Africa

The operation of Bitcoin ATMs seems unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with their number approaching 8,000 machines worldwide in April 2020.

Akon, a former R&B singer and rapper, has cracked a deal with a Kenyan billionaire to set up a second smart city powered by the Akoin cryptocurrency.

Africa has several nations that are both economically and politically unstable and financially untrusted by ordinary African citizens, especially villagers.

Making a digital payment, e.g. using cryptocurrency is still, for many Italians, an operation that could potentially be a security risk. To highlight it is a study conducted by Luno, a company specialized in cryptocurrencies, through the Dalia Research platform on a sample of a thousand people for each of the countries taken into consideration are Italy, France, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Nigeria and South Africa.

In Kenya, IBM is working to create a blockchain-based microfinance system aimed at food vendors. By tracking sales operations using mobile phone devices and using artificial intelligence to create a credit scoring system, the platform allows microfinance for minute commerce.

For people that have been closely following the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, they will tell you that Africa is the place to start any kind of commercial business including Bitcoin (BTC) trade and is growing fast without facing any severe competition. Actually, the digital currency and distributed ledger technology (DLT) adoption on the second largest continent is rapidly gaining momentum than any other continent.

Former NBA legend Isaac Edward Austin (IEA) has been accused of being involved in an $800k cryptocurrency rip-off. He is suspected of cheating a firm from Ghana Africa about a million dollars in a latest Bitcoin (BTC) scheme.

In an effort to become a strong cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology hub in Africa, Uganda has issued the first license to create a free zone for Bitcoin, blockchain and other developing technologies. The Uganda Free Zones Authority (UFZA)issued a license to designers and developers to launch a free zone focusing mainly on DLT innovations.

Sierra Leone set a record of becoming the first country in Africa to have national blockchain-based ID system. On August 21, the government rolled out a decentralized National Digital Identity Platform that is based on the distributed ledger technology (DLT) and the platform was designed by both the National Civil Registration Authority and KIVA. The launch happened at Radisson hotel in Freetown and was headed by President Julius Maada Bio.