Cryptocurrency
Nigeria is Africa’s leader on Bitcoin transfers, transacts $8 million weekly
Data shows that the use of Bitcoin for peer to peer lending in Nigeria is on an astronomical run.
Nigerians increasing their use of BTC is no longer news, but what seems astonishing is the volume that they transact with BTCs weekly, compared to other African countries.
Data shows that the use of Bitcoin for peer to peer lending in Nigeria is on an astronomical run.
Recent statistics obtained from usefultulips, a BTC analytic data provider, stated that Nigeria leads Africa peer to peer lending in 2020, posting weekly P2P volumes of between $8million, followed by South Africa and Kenya posting about $2 million weekly.
READ: Has the President erred in stopping CBN from funding food imports?
Quick Facts: In BTC’s case, peer to peer is the exchange of BTC between parties (such as individuals) without the involvement of a central authority. This means that peer to peer use of BTC takes a decentralized approach in the exchange of Bitcoins between individuals and groups.
It shows that BTC’s long-running narrative as the “digital gold” for hedging against global economic turmoil is gaining the trust of Nigerians for payments and transfers.
READ: Unknown Bitcoin whale moves $1.3 billion in minutes
The financial market turmoil triggered by COVID-19 has definitely changed the way Nigerians view the whole financial system, as data also obtained from Google trend shows Nigeria leading the pack around the world in Bitcoin searches.
This is a testament to the fact that Nigerians truly love their Bitcoins.
It’s important to note that Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission is aware of the high precedence of crypto use in Africa’s biggest economy, and has up come with rules recording to the fast-changing financial sector
READ: SEC discovers 12 ponzi scheme operators, warns investing public
Chimezie Chuta, Founder, Blockchain Nigeria User Group, spoke with excitement on the long-overdue legal framework by the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission regulating digital assets and blockchain investments.
“SEC Nigeria has consistently shown that it has a clear understanding of her role in creating a conducive environment for the growth and development of Virtual Financial Assets, and Cryptocurrencies in general.
“This recent publication will act as a catalyst for mass adoption. It will also create much needed institutional investor confidence for the Nigeria Capital Market.”
Cryptocurrency
#EndSARS: Feminist Coalition raise Cryptos worth $126,000
Feminist Coalition has raised about 9.9 Bitcoins and other cash donations totaling N77.19 million for the #EndSARS movement.
Feminist Coalition, a non-governmental organization originally created to push for gender equality in Nigeria, has become the forerunner of support for the #EndSARS protests. They joined millions of other Nigerian youths across the country to call for police reforms and have raised about 9.9 Bitcoins and other cash donations totaling N77.19 million.
Bitcoin, at the time of this report, traded at $12,887.81 with a daily volume of $27 Billion. BTC price is up 1.1% in the last 24 hours. This means the value of their crypto donation has now reached $126,720.
READ: EndSARS Protest: Feminist Coalition group raises additional N31 million crowdfund in four days
The funds have been largely disbursed to support the protests with hospital bills for injured protesters, food, water, first aid supplies, and more.
READ: #EndSARS: President Buhari asks international community not to make hasty decisions on developments
October 21st, 2020. pic.twitter.com/UCPquA4Vbc
— feministcoalition (@feminist_co) October 21, 2020
Why this matters
- The donations are used in providing medical and legal bills for some Nigerians arrested in recent days, and most importantly to hire private security guards in protecting them against armed gangs, who of late have tried to discredit the theme of the peaceful protests.
- Another critical reason many Nigerian millennials use crypto amid protest for police reforms is that the #EndSARS protests in principle are decentralized. There is no known centralized authority coordinating the protest and the much advantage cryptos have over fiat currencies is that they are decentralized finance assets, meaning funds can’t be controlled, blocked, or disengaged by any central authority.
- Also, crypto donations are very secure, and privacy concerns kept at a minimal level, on the basis you don’t disclose your personal details when making such transfers.
READ: #EndSARS: How Nigerian football players have reacted
The Feminist Coalition is a group of young Nigerian feminists formed in July 2020, with a vision of a country where equality for all people is a reality in our laws and a mission to champion equality for women in Nigerian society.
Its core focus is on education, financial freedom, and representation in public office.
Explore Data on the Nairametrics Research Website
Cryptocurrency
Tether opens up 300,000,000 USDT
Tether’s Treasury minted a whopping 300 million USDT.
Tether, the most valuable stable coin by market value, has become a household name in the fast-changing crypto market.
The latest development is that Tether treasury minted a whopping 300 million USDT, as seen on Whale Alert, an advanced blockchain tracker and analytic firm.
READ: Large BTC entity transfers over $100 million worth of Crypto
💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 300,000,000 #USDT (299,180,785 USD) minted at Tether Treasury
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) October 21, 2020
READ: Bitcoin robbers transfer part of Bitcoin loot worth $1.4 billion
At the time of this report, Tether traded at $0.999746, with a daily trading volume of $33,341,910,985. USDT price is flat in the last 24 hours. It has a circulating supply of 16 Billion coins and a max supply of 10.2 Billion coins.
To show how fast the third most valuable crypto by market value has become relevant, data from Glassnode, an on-chain analytics provider, showed Tether transaction volume increased by around 20% over the past 30 days, to reach that new cumulative milestone.
READ: 2 TRON whales transfer over 120,000,000 TRX
What you should know
Tether is designed as a blockchain-based cryptocurrency whose digital coins in circulation are backed by the same value of traditional fiat currencies like the U.S dollar, Japanese Yen, or the Euro. It trades under the ticker symbol USDT.
READ: Ripple Whale transfers 20,000,000 XRP to Binance
Backstory
Nairametrics had earlier outlined a report on the organic growth of Tether’s market capitalization, as one of the major reasons for the gain Bitcoin (BTC) is presently having in the mid-term. Interest in digital links to the dollar represents the need to handle and store value in the world’s reserve currency, without an intermediary.
Cryptocurrency
Paypal to offer Cryptos by early 2021
This offering was made possible through a partnership with Paxos Trust Company
PayPal Holdings, Inc. on Tuesday announced it will be providing its users the opportunity to buy, hold and sell cryptos directly from their PayPal account by early next year.
It also hinted at a strategy to significantly boost its crypto’s utility capability by making it readily available as a funding source for purchases at its 26 million clients globally.
READ: Chatbot provider, eBanqo, builds value system for customer-facing organisations
In a press statement seen by Nairametrics, Dan Schulman, president, and CEO, PayPal, gave key insights on why the global payment company was going crypto; “The shift to digital forms of currencies is inevitable, bringing with it clear advantages in terms of ;
- financial inclusion and access,
- efficiency
- speed
- resilience of the payments system
- and the ability for governments to disburse funds to citizens quickly.”
READ: Commercial Paper value appreciates by N243 billion YOY, hits N539.8 billion in H1, 2020
“Our global reach, digital payments expertise, two-sided network, and rigorous security and compliance controls provide us with the opportunity, and the responsibility, to help facilitate the understanding, redemption, and inter-operability of these new instruments of exchange,” he said.
Furthermore, he said, “We are eager to work with central banks and regulators around the world to offer our support and to meaningfully contribute to shaping the role that digital currencies will play in the future of global finance and commerce.”
This offering was made possible through a partnership with Paxos Trust Company, a regulated provider of crypto services and products.
READ: FG set to provide interest-free loans and agricultural inputs to farmers
PayPal was also granted a conditional Bitlicense by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), In a statement credited to Linda A. Lacewell, superintendent, NYDFS, she said; “NYDFS’ approval today follows our June 2020 announcement for a new framework for a conditional Bitlicense to encourage, promote, and assist interested institutions to have a well-regulated way to access the New York virtual currency marketplace in a way that is both timely and protective of New York consumers, through partnerships with New York authorized virtual currency firms.”
She continued, “NYDFS will continue to encourage and support financial service providers to operate, grow, remain and expand in New York and work with innovators to enable them to germinate and test their ideas, for a dynamic and forward-looking financial services sector, especially as we work to build New York back better in the midst of this pandemic.”
COVID-19 Update in Nigeria
Breaking: Senatorial, State House of Assembly bye-elections postponed – INEC
#EndSARS: President Buhari issues stern warning to hoodlums
#EndSARS: President Buhari tells Youths to discontinue street protests
#EndSARS: President Buhari asks international community not to make hasty decisions on developments
COVID-19 Update in Nigeria
Daily Parallel Market Exchange Rate – ₦461/$1
#EndSARS: Tinubu says he has no investment in LCC, collects no dime from Lekki Tollgate
Sanwoolu says curfew may be partially lifted
Naira stabilizes in forex markets as dollar supply hits record low during curfew
