Connect with us

News

Weekly Roundup: South Africa Launches Project Khokha 2, CBN Gets Sued Over Crypto Ban

Published

on

How to cash out bitcoin

The crypto capital markets saw another interesting week where ETH hit a new all-time high past $1800. Additionally, South Africa launched Project Khokha 2 while Mastercard announced plans to bring crypto on its network and the Central Bank of Nigeria faces a legal pushback following last week’s crypto banking ban.

South Africa Launches Project Khokha 2

The Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG) Innovation Hub has announced the launch of Project Khokha 2. The project will investigate the policy and regulatory implications of tokenisation in the financial markets.

“Project Khokha 2 will issue, clear, and settle debentures on DLT using tokenised money in a minimum viable product (MVP) to inform policy and regulatory reflections. Industry participants will be able to purchase the debentures with a wholesale central bank-issued digital currency (wCBDC) and a wholesale digital settlement token (wToken). The wToken can be seen as a privately issued stablecoin used for interbank settlement,” said IFWG in a statement.

The participants of this project are Absa, Nedbank, First Rand Investec, Standard Bank, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and Strate. Furthermore, IFWG has given Accenture the task of creating the wCBDC, while Block Markets Africa will develop the wToken and produce DLT-based debentures. Additionally, Deloitte will document the insights of Project Khokha 2.

The first Project Khokha aimed to explore the feasibility of a Central Bank Digital Currency as an electronic legal tender.

Civil Society Organisation Sues CBN Over Recent Bank Payments Ban

buy bitcoin in nigeriaThe Digital Rights Lawyers Initiative, a civil society organisation, has sued the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for banning banks from facilitating payments for crypto exchanges.

The society argued that CBN does not have the power to prohibit financial institutions from handling crypto transactions. Furthermore, it highlighted that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the country had declared digital assets legal.

As a result, the lawyers are seeking “perpetual injunction restraining [CBN] from regulating and/or further regulating virtual currencies/ cryptocurrencies in Nigeria.”

Irene Chukwkuelu filed the case in court on behalf of the organisation on February 8, after CBN imposed the ban on February 5.

Mastercard to Bring Crypto On Its Network

Mastercard Inc. has said that it is planning to provide support for several cryptocurrencies on its network. Presently, Mastercard offers crypto cards to its customers. However, these transactions do not go through its network.

“This is a big change that will require a lot of work. We will be very thoughtful about which assets we support based on our principles for digital currencies, which focus on consumer protection and compliance,” Mastercard stated.

The company made it clear that it is not recommending people to start using cryptocurrencies. Additionally, it specified that introducing crypto support on its network will allow customers, businesses, and merchants to move digital value however they want.

Mastercard will join companies like Tesla and PayPal that are embracing cryptocurrencies. Recently, Tesla bought $1.5 billion of bitcoin and announced it would start accepting bitcoin payments. Also, Visa announced plans to launch an API for banking with bitcoin.

SARS Clamps Down on Non-Compliant Crypto Traders

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is requesting taxpayers that hold cryptocurrencies to reveal their trading activities. This is according to tax firm, Tax Consulting South Africa, which acquired enquiries from taxpayers that had received audit requests.

SARS also asked the taxpayers to send information detailing their reasons for buying crypto, a letter from the trading platform confirming the investment, and bank statements.

“This would have been reasonably expected by the taxpayers, if they had made any disclosure of cryptocurrency-linked trading amounts in their returns, along with the rental amounts and certain investments that were indeed disclosed to SARS,” said Tax Consulting South Africa. “However, in this case, we had explicitly confirmed that the taxpayers had not, to their knowledge, ever effected a cryptocurrency-related transaction.”

Nevertheless, the move shows that SARS is actively clamping down on non-compliant crypto traders who could pay a fine or serve up to two years in prison. In 2018, SARS carried out an exercise to identify and track the transactions that crypto traders were performing.

The cryptocurrency tax in South Africa requires taxpayers to declare all crypto-related taxable income. That includes crypto to Rand transactions and crypto to crypto transactions.

To learn more about Bitcoin, download the Bitcoin Beginner’s Handbook for free.

Bitcoin Beginner's Handbook

BitCasino

News

Weekly Roundup: Africa’s Cassava Network Partners with UniPass to Expand Crypto Adoption in Africa & More

Published

on

Cassava Network Partners with UniPass

In this week’s news roundup, you will read about Cassava Network, an African Web3 platform that has partnered with UniPass to advance crypto adoption in Africa, and more.

African Web3 Platform, Cassava Network, Partners with Self-custody Crypto Wallet to Expand Crypto Adoption in Africa

Cassava NetworkCassava Network, an African Web3 platform with a focus on gaming, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and rewards, has announced the launch of the third version of its platform that features integration with UniPass, a non-custodial smart contract, enabling users to use their email addresses instead of seed phrases and gas. 

The partnership will enable Cassava Network to onboard Africans from Web2 to Web3 as users will be able to create Cassava accounts and automatically sign up to UniPass where they will be able to send, receive, and store on-chain digital assets across various Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) blockchains. 

Speaking about the launch of the new platform version, Mouloukou Sanoh, Co-founder of Cassava Network, said, “Cassava v3 serves as a bridge for global Web3 businesses to connect with African Web2 users.”

Sanoh went ahead to mention that 90 percent of the partners engaging with the community feature of the new version are African businesses. 

Benjamin Obenze, Cassava Network’s Business Developer, in an interview said that African users and businesses will be able to use the new platform version to enter Web3 spaces. 

Nigeria Leads the African Continent with Crypto Leverage Searches on Google

According to an analysis of Google searches done by Leverage Trading, Nigeria scored the second-highest globally (94) for searches related to crypto leverage in the last five years. 

Singapore is the only country that outscored Nigeria with a score of 100 regarding searches but with more emphasis on transactional searches like ‘how to leverage trade crypto’. South Africa and Ghana follow Nigeria closely as both countries have also dominated Google searches for the term ‘trade crypto.’ 

Despite Nigeria leading in the crypto leverage searches and South Africa and Ghana following closely, Leverage Trading established that Africa still lags behind when it comes to searches for the term ‘stock leverage.’ 

To learn more about Bitcoin, download the Bitcoin Beginner’s Handbook for free.

Bitcoin Beginner's Handbook

BitCasino
Continue Reading

News

Weekly Roundup: Kenyan Senate in Discussion with CBK to Legalise Bitcoin & More

Published

on

kenya legalise bitcoin

In this week’s news roundup, you will read about the Senate initiating talks with the Central Bank of Kenya to develop policies on digital assets, Zambia’s move to test the tech it desires to use for crypto regulation, and more. 

Kenya’s Senate to Hold Discussions with CBK to Legalise Digital Assets

The Committee on Information, Communication & Technology, under the Senate of the Republic of Kenya, has made its intention known that it will engage the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and other stakeholders to develop policies on the use of crypto assets and virtual service providers in the country.

The news was shared on the official Twitter page of the Senate of Kenya. The committee is keen on facilitating the development of a crypto regulatory framework that can enable Kenyans to carry out safe and secure crypto transactions. Moreover, the committee also noted that having regulations on cryptocurrency use in the country will help Kenya to harness the benefits of financial innovation while curtailing the risks associated with digital assets. The committee also stated that it is committed to accelerating the implementation of the country’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). 

Despite these new developments, the CBK hasn’t outrightly changed its stance on virtual currencies like Bitcoin not being a legal tender. However, the CBK, in 2022, published a discussion paper calling on Kenyans to share their opinions on CBDC as it looked to explore the potential implementation of a CBDC. 

Zambia Testing Technology for Crypto Regulation

The Bank of Zambia and the country’s securities regulator are currently testing technology to allow for the regulation of cryptocurrencies. The news was shared by Zambia’s Technology and Science Minister, Felix Mutati, on the ministry’s website in a move that is aimed at achieving an inclusive digital country.

Speaking about the news, Mutati stated that cryptocurrency is the future that the country desires to achieve,” but a policy framework is required to support this “revolutionary technology.” He went ahead to state that the testing of the technology that will potentially be used to regulate cryptocurrencies in the country will be upscaled in due time as part of deliberate efforts to achieve an inclusive digital economy in the country.

In addition, the minister also claimed that Zambia aspires to become a technology hub in Africa by developing digital infrastructure and attracting investments in the sector. 

South African Startup Momint Keen to Boost Electricity Generation Utilising Blockchain-Based Solution

Momint, a South African startup, recently announced that it had launched a blockchain-powered solution that can alleviate the country’s energy distress by installing more rooftop solar systems in public institutions such as schools and hospitals. 

The company has so far piloted the solution at one local school – Delmas High School – in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, according to a news report published by News 24. According to the report, investors who are keen to participate in the project can do so by acquiring non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that are linked to solar cells and retail for just under $9. 

The solar cells will then be leased to institutions that agree to buy the generated electricity through a standard power purchase agreement. 

Speaking of his company’s solution, Ahren Posthumus, Momint’s CEO, said, “We are a technology company that’s trying to build for the next 15 years, but what we realized is we can’t build a technology company in a country that doesn’t have electricity.”

To learn more about Bitcoin, download the Bitcoin Beginner’s Handbook for free.

Bitcoin Beginner's Handbook

BitCasino
Continue Reading

News

Weekly Roundup: South Africa Introduces New Cryptocurrency Standards to Advertising Code & More

Published

on

south africa cryptocurrency advertising

In this week’s news roundup, you will read about South Africa’s new clause on its advertising code targeted towards the cryptocurrency sector and more.  

South Africa Introduces New Cryptocurrency Standards to Advertising Code

The South African Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) has introduced a new clause targeted at the crypto industry and aimed at protecting consumers from unethical advertising. 

According to the new clause introduced to Section III of the country’s advertising code, both companies and individuals in South Africa will be required to abide by certain advertising standards in relation to the provision of crypto products and services. The first clause makes it mandatory for adverts, including crypto offerings, to clearly express that crypto investments may result in the loss of capital given the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies. In addition, crypto adverts should not contradict warnings about potential investment losses that investors may face. 

The clause also went ahead to emphasize that adverts for particular services and products must be explained in an easily understandable manner for the target audience. Advertisements must also have balanced messages around benefits, features, returns, and risks associated with the particular service or product. 

Rates of returns, projections, or any kind of forecasts must also be sufficiently substantiated, including how they are calculated and what conditions apply to touted returns. Moreover, any information relating to a crypto product or service’s past performance will not be used to promise future performance or returns, and should, therefore, not be presented in a way that creates ‘a favourable impression of the advertised product or service.’

The clause went on to state that adverts from crypto service providers who aren’t registered credit providers should not push for the acquisition of digital currencies using credit. However, this does not prevent the advertising of associated payment methods provided by crypto service providers. In the same breadth, brand ambassadors and social media influencers will also be expected to comply with certain advertising standards, such as sharing factual information and not offering advice on investing or trading in crypto assets as well as the prohibition of promises of benefits or returns. 

Central African Republic Keen on a Legal Framework for Cryptocurrency Adoption

Central African RepublicCentral African Republic (CAR) has set up a 15-member committee that will be responsible for developing a bill on the use of cryptocurrencies and tokenization in the region.

Once developed, the legal framework will enable cryptocurrencies to operate in the Central African Republic and expedite the development of the country’s economy. CAR’s President, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, believes that digital currencies will help eliminate the country’s financial barriers and build a business-friendly environment that’s supported by a legal framework for crypto usage in the country. 

He went on to say, “With access to cryptocurrencies, the monetary barriers existing until now will disappear, the main objective of the measures adopted by the government being the development of the national economy.”

The committee tasked with drafting the crypto bill comprises 15 experts from five different ministries of CAR, including the Ministry of Mines and Geology, the Ministry of Waters, Forest, Hunting and Fishing, the Ministry of Agriculture ad Rural Development, the Ministry of Town Planning, Land Reform, Towns and Housing and Ministry of Justice, Promotion of Human Rights and Good Governance.

To learn more about Bitcoin, download the Bitcoin Beginner’s Handbook for free.

Bitcoin Beginner's Handbook

BitCasino
Continue Reading

Popular Posts