💯 “The intelligence of the chinese goes beyond anything we can think of, they think 100 moves ahead everything they do is about getting more power and influence and it works.”
This is the notice by the Central Bank of Nigeria 🇳🇬 barring regulated financial instiututions from facilitating payments from cryptocurrency exchanges
dated February 5, 2021
This is a similar notice by the Central Bank of Kenya 🇰🇪prohibiting Kenyan banks from processing payments for Virtual currency businesses
As a Kenyan from East Africa, i cant help but laugh at my crypto friends from Nigeria. Finally, they feel our pain for the last 7 years! There is a lot to unpack here so here is a thread on my associative thoughts
My MPESA agent friends are now calling to ask about how to get into the business of dealing bitcoins and cryptocurrencies. I am quite pleased, Mpesa agents are well suited for the business of exchanging cryptocurrencies and local currencies
For them, it's an avenue to earn more from additional business lines. They already have the experience of managing electronic money inventory for cash in cash out business, dealing cryptocurrencies is a natural extension of their experience
What's more, dealing cryptocurrencies does not require a license, or renting out a physical space, and minimum capital requirements to get started are fractions lower than Mpesa agency business. Commissions are better and work can be remote
IMF says out of 171 Central Bank Laws, only 23% allow directly for the issuance of central bank currencies in a digital format. 61% of them limit the authority of issuance to banknotes .
Source: Legal Aspects of Central Bank Digital Currency: Central Bank and Monetary Law Considerations imf.org/en/Publication…
I have only skimmed through the paper, but at a glance, the legal analysis looks thorough on alternative paths to issuing Central Bank digital currencies for 171 countries.
Mpesa and Kenya’s commercial banks are seeking a deal with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to avoid a unilateral regulatory extension of FREE M-Pesa and mobile banking transactions amid the spike in Covid-19 cases in the country businessdailyafrica.com/bd/corporate/c…
Safaricom’s chief executive, Peter Ndegwa, said the telco was in advanced talks with the CBK over the resumption charges on low-value M-Pesa transactions.
“We are not ready at this stage to announce when the free cash transfers end as we are still in engagements with the CBK,”
”Safaricom reckons that the FREE M-Pesa transfer cost it Sh9 billion in the six months to June, which saw the firm report a 6% drop in net profit to Sh33.07 billion—the first fall in nine years.”