The Lightning Network has struck Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria. During a conference in Ghana, Strike CEO Jack Mallers announced that the Bitcoin (BTC) payments company has partnered with the mobile app Bitnob to facilitate payments into Africa. Mallers made the announcement on stage at AfroBitcoin, a Bitcoin conference in Ghana's capital city of Accra. He stood alongside Bernard Farah, the Nigerian CEO of Bitnob, following a short presentation on how it works. Money transfers into Africa take advantage of the Lightning Network, the layer-2 payments network built atop Bitcoin. The feature is called “Send Globally,” and it enables instant, low-cost …

An amendment was introduced to the Kenyan law in capital markets on Nov. 21 that would require those who own or deal in cryptocurrencies to provide the country’s Capital Markets Authority with information on their activities for tax purposes, local media report. This is the first time Kenya has extended financial regulation to cryptocurrency. Under the Capital Markets (Amendment) Bill, Kenyans would pay capital gains taxes to the Kenyan Revenue Authority when they sell or use digital currencies. Cryptocurrency held for less than a year would be subject to income tax, while after that capital gains tax would apply. Kenya …

Bitcoin (BTC) is a tool for freedom and economic empowerment. For one young Zimbabwean, Ovidy, it turned his life around when he returned to his home country at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. An entrepreneur who first learned of Bitcoin while living in the United States, Ovidy has since built a business with Bitcoin at its core. Below, Ovidy (center) is pictured with Paco the Bitcoin traveler (left): Day 276 Obidy imports cars in Zimbabwe using #bitcoin pic.twitter.com/Y2TmZZX6Bv — Paco de la India⚡ (@RunwithBitcoin) June 20, 2022 Ovidy imports cars using Bitcoin. “I really like to import BMWs,” he …

The blockchain industry’s impact on the energy sector has been a major source of controversy over the past five years. Governments and environmental protection advocates have routinely expressed concerns about the amount of energy required to keep the Bitcoin network secure. Data shows the network’s energy consumption now rivals the yearly energy consumed by some small countries. While much of the debate has centered around the negative environmental impacts of Bitcoin (BTC) mining, the drive to maximize earnings from mining and integrate blockchain technology with the energy grid has also introduced new developments that have the potential to be beneficial …

East Africa is set to welcome a new cryptocurrency exchange backed by a formidable list of industry heavyweights looking to tap into a continent full of potential users. Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research, Huobi Ventures and other prominent venture capital firms and angel investors have contributed $23 million to launch MARA. The exchange will initially operate in Kenya and Nigeria, offering new users a basic exchange platform to acquire, trade and withdraw cryptocurrencies. The platform will offer a professional exchange featuring extensive trading options and technical analysis tools for more experienced traders. Plans are in place to develop the MARA chain, …

Kenya-based blockchain community Sankore has partnered with Swiss nonprofit Near Foundation to launch a regional hub that aims to develop talent within the region and build projects that aim to improve the local ecosystem. Sankore supports projects like Kilimo Shwari, which is a blockchain-based insurance program that helps farmers deal with natural disasters. Apart from this, the firm also supports Ledja, a project which focuses on combating fraudulent documentation within Africa by using Near Protocol for document verification. The partnership will further these initiatives by developing talent within the region through its workshops. Kevin Imani, the founder of Sankore, said …

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has published a discussion paper on its central bank digital currency (CBDC), seeking public input on the potential benefits and risks and regulatory issues of introducing a CBDC in Kenya. In a statement, the CBK has highlighted that using a CBDC might improve cross-border payments by making them more efficient and less expensive. The regulator says that CDBC solutions can flatten the multi-layered correspondent banking structure and shorten payment chains in a discussion paper exploring the future use of a digital currency: “A key opportunity where CBK sees potential value is the use of …

Brenda Gentry, a former USAA mortgage underwriter from Texas, believes that the cryptocurrency ecosystem offers a fighting chance to overcome the generational curse of poverty. Gentry, a.k.a. MsCryptoMom, left her decade-long job as a banker to pursue a full-time crypto career as her initial investments from early 2020 confirmed the “unprecedented opportunities offered by crypto.” She currently runs Gentry Media Productions, a firm that advises decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible token (NFT) projects — generating up to 20 ether (ETH) each month, nearly $50,000 at the time of writing. Speaking to Cointelegraph, Gentry recollected the moment she first bought crypto: …

A groundbreaking five-year study into whether crypto token incentives can improve health outcomes for patients with HIV/AIDS will be launched in Kenya by the end of the year. On Nov 1, the blockchain-powered healthcare ecosystem Immunify.Life and the Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) announced they had secured the approval needed from an ethics committee and the national commission to launch the study. Together they will conduct a five-year study on HIV/AIDS starting before the end of 2021 in the Kakamega County region of Kenya, before extending throughout the rest of the country. The first major project of …

The African arm of the company behind the Ignis, Nxt and Ardor blockchains will be launching a multi-country tour to provide blockchain education in the public and private sectors. According to information provided to Cointelegraph, Jelurida Africa said it would begin a blockchain expedition starting with Tanzania’s self-governing state of Zanzibar on Oct. 23 before continuing on to Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania. The group aims to promote blockchain education with meetups in universities, financial institutions and public offices. The team of distributed ledger technology and smart contract experts said it plans to reach out to …

Akoin, the cryptocurrency project developed by Senegalese-American singer Akon, has achieved success in its initial pilot testing at western Kenya’s Mwale Medical Technology City, or MMTC, setting the stage for a national rollout beginning next month. The pilot, which began in November 2020, is expected to pave the way for $5 million worth of transactions per month at MMTC, according to a spokesperson for Mwale Medical Technology City. As Cointelegraph reported, the pilot stage allowed residents to pay and be paid using Akoin and have the transactions converted immediately into cell phone minutes or other forms of exchange. Full implementation …

An insurance collaboration between decentralized protocol Etherisc and microinsurance issuer ACRE Africa has allowed thousands of farmers in Kenya to receive coverage for weather-related risks. Etherisc and ACRE Africa said they had processed insurance payouts for some of the more than 17,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya covered under the collaboration. The Chainlink Community Grant, the Ethereum Foundation and the Decentralized Insurance Foundation helped fund the project, which was first announced in November 202. “We’re thrilled that after months of hard work on this initiative, we’re seeing the fruits of our labour — which has a tangible social impact on farmers …