Search
Real-World Assets Platform Gluwa Considers Developing Liberia’s CBDC
19.3.2024
The real-world assets platform, Gluwa, is exploring the potential to assist in the development and launch of Liberia’s central bank digital currency. To increase the likelihood of the digital currency’s success, Gluwa is also considering the launch of a satellite-based internet service. Making...
MetaMask Expands Global Presence With Payment Partnerships Across Six Countries
11.12.2023
Source: AdobeStock / golibtolibov MetaMask, a prominent cryptocurrency software wallet, has announced its expansion into six countries through new partnerships. The Web3 wallet provider has collaborated with VietQR and Mobile Money in Vietnam, GCash in the Philippines, QRIS in Indonesia, Thai...
Safaricom M-Pesa receives Ethiopian mobile money license, ending state monopoly
11.5.2023
The Kenya-based company already has 3 million mobile phone users in Ethiopia and plans to make it the 10th country where the payment service will be available
Report: Flutterwave CEO in Bid to Recover Millions Stuck in Kenya
14.2.2023
According to reports, the CEO and co-founder of the Nigerian fintech Flutterwave, Olugbenga Agboola, recently visited Kenya where he sought to convince the country’s monetary authorities to grant the firm access to funds that have been blocked since July 2022. Agboola claimed that his firm...
Strike Launches Bitcoin Lightning Network-Enabled Money Transfers to Africa
7.12.2022
United States-based users of Strike, a digital payments platform built on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, can now transfer funds instantly and at a low cost to Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria via the recently added new feature known as “Send Globally.” The new feature instantly converts...
Moneygram Enables Customers to Buy and Sell Cryptocurrency via Its Money Transfer App
3.11.2022
Moneygram has launched a new crypto service to allow customers to buy, sell, and store cryptocurrencies using its mobile money transfer app. Initially, three cryptocurrencies are supported, including bitcoin and ethereum. Moneygram’s New Crypto Service Moneygram International Inc. (Nasdaq:...
Ghanaian Central Bank Allays Fears That a CBDC Will Disrupt Mobile Money Operations
4.9.2022
The Bank of Ghana has said the expected implementation of the central bank digital currency will not disrupt or negatively impact the operations of mobile money operators. Rather, the central bank expects the digital currency to improve the efficiency of Ghana’s settlement systems as well...
Report: IMF Warns Kenyan Central Bank Against Introducing a CBDC That Harms Fintechs and Banks
29.7.2022
The global lending institution, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has told the Kenyan central bank that its proposed digital shilling must “do no harm” to existing private sector digital money. The lender insisted the proposed central bank digital currency (CBDC) must “not...
Latest Global Findex Survey: Share of Adult Population with a Bank Account Now 76% — 1.4 Billion Adults Still Unbanked
16.7.2022
Between 2011 and 2021, the share of the world’s adult population that had bank accounts rose from 51% to 76%, the findings of the latest World Bank Global Financial Index survey have shown. About 1.4 billion adults are, however, still unbanked, not having the money or the identification...
Report: Cryptocurrency Can Potentially Complement Mobile Money Argues Kenyan Banker
21.5.2022
The CEO of one of Kenya’s biggest lenders has argued there is a possibility cryptocurrencies will complement mobile money in Africa but first, there is a need to convince regulators of their benefits. African Regulators’ Stance on Crypto Cryptocurrencies can potentially complement...
Uganda Central Bank Tells Licensed Entities to Stop Facilitating Crypto Transactions
4.5.2022
The Ugandan central bank has warned licensed entities and the public against facilitating crypto-related transactions as well as the practice of converting cryptocurrency into mobile money and vice versa. The central bank warned it will not hesitate to act against entities found to be in breach...
Report: Africa Fintech Startups Raised $2 Billion in 2021
15.3.2022
Africa’s fintech startups are reported to have raised $2 billion in the past year alone. This amount dwarfs the $231 million that was raised in the year 2020. Nigerian startups continue to account for the biggest share of funds raised by the continent’s fintechs in 2021. 2021...
Report: Kenya Set to Scale Up Adoption of Cryptocurrencies in 2022
10.1.2022
In his Africa crypto market predictions for 2022, Marius Reitz, the general manager for Luno in Africa, has predicted that Kenya will scale up the adoption of cryptocurrencies. To support this assertion, Reitz points to Kenya’s as position as the leader in the world’s peer-to-peer...
Ghana’s Minority Lawmakers Reject Government Proposal to Tax Mobile Money Transactions
28.11.2021
The Ghanaian government’s proposal to introduce a 1.75% levy on digital transactions was recently rejected by a minority of lawmakers who insist the new tax derails efforts to help increase the number of adults that are financially included. The Digital Transactions Tax A minority...
Remittances to Africa Set to Drop by 5.4 % to $41 Billion — Covid-19 Pandemic and High Sending Costs Blamed
21.9.2021
According to findings from the Continental Migration Report 2021, remittances to African countries are projected to decrease from the $44 billion recorded in 2020 to $41 billion. The Covid Effect As expected, the Covid-19 pandemic is identified as one of the main causes of the decline. However...
Study Shows 36% of Nigerian Adults Are Financially Excluded — Digital Financial Services Bolsters Inclusion
6.6.2021
Nearly 36% of Nigeria’s 106 million adults lack access to both regulated and unregulated financial services, according to the findings of the Enhancing Financial Innovations and Access (EFIA) study. In addition, while the findings do suggest a marginal drop in the percentage of financially...
Zimbabwe’s Biggest Bank Looks at Methods to ‘Leverage Cryptocurrencies’
26.5.2021
One of Zimbabwe’s biggest financial institutions, CBZ Holdings says it is looking at ways it could “leverage cryptocurrencies and other emerging digital innovations.” According to the financial institution’s chairperson, Marc Holtzman, CBZ “is open-minded about...
The Case Of Mobile Money In Ghana
21.4.2021
Ghana is in the throes of a mobile money boom.
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
PK Senyo, Senior Lecturer in Information Systems, University of Southampton.
_____
Mobile money — a technology that enables financial transactions through mobile phones without a bank account — is driving...
Mobile money platform Pngme raises $3M to expand across Africa
12.2.2021
The fintech firm hopes to expand financial products for the unbanked
Historian Niall Ferguson Says Bitcoin Is Winning the Covid-19 Monetary Revolution
2.12.2020
Historian and senior fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, Niall Ferguson says bitcoin is winning the Covid-19 monetary revolution. Hailing the virtual currency as a great place for the rich to store their wealth, Ferguson also notes that the bitcoin’s resilience...