I'm African, Show Us Your Smart Contract! TOON #7

In the world full of seeming recession and upcoming crysis, there should be some new ‘Klondike’ with lucrative opportunities. Africa becomes one of that places, with its FinTech and DLT industry quickly expanding, providing a great field for growth. The continent has resources and is in a need for education, jobs, housing and more. All of these are to be created pretty soon. The stereotypes of Africa as an uncivilized, poor and ‘scary’ will be closed as well: a lot of people move to the continent for perspectives and they find them.

But it is not only about people. Africa still suffers from colonialism and its consequence, and it’s hard to avoid that. There are some countries in constant political and economic turmoil, while others gained independence and started new life not so long ago. Unfortunately, such situation makes the continent a global playground for geopolitical interests. Africa needs investments, and it looks for some. The governments of the developed countries as well as the global corporations gladly respond. They have their own interests, however. The infusions of foreign capital into African countries need to be paid back eventually. It’s time to work hard, the clock is ticking.

TOON by Maxim Smagin

Africa: You Electrify Her, You Blockchain Her, You Buy Her

Investments in the energy sector of Africa are now in a trend - this applies to traditional projects and Fintech environment. This is a developing market, a tasty morsel for investors. So far, compared to the USA, Europe, Asia, the threshold for entry into the African market is low. And if at its development to focus on promising technologies, one-time investments in Africa can pay off many times over. From 2000 to 2016, the amount of loans issued by China to African countries amounted to $124 billion. Some countries, including South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Angola, Nigeria, Congo, Sudan, and Ethiopia, were in a debt trap. But China continues to increase its influence in Africa, which, in turn, seeks to fill the voids in the most important areas of development as quickly as possible (read more)

America Is Not A Leader Anymore. Kenya Is Ahead

Dean: When you think of technology, the first thing that does pop into your mind usually isn’t Kenya. Am I just so behind the times or so old-fashioned that I don’t think that there’s much technology over there?

Nakia: I was just reading a senior report about the perception gap — about what reality is like and the perception about Africa, and there’s such a disparity between the two. Kenya has jumped leaps and bounds over the world in fact, in terms of mobile banking. So, while the rest of the world is lagging behind, in Kenya they picked up the baton in terms of technology and number of startups (read more)

$15.2 Bln Philanthropy Or Real Binance Business Interests in Uganda

However, if to study the financial sector of Uganda in more detail, it becomes clear why Binance chose this country. And it's not about philanthropy and the sublime goals to boost progress in underdeveloped regions, speaking about which Changpeng ZHAO at least partially, but is dissembling. Binance Uganda is a commercial project that should bring money in the first place.

If only 11% of Ugandans have bank deposits, the rest of the population carries out cash transactions or makes money transfers and payments through mobile phones. The latter category includes 66% of the country's adults — 29 mln people. At the end of 2016, the volume of mobile money transfers amounted to $11.6 bln, a year later this figure already increased by another $2.6 bln and accounted for $14.2 bln. Mobile money transfers have become key financial services and assumed the function of financial inclusion. Given that more than a third of the population, i.e. 14.6 mln people, is below the poverty line, there are enough people who are unable to afford expensive banking services. Moreover, the majority of the population lives in rural areas, where bank branches are not available at all (read more)