbe Fresh project is the highest-valued of the over 50 projects they have handled.
Now farmers can have constant green energy, which is cheap, and the Bitcoin investors will be getting returns from their investment through the sale of the harvested energy. The project will last for 20 years, which is the period the investor will get a yield of around 11%, which is in Bitcoin.
Without Bitcoin investors, the Nhimbe community wouldn't have gotten cheaper and more sustainable energy. At the same time, investors will be getting good returns from this project. That's what decentralisation is all about.
Last on our news digest is the financial decentralisation becoming a reality. Now Africans in Nigeria will have to access loans from decentralised platforms. MELD, one of our amazing partners, is the crypto company that is making this possible.
Staying true to the blockchain technology's objective, the crypto company will be providing Nigerians cheaper loans than what the local banks are offering.
MELD, an open-source and non-custodial liquidity protocol, is a company that facilitates lending and borrowing crypto and fiat currencies. To reach more deserving Nigerians for microloans, MELD is partnering with Nigerian telco Tingo.
The telecommunication n company will facilitate the distribution of loans, which is something it has been doing for some time now. Tingo Mobile has been playing a critical role in promoting the Nigerian agricultural sector through technology and financial services.
With MELD targeting the rural regions, thousands of Nigerians who could not access loans from formal financial institutions will now get cheaper loans. The disbursement of these loans will be done through the Tingo Mobile wallet.
This is a huge development in the right direction. We are likely to see more Africans access cheaper loans from the global financial market through such crypto companies.
These are just some of the interesting crypto-related things happening around Africa. Keep up with the latest updates on the African crypto industry by following our social media platforms. Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KamPayToken and our Telegram: https://t.me/KamPayOfficial.
George Hung our chief of staff is a leader in management and B2B relations, running multiple successful business across many boarders.
