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2012 Protests Against Fuel Subsidy Removal Were All Politics – Kayode Fayemi

By
Samuel Nwite
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Dr. Kayode Fayemi, a former Governor of Ekiti State, stated on Tuesday that the protests that occurred following the fuel subsidy removal during President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in 2012 were driven by political interests.

Fayemi made this statement during his keynote address at a national dialogue held to commemorate the 60th birthday of Professor Udenta Udenta, the founding National Secretary of the Alliance for Democracy and a Fellow at the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, in Abuja.

The programme was graced by former president Jonathan, former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili; former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, among others.

In 2012, the Nigerian Labour Congress led a coalition of civil society organizations – backed by opposition political parties – under the aegis of Occupy Nigeria, to stage weeklong protests across the country over the decision by then president Goodluck Jonathan, to remove fuel subsidy.

The attempted removal of the fuel subsidy resulted in the adjustment of the petrol pump price from N65 to N141 per liter. However, the protests forced the government to reverse its decision, readjusting fuel price to N97 per liter.

The protests, backed by different political parties such as the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressives Congress (CPC), and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) that would later merge to form the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), paved way for the emergence of Buhari in 2015.

More than a decade after these protests, fuel prices have been repeatedly increased particularly under former president Muhammadu Buhari, who had promised to reduce the price from N87 to N40.

One year into his presidency, Buhari astonished the nation by raising the pump price from N87 to N145. Following his re-election for a second term, fuel prices continued to climb, reaching N161 per liter in 2020. By November of that same year, the price had risen further to N170. Upon his departure from office on May 29, a liter of fuel was being sold at N210.

All these happened without protests.

While confessing that the 2012 protests were politically motivated, Fayemi said that Nigeria’s democracy is not working. He said the challenges facing the nation today cannot be solved unless the country embraced proportional representation, where the spoils of elections are shared between contestants.

He also acknowledged that the last time Nigeria experienced economic development was during Jonathan’s administration, adding that Nigeria needs to do away with politics of hate and division.

Fayemi said: “Today, I read former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s interview in The Cable saying our liberal democracy is not working and we need to revisit it, and I agree with him. We must move from the political alternatives. I think we are almost on a dead end of that.

“What we need is alternative politics and my own notion of alternative politics is that you can’t have 35 percent of the vote and take 100 percent. It won’t work! We must look at proportional representation so that the party that is said to have won 21 percent of the votes will have 21 percent of the government. Adversary politics bring division and enmity.

“All political parties in the country agreed and they even put in their manifesto that subsidy must be removed. We all said subsidy must be removed. But we in ACN at the time, in 2012, we know the truth Sir, but it is all politics.

“That is why we must ensure that everybody is a crucial stakeholder by stopping all these. Let the manifesto of PDP, APC and Labour Party, be put on the table and select all those who will pilot the programme from all parties.”

Solana Co-founder wants FTX $SOL Holdings Redistributed to Customers

By
Paul Ugbede Godwin
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In a surprising move, the co-founder of Solana ($SOL), Anatoly Yakovenko, has publicly called for the redistribution of the $SOL tokens that were allocated to FTX, the crypto exchange led by Sam Bankman-Fried. In a tweet posted on September 4, Yakovenko said that he believes that FTX should return the $SOL tokens to the Solana community, arguing that the exchange has too much influence over the network and its governance.

“FTX owns too much $SOL and it’s not healthy for the ecosystem. They should redistribute it to the customers who actually use Solana, not just speculate on it,” Yakovenko wrote. FTX is one of the largest investors and supporters of Solana, having acquired 16.5 million $SOL tokens in a private sale in March 2020. At the current price of around $150 per token, FTX’s stake is worth about $2.5 billion.

According to Yakovenko, FTX’s large stake gives it too much power over the Solana network, which is supposed to be decentralized and community driven. He claimed that FTX can influence the network’s validators, developers, and projects, and potentially harm the long-term vision and growth of Solana.

Yakovenko also suggested that FTX should follow the example of Coinbase, which recently announced that it will distribute its 9.5% stake in Polygon ($MATIC) to its customers who hold or trade $MATIC on its platform.

“Coinbase did the right thing by redistributing $MATIC to its users. FTX should do the same with $SOL. It’s only fair and it will benefit everyone in the long run,” Yakovenko said.

If you are a Coinbase user who holds Matic tokens, you might have noticed a sudden increase in your balance on September 1st, 2023. This was not a mistake or a hack, but a deliberate decision by Coinbase to redistribute Matic to its users. Here’s why. Matic is a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum that aims to provide faster and cheaper transactions. Matic uses a network of validators who stake Matic tokens to secure the network and process transactions. In return, they earn fees and rewards in Matic tokens.

However, on August 31st, 2023, a technical issue caused some of the validators to go offline, resulting in a temporary disruption of the network. This also affected the distribution of rewards to the validators, as some of them received more than they should have, while others received less or nothing at all.

Coinbase, as one of the largest exchanges that supports Matic, decided to intervene and correct the situation. Coinbase contacted the Matic team and agreed to redistribute the excess rewards from the overpaid validators to the underpaid or unpaid ones. This way, Coinbase ensured that all the validators received their fair share of rewards for their work.

But Coinbase didn’t stop there. Coinbase also decided to redistribute some of the excess rewards to its users who hold Matic tokens. Coinbase calculated the average reward per Matic token for the month of August and distributed it to its users proportionally to their holdings. This means that if you held 1000 Matic tokens on Coinbase on August 31st, you received an extra 50 Matic tokens on September 1st, as a bonus from Coinbase.

Coinbase explained that this was a gesture of goodwill and appreciation for its users who support Matic and other layer-2 solutions. Coinbase also stated that it believes in the potential of Matic and its role in scaling Ethereum and enabling decentralized applications. Coinbase’s decision to redistribute Matic to its users was widely praised by the crypto community, as it demonstrated Coinbase’s commitment to fairness and transparency. It also boosted the confidence and loyalty of its users, who benefited from an unexpected windfall.

FTX has not responded to Yakovenko’s tweet as of press time. However, some members of the crypto community have expressed their disagreement with Yakovenko’s proposal, saying that it is unfair to FTX and that it could damage the reputation and value of Solana. Some also pointed out that Yakovenko himself owns a large amount of $SOL tokens, as he is one of the founders and developers of Solana. According to Solscan.io, a Solana explorer, Yakovenko’s wallet holds over 38 million $SOL tokens, worth about $5.7 billion.

“Isn’t this hypocritical? You own more than twice as much $SOL as FTX and you want them to give up their stake? Why don’t you redistribute your own tokens first?” one user commented. Another user said that Yakovenko’s tweet was irresponsible and could cause panic and sell-off among Solana investors.

“This is a very bad look for Solana. You are basically telling people that FTX can dump their $SOL anytime and crash the price. How do you expect people to trust and support your project if you undermine one of your biggest partners?” another user said.

On-chain Narrative Coins continue to Bleed Value

By
Paul Ugbede Godwin
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The cryptocurrency market has been experiencing a prolonged bearish trend, especially for the tokens that are based on narratives rather than fundamentals. These so-called “on-chain narrative coins” are projects that claim to have innovative features or use cases but lack the technical or economic backing to support their claims. Some examples of these coins are Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogecoin (DOGE), and SafeMoon (SAFEMOON).

These coins have been losing value steadily, as investors lose confidence and interest in their stories. According to CoinGecko, SHIB is down 87% from its all-time high in May, DOGE is down 76% from its peak in April, and SAFEMOON is down 97% from its record in May. These coins have also seen a significant decline in their trading volume and social media activity, indicating a lack of demand and hype.

One of the main reasons why these coins are bleeding lower is that they have no intrinsic value or utility. They rely solely on the power of narratives and memes to attract buyers, but these narratives are often shallow, inconsistent, or unrealistic. For instance, SHIB was marketed as the “Dogecoin killer”, but it failed to deliver any meaningful innovation or differentiation from DOGE.

DOGE was promoted as the “people’s currency”, but it faced scalability and security issues that prevented it from being widely adopted. SAFEMOON was touted as a “deflationary token” that rewarded holders with passive income, but it turned out to be a Ponzi scheme that enriched its developers at the expense of its users.

Another reason why these coins are losing value is that they face increasing competition and regulation. The cryptocurrency space is constantly evolving and innovating, and new projects are emerging that offer better solutions and value propositions than the on-chain narrative coins. For example, Solana (SOL) is a fast and scalable blockchain platform that supports various applications and ecosystems, such as decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and gaming.

SOL has gained over 9000% since its launch in April 2020, and it recently surpassed DOGE as the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Moreover, the on-chain narrative coins are also facing regulatory scrutiny and pressure from authorities around the world, who are concerned about their potential for fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion.

For instance, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned investors about the risks of investing in these coins, and some countries, such as China and India, have banned or restricted their use. The best way to avoid coins with no fundamentals is to do your own research before investing in any crypto project. You should look for the following indicators of quality and legitimacy:

Whitepaper: A whitepaper is a document that explains the purpose, vision, goals, features, and technical details of a project. It should be clear, concise, well-written, and well-researched. It should also be original and not plagiarized from other sources.

Team: A team is a group of people who are responsible for developing, managing, and promoting a project. They should have relevant experience, skills, credentials, and reputation in the crypto industry or related fields. They should also be transparent about their identities, roles, and backgrounds.
Roadmap: A roadmap is a plan that outlines the milestones, timelines, deliverables, and updates of a project. It should be realistic, achievable, measurable, and verifiable. It should also be updated regularly and communicated clearly to the community.
Community: A community is a network of supporters, users, investors, partners, and influencers who are interested in or involved with a project.

The on-chain narrative coins continue to bleed lower, as they have no fundamental value or competitive edge in the cryptocurrency market. They are based on weak or false narratives that cannot sustain their growth or popularity. They are also vulnerable to regulatory challenges and market forces that favor more legitimate and innovative projects. Therefore, investors should be cautious and diligent when investing in these coins and avoid falling for their hype and manipulation.

How To Create A Lasting Legacy As CEO – Tekedia Startup Masterclass Will Help

By
Ndubuisi Ekekwe
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0

You’re a founder or becoming one. We’ll help you become a CEO. Create a lasting legacy in that company. Begin with Tekedia Startup Masterclass. We will help you understand the physics of markets, and the chemistry of business, so that at the end, your growth equations will balance. Come speak with Ndubuisi Ekekwe live on Zoom, one-on-one, and let us help you create that FUTURE! Begin here 

Tekedia Startup Masterclass: from Start-Up to Unicorn is designed to help founders, entrepreneurs, and those generally working in the startup ecosystems, to master the mechanics of building category-king startups. The program runs for 8 weeks. Besides some pre-recorded courses for the 8 weeks, the program includes an hour-long one-on-one live Zoom session every week, per participant, with Tekedia Institute’s Lead Faculty, Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe.

Participants can enroll and begin anytime. In other words, there is no specific start date as it is customized for the learner via the one-on-one live Zoom sessions. If you pay today, you will begin immediately.

The goal of the Masterclass is to help the participants master modern business mechanics which are used to scale and blitzscale ideas into unicorns (startups with a minimum of $1 billion in valuation).

JP Morgan says BTC ETF will now be Approved in the United States

By
Paul Ugbede Godwin
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0
Hong Kong, October 08 2017: JPMorgan Chase & Co. building in Central, Hong Kong . JPMorgan is a Swiss global financial services company, One of big financial company in the world

JP Morgan, one of the largest investment banks in the world, has recently issued a statement that predicts the approval of a Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US. This is a major development for the cryptocurrency industry, as it could open the door for more institutional investors to enter the market and boost the demand and price of Bitcoin.

A Bitcoin ETF is a financial product that tracks the price of Bitcoin and allows investors to buy and sell shares of it without having to deal with the technical aspects of owning and storing the digital asset. Currently, there are several Bitcoin ETFs available in Canada and Europe, but none in the US, where the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has repeatedly rejected or delayed the applications of various firms.

However, JP Morgan believes that this situation will change soon, as the SEC is under pressure to approve a Bitcoin ETF due to the growing popularity and acceptance of cryptocurrencies. The bank cites several factors that indicate a favorable environment for a Bitcoin ETF, such as:

The success of the Bitcoin futures ETFs that were launched in October 2021. These products, which track the price of Bitcoin futures contracts rather than the spot price, have attracted billions of dollars in assets under management and trading volume, demonstrating a strong demand and interest from investors.

The increasing competition from other jurisdictions that have already approved Bitcoin ETFs, such as Canada and Europe. These markets have seen significant inflows and growth in their Bitcoin ETFs, which could motivate the SEC to follow suit and not lose its regulatory edge and influence.

The SEC is the federal agency that regulates the securities markets in the US, and it has the authority to approve or reject any ETF application. The SEC’s main concern with Bitcoin ETFs is whether they can protect investors from fraud, manipulation, and other risks associated with the cryptocurrency market. The SEC has repeatedly stated that it needs to see evidence of a “surveillance-sharing agreement” between the ETF sponsor and a regulated Bitcoin market, such as a futures exchange or a spot exchange, to ensure that the ETF price reflects the true value of Bitcoin and that any market abuse can be detected and prevented.

However, such agreements are hard to come by, as most Bitcoin markets are unregulated or operate outside the US jurisdiction. Moreover, the SEC has also raised questions about the liquidity, custody, valuation, and governance of Bitcoin ETFs, as well as the potential impact of Bitcoin’s volatility, scalability, and security issues on the ETF performance and investor protection. The SEC has rejected several Bitcoin ETF applications in the past, citing these reasons.

For example, in 2017, the SEC rejected the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust ETF, which was proposed by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the founders of Gemini, a US-based cryptocurrency exchange. The SEC said that it did not find that the proposed ETF would be consistent with the requirements of the Exchange Act, which requires that the rules of a national securities exchange be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices. The SEC also said that it did not find that the proposed ETF would be able to enter into a surveillance-sharing agreement with a significant, regulated market for Bitcoin.

In 2018, the SEC rejected nine more Bitcoin ETF proposals from various sponsors, including ProShares, Direxion, and GraniteShares. The SEC reiterated its concerns about the lack of a surveillance-sharing agreement and the risk of fraud and manipulation in the Bitcoin market. The SEC also said that it did not find that the proposed ETFs would be able to demonstrate that they have sufficient mechanisms to prevent fraudulent or manipulative acts and practices in their trading.

In 2019, the SEC rejected another Bitcoin ETF proposal from Bitwise Asset Management, which claimed to have addressed some of the SEC’s concerns by using data from multiple regulated exchanges and third-party custodians. However, the SEC said that it did not find that Bitwise had met its burden to demonstrate that its proposed ETF would be consistent with the Exchange Act. The SEC also said that it did not find that Bitwise had provided sufficient evidence to support its assertion that it could track a reliable Bitcoin price index.

In 2020, the SEC rejected yet another Bitcoin ETF proposal from Wilshire Phoenix, which aimed to reduce Bitcoin’s volatility by holding a mix of Bitcoin and US Treasury bills. The SEC said that it did not find that Wilshire Phoenix had provided enough information to show that its proposed ETF would be resistant to market manipulation and that it would have adequate surveillance-sharing agreements.

As of 2023, there are still several Bitcoin ETF applications pending before the SEC, including those from VanEck, Valkyrie, WisdomTree, Kryptoin, and NYDIG. Some of these proposals claim to have improved their compliance with the SEC’s standards by using regulated futures contracts or spot exchanges as reference prices for their ETFs. However, it is unclear whether these proposals will be able to satisfy the SEC’s requirements and whether they will be approved or rejected.

The SEC has not set a definitive timeline for its decision on these applications, but it has indicated that it is open to considering them on a case-by-case basis. The SEC has also said that it is actively monitoring the developments in the cryptocurrency market and that it is willing to engage with potential ETF sponsors and other stakeholders to facilitate innovation and investor protection.

JP Morgan concludes that a Spot Bitcoin ETF approval in the US is now more likely than ever, and that it could happen as soon as early 2024. The bank expects that a Bitcoin ETF would have a positive impact on the price of Bitcoin, as it would increase its liquidity, accessibility, and legitimacy. The bank also estimates that a Bitcoin ETF could attract up to $50 billion in inflows in its first year of operation, which would translate into an increase of about $10,000 in the price of Bitcoin.

The bank’s statement is a bullish sign for the cryptocurrency industry, as it shows that one of the most influential and respected financial institutions in the world is optimistic about the future of Bitcoin and its potential to become a mainstream asset class. It also reflects the changing attitude and perception of Wall Street towards cryptocurrencies, which have gone from being dismissed as a fad or a scam to being recognized as a viable and innovative investment opportunity.

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