Blockchain In Africa & Around: The Monalisa-like NFT Sale, Nigeria’s Crypto Ban, & More..

No, Nigeria Did Not Ban Crypto Trading! 
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had ordered all banks to close any accounts transacting with cryptocurrencies in February 2021. Speaking on behalf of the bank’s chief, Godwin Emefiele, Deputy Governor Adamu Lamtek said the bank had never banned cryptocurrency activity in the country. We are not discouraging people from trading in them, said Lamtek. “What we have just done was to prohibit transactions on cryptocurrencies in the banking sector, said the Deputy.

Africa Won’t Be The Leader In BlockChain?
As per PwC Global Blockchain Survey, an early centre of Blockchain activity gravity in the US and Europe is shifting. The report projected that China will be leading the blockchain wave by 2023 at 30%, followed by the US , Australia, and India among others. No African country has made it to the list. However, with the recent activities in the blockchain space, there is a high chance of the list changing soon.

Dorsey’s NFT Tweet Sold for $2.9M
Jack Dorsey’s auction of his first tweet on Twitter as an NFT has been sold for $2,915,835.47 to Sina Estavi, the CEO of Malaysian blockchain company Bridge Oracle. The proceeds of the transaction will go to GiveDirectly, which is a charity organisation for the underserved in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.

BSC DeFi Platform Xend Finance launches in Africa
Xend Finance, a DeFi platform built on Binance Smart Chain (BSC) has launched in Africa. The credit union and cooperatives DeFi platform is now on the BSC mainnet. Based in Nigeria, The decentralized finance (DeFi) platform will allow users to pool capital for the creation of their own credit unions. The company has also rolled out $XEND, a token that the company will use to reward platform users. Xend Finances is backed by Binance & Google Launchpad.