Stablecoin USDC withdrawals suspended by Binance as investors worry
The world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange said it had ‘temporarily paused’ withdrawals as CEO said it was ‘business as usual’.
Greetings!
Going back to how FTX collapsed - it started with a post from Coindesk and was fostered by the CEO of Binance - Changpeng Zhao, also called CZ, in a tweet.
Even when FTX wasn’t ready to go down like that and almost got acquired by Binance, a deal CZ later pulled out of. Well, the latest news on the street is that Binance users haven’t been able to withdraw USDC because it was suspended. A move that has caused a rapid withdrawal of funds causing investors panic.
Talk about crypto governance.
Sam.
This Week in Tech
Exchange rate crisis drops foreign investor participation in stock market to 16.8%
On Tuesday, the exchange rate between the naira and the dollar fluctuated between N444 and N446 to the dollar at the official market. However, the rate on the parallel market was N745 to the dollar.
The parallel market, where the dollar is freely exchanged but at a premium of 80% to the official spot rate, is where many firms and investors buy dollars. Nairametrics
Madica Ventures wants to bridge the financial gap in Africa’s technology ecosystem
Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, and Kenya—accounted for more than 70% of the $5.2 billion raised by startups in Africa last year, according to Partech’s 2021 report. These funding gap challenges are what Madica, which stands for Made in Africa, wants to solve. According to Emmanuel Adegboye, “broaden the pool of capital that’s coming into Africa. It takes a diverse pool of founders to address the challenges on the continent.”. Tech Cabal
Stablecoin USDC withdrawals suspended by Binance as investors worry
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, announced on Tuesday that it was halting withdrawals of stablecoin USDC to enable it to conduct a “token swap.”
The decision followed heavy withdrawals from customers who are worried about Binance’s stability amid the FTX saga. Nairametrics
Here’s why Kenyan tech startups are continent’s most accelerated
Kenyan tech ventures have higher rates of acceleration or incubation than their peers in other leading African startup ecosystems, a fact that stems from the country’s extremely well-established startup support scene.
That is according to the Kenyan Startup Ecosystem Report 2022, released by startup-focused news and research company Disrupt Africa last week. Disrupt Africa
Visa to invest $1B in Africa over the next five years
Visa chief Al Kelly announced this pledge on Wednesday during the U.S.-Africa Business Forum, a sub-event in the broader U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, a three-day event where U.S. President Joe Biden invited heads of state and senior government officials from Africa to discuss several issues ranging from food security to climate change. TechCrunch
Meta wants to bring the metaverse to Africans through their cell phones
Meta sees a huge metaverse business potential in Africa—$40 billion added to the continent’s GDP by 2031. This ambitious goal has one major caveat, “only if the metaverse were to be adopted and grow in a similar way as mobile technology.” Quartz
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