For the better part of the last six months, the talk within the cryptocurrency industry has been centred around the ongoing bear market. Known all around the crypto industry as an extended period of extreme market volatility and negative crypto prices, the bear market is a dreaded time for members of the global crypto community, and understandably so. It is incredibly difficult to generate profits within a bear market and probably equally difficult to avoid losses. In times like these, many crypto analysts and experts advise a total abandonment of crypto strategies in favour of long-term cryptocurrency investing. This way, it is possible to protect one’s assets against the harsh realities of the current climate and guarantee maximum returns in the long run.
Long-term cryptocurrency investing is by far the most effective crypto strategy in the ongoing bear market, and as such, crypto investors would be better off prioritizing this strategy in the current climate. This piece discusses three cryptocurrencies that could be perfect long-term cryptocurrency investments in the current climate and beyond. Here’s all you need to know about Algorand (ALGO), The Sandbox (SAND) and Big Eyes Coin (BIG).
Algorand (ALGO) – An Ideal Environment
Algorand (ALGO) is a prominent public blockchain platform within the cryptocurrency industry that is notable for several impressive features. Some of these include providing an ideal environment that provides feasible solutions to the blockchain industry’s scalability trilemma, as well as facilitating the creation of powerful decentralized applications (dApps) and financial primitives that will be used as the backbone of the future economy. It also addresses several critical problems that have become synonymous with blockchain platforms within the industry in recent times, such as decentralisation, scaling and speed through its architecture.
Its native cryptocurrency, ALGO, plays an integral role in its ecosystem by providing utility and facilitating several crypto operations, such as network governance, user interaction and payment fees. ALGO stock is listed on top crypto platforms, such as Binance and Coinbase.
The Sandbox (SAND) NFT Attitude
The Sandbox (SAND) is a popular blockchain-based virtual reality and gaming platform within the cryptocurrency industry. Over the last few years, it has become notable within the industry and among the crypto-gaming community thanks to several impressive features, such as providing an ideal environment that makes it possible for members of the crypto-gaming community to create, build, buy and sell digital assets in the form of a game. The Sandbox (SAND) is one of the leading platforms within the GameFi industry and is reputable all around the cryptocurrency industry for combining the powers of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to provide an ideal decentralized platform.
Its native cryptocurrency, SAND, plays an integral role within its ecosystem by incentivizing it as well as facilitating several crypto operations, including network governance, user interaction and payment fees. SAND stock is listed on top crypto platforms, such as Binance, Coinbase and Huobi Global.
Big Eyes Coin (BIG) Presale Explodes
Big Eyes Coin (BIG) is an upcoming meme coin that many crypto analysts believe can redefine the industry and usher in a new age of valuable meme coins. The token boasts several impressive features, such as a massive supply of about a billion tokens and a lack of transaction taxes. The latter makes it an ideal crypto for daily activities within the industry, such as trading and user interaction.
Big Eyes Coin (BIG) is currently on presale and would make a fine addition to any crypto investor’s portfolio. For more information on the token, click here.
It is but one week to Nigeria’s Presidential Election. This is one in which there is a guarantee of Regime Change, since the current Presidential Partnership of Muhammadu Buhari and Yemi Osinbajo has run two full terms.
Under the terms of the Nigerian Constitution, it is not possible for Muhammadu Buhari, The President, to (lawfully) continue as President beyond the agreed point of inauguration of the next President, post elections which happen on 25 February.
Following my brand, ‘9ja Cosmos’ launching the first ever Web 3 Country TLD (Top Level Domain) in the world, for Nigeria (with .9jacom) on 13 September 2022, it has been customary for the 9ja Cosmos Logo and Corporate Slogan to appear in the Feature Image of my posts.
If the article flowed through Tekedia Institute as part of my continuous commitment to help grow the Institutes’ content library, then there would also be a strong pivot mention of Tekedia, particularly in the articles’ introduction on platforms.
Today, none of these things will happen.
Today I am not that person and I wear neither of these hats.
Today I am just the father of Nigerian children, the husband of a Nigerian wife, and an in-law or friend to many Nigerians.
I write now, in the interests of the road to a better Nigeria for all of us.
I am, in this issue, the least of all of you, but bespeak, please, I humbly implore you hear this my still small voice.
We have seen many challenges and much suffering. We have seen banks burn, currency and fuel shortage, runaway inflation, the Naira devaluing with no end in sight. Some of us see things as merit of the retiring regime. More can see things to demerit it. None of these things are now important.
The important thing is the road ahead to a light at the end of a tunnel.
Up to and including the Election:
Many of you by now have heard the vocal claims of Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai. While I would not want to comment on motivation, pretext and other things, I take his claim that there is a real chance of February 25 not producing a President at all – very very seriously indeed.
In this regard I beseech…
Before, up to and during this election is no time for spontaneous public gatherings, group public expressions of discontent, demonstrating, rioting, attacking of properties or people.
Give all Presidential Candidates fair quarter
Don’t obstruct, heckle, disrupt or intimidate at candidate’s gatherings and events.
Nobody can own your vote, regardless of what they spray or which local powerful politicians and other leaders promise block votes. The die is almost cast. What these big men have to say is little more than background noise. The bigger the men…. the littler! This is the time of last shall be first and first shall be last.
Ignore such distractions. Cast your vote with whatever is in your heart.
Do not heckle or otherwise interfere with or intimidate other voters.
Do not participate in the disruption of any INEC process.
Do not do anything that risks helping the fears of Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai to come to pass.
After the Election.
First a story.
Ever since a lad in Trinidad, I was fond of trekking. I would trek, starting at William Street, San Juan, cross the Croisee, do like I am heading for Laventille, pass through Febeau Village, and end up eventually coming down some pedestrian steps at a bend on the bottom of Belmont Circular, Port of Spain. I only ever touched the Eastern Main Road once, (which is the normal route to PoS).
I would trek at any excuse. I always learnt Appian Ways that could save time. There were a few times (not always) I had an assigned car with a job in Nigeria. If it was weekend and I could trek where I needed to be, I would just leave drivers off.
I became especially fond of trekking in the Ikeja area, centred in Ikeja Underbridge. I knew every inch of Appian Way to GRA, Ogba, Ojodu, beyond Opebi roundabout… pretty much any direction.
One place I was particularly fond of trekking through was Ipodo Street. It was a dead end at the Obafemi Awolowo Way end, but by going through a series of Apian Ways close to the market, a trekker can break out into it.
On the left side of the road, over the doorway of an unremarkable single story terraced building was a sign that said ‘DOUBLE CHIEF’ Over a period of time trekking this way, I got to know the man quite well.
In August last year, I trekked there – the first time in over five years. Alas, the Chief was late, but I met his eldest son. In the late chiefs’ time, there used to be an old man sitting on a plastic chair outside the property.
He wore an Ankara native, made of poor-quality material. It had marks having been hung to dry on the barbed wire at the top of the back wall following been washed by hand.
He seemed to be over 90 years of age but nobody really knew how old he was. This building was where the Chief held ‘surgery’ for his people. This man had been security, PA, usher, many things for the Chief. Retirement day came. He just never stopped turning up.
But every agbero, tout, aboki or bad boy that ever graced Ipodo Street would lower their posture in a semi-bow as they walked past, and looking his way, would say ‘Oga’, or ‘Chairman’.
The point of this story is that in Nigeria, everyone no matter how big has an Oga, and everybody, no matter how small, is an Oga to someone else.
Expectations of a Nigerian President in This Our Time.
From the story, understand that a President genuinely fit for purpose has over 200 Million Ogas – The Nigerian People. So we need to look for behaviours that acknowledge this from candidates.
A candidate that understands this, will not exhibit any sense of entitlement. They will not use language that indicates they think it is ‘their turn’…. that they are ‘anointed’ , that they have ‘right of passage’… that they have lined up the people in Nigeria that are ‘big men’ who are ‘Kingmakers’ who can deliver block votes.
That the individual voting decisions of the 200+ million voters don’t matter.
This sort of narcissistic arrogance is not what Nigeria needs for the next 8 years.
Yes, Nigeria has come of age. An age where a Servant Leader is important.
It is up to the electorate to decide which individual best meets these characteristics.
It is up to the new President, when elected, to understand who his Ogas are, and how to best be of Service to a citizenry with complex and sometimes conflicting needs.
With daughter, Niamh Soporuchi Adaeze, 2011
Expectations of the Nigerian Citizenry moving forward.
Nigeria is a Federal Republic. It is a Democracy. How the world at large views Nigeria depends on its own ability to respect due process and the rule of law. This is especially true of political decision processes and constitutional integrity.
In a regime change, a new Presidential Regime cannot simply wipe the slate clean as if everything the previous regime enacted does not matter.
Regardless of who becomes the new President, for a lot of the first term at least, the complexion of the leadership will exhibit properties of the Buhari/Osinbajo regime.
Evolution to the political ‘personality’ of the new regime is a gradual process.
Why is this important?
Well, when foreign governments, and global actors cannot rely on successive regimes willingness to respect what has been enacted by predecessors, it has huge negative impacts for a country.
Ease of doing business global ranking falls off a cliff.
Global perspective will be that citizenry japa potential has risen, so visa conditions will harden, and passport ranking will also fall off a cliff.
The three horsemen of the Apocalypse, S&P Global Ratings, Moody’s, and Fitch Group will destroy the countries credit rating, driving up cost of repayments on government borrowing, sending the currency into freefall, and creating rampant inflation.
Therefore, a new Presidency MUST show restraint when dealing with things that have been legally embedded, and therefore the citizenry also need to exercise some patience with the new regime, whosoever they are, at least over the first two years.
About the imagery of the Feature Image.
Yes, I know Wakanda Forever is a fictious film. Why did I pick it?
I know – Nobody walks around Nigeria dressed like Wakandans !
Firstly, if I were to use real Nigerians, I may not get the tribal balance right. Nigeria has over 200 tribes, and many outside of ‘WAZOBIA’ that are still quite big.. such as Ibibio or Tiv (non exhaustive list). So if I don’t illustrate a good balance of tribal notoriety I may upset some people.
I’m tired. It’s been a long day. I’m probably prone to forget someone. Life is too short and the message of this article is too important to be side-tracked by getting someone upset.
More important, how fantastical the concept of Wakanda is doesn’t really matter. How bizarre the technical arguments behind some of the events in the film are doesn’t matter. The larger-than-life costumes don’t matter. That it bears no real resemblance to Nigeria doesn’t really matter.
What would you really agree to watch a second time? Wakanda Forever, or an episode of African Magic?
The thing about the film is that it represents an African HOPE.
And HOPE is a lot of what Nigeria needs right now.
Nigeria does not need any ‘vibranium’
There is a small piece of ‘vibranium’ notionally in all of you. Let’s get this done. Let’s get February 25 over the line.
WAZOBIA FOREVER. Amen. In sha’Allah
The content of this article are my own and do not necessarily represent the views of 9ja Cosmos or Tekedia Institute.
Following the report released by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), which indicates that the recent naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) resulting in currency scarcity, will create a drop in employment rate in the production sector in the first quarter of 2023, experts have expressed concern that the policy will deepen Nigeria’s unemployment crisis.
The policy announced late last year unleashed cash scarcity that has impacted businesses across Nigeria, with the informal sector bearing much of the brunt. With businesses still struggling to find a way around the chaos, MAN’s Confidence Index Report says the employment rate would dip below benchmark points to 48.8 points in the first quarter of 2023.
In a bid to curtail money laundering, vote-buying, illicit fund and terrorism financing, the central bank, backed the federal government, had set February 10 deadline to phase out the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes. The implementation of the deadline has limited economic activities due to insufficient circulation of the redesign naira notes.
Gbolade Idakolo, a financial expert who spoke with Daily Post, said the situation will build on other unfavorable economic issues to compound Nigeria’s unemployment crisis.
“The unemployment rate presently is on the rise due to several factors including but not limited to foreign exchange scarcity and rate, energy crises, the rising cost of goods and services, poverty induced low purchasing power, high-interest rates and insecurity, etc.
“These factors have limited business productivity and profitability, leading to job losses in 2022,” he said.
“There is every likelihood that the addition of the Naira crises will further lead to economic losses directly affecting labour, which will further increase the percentage of unemployed Nigerians,” he added.
“These signs are prevalent, and it is evident in the present Naira crisis that, if not properly handled, could lead to further job losses.”
President Muhammadu Buhari, has on Sunday, appealed to Nigerians once again to be patient as the policy implementation unfolds. Earlier in his national broadcast on Thursday, Buhari had said that the policy, if fully implemented, will bring a lot of economic benefits to Nigeria.
“I am fully aware of the current hardship being faced as a result of some policies meant to bring overall improvement to the country. I’m appealing to you to exercise further patience as we take measures to ease these hardships. God willing, there is light at the end of the tunnel,” he said on Sunday.
The president said part of the reasons for the introduction of the policy is to minimize huge sums of cash in circulation as a result of illicit funds stockpiled by corrupt individuals outside banks’ vaults.
But Dr Ayo Teriba, the CEO of Economic Associates, EA, told Daily Post that the reasons don’t justify the amount of hardship the policy has brought upon Nigerians.
“Needless Naira Redesign policy, it leads to nowhere. Needless because who needs you to change the color of the naira? What benefit is the policy? It is cosmetics.
“People cannot access their money; the people protesting in banks are kidnappers, insurgents, bandits or vote buyers. You cannot say because you want to catch a thousand bandits or politicians and you will now expose 200 million Nigerians to hardship”, he stated.
As the old notes ceased to be legal tender following the expiration of the February 10 deadline, Buhari directed the CBN to allow N200 notes to co-circulate with the redesign notes in a bid ameliorate the hardship the currency scarcity caused. However, experts believe the adjustment is insignificant to the damage the policy has brought upon Nigerian labor market.
#Nigeria must rise for the RISE OF ALL, and not just for a few. Let’s vote for leaders that will make us to #believe and usher abundance for all. #vote on Feb 25.
Extracted from Ndubuisi Ekekwe’s speech at The Platform
Case A: Company A’s chief marketing officer has to make a decision on how to spend a company’s advertising budget. Here are the two shortlisted companies, presented by her analysts. Company #A1 has 10 million verified and 40 million non-verified users. Company #A2 has 1 million verified and 70 non-verified users. Other indicators are similar.
Case B: Company B’s Head of Partnership has received two proposals from two companies, and each has offered final terms. The company can only pick one company due to its near-term production capacity. Company #B1 has a marketplace membership club where users pay to shop with associated benefits (like Amazon Prime) and is asking for 20% discount from Company B; total paid members are 20 million per annum. Company #B2 does not have any membership club but claims it reaches 30 million shoppers yearly, and is asking for 25% discount from Company B. Any item unsold is returned to Company B in both scenarios.
I wrote about this when Elon Musk pioneered it, noting that it would be a good feature for Meta (Facebook parent company) and LinkedIn. Today, it has been adopted: “‘Meta Verified’ will give you a blue badge along with several other benefits, including increased visibility, protection against impersonation, priority customer support, and more” for $12/month.
For Case B, what would be your call considering that any unsold item is coming back and you’re unlikely to sell it.
In the WhatsApp Group sub-categories, discuss with others. During Tekedia Live on Saturday, we will spend a short time on this, and will examine the implications as we focus on this week’s module of Business Model and Strategy.
Note: Any variable or factor not included is assumed to be similar to Companies A1 and A2 and should be treated as non-factors. The same applies to Companies B1 and B2. What that means is this: they have similar credit rating, payment history, return ratios, etc. The only factors to consider for these distinct cases are those noted and their direct implied implications.
Source: extracted from Tekedia Mini-MBA courseware
Comment 1: A1 and B1. This sounds like we even try to do these things with Facebook ads when creating audiences and targeting. (e.g Engage shoppers and look-alike audiences.)
Comment 2: For Case A the advertising budget would go to Company hashtag#A1 – it has 10 million verified and 40 million non-verified users, and the verified users are more likely to be genuine, active users who are more dedicated and interested in the company’s products or services. Also, having higher number of non-verified users may not necessarily translate into more ‘customers’.
For Case B I would partner with Company hashtag#B1. Although having a smaller reach, its customer base is more committed with 20 million paid members. The committed members of the membership club could potentially increase odds that they will make purchases as they have already invested in the service. Also the 20% discount can be used as an incentive to retain those customers and hopefully attract new ones through time.
Great exercise Prof.
Comment 3: With the info given and given that every other indicators are similar for Case A, I am under the assumption that company A1 and company A2 have the same advertising budget.
For the same level of advertising budget, the better deal for case 1 would be company A2 for these reasons:
Non-verified users make up 0.07% of verified user compared to 400% for company A1. A2 has smaller target audience who are able and willing to pay for membership and make for lesser advertising stress and spending. The marketing agency gets to make more profit from company A2. This is when compared to running an advertising campaign for company A1 which has larger audience who may likely be unwilling to pay to be verified users and therefore require more thoughtful and high impact strategy which would be relatively more costly.
This is all assuming both companies are operating under similar budgets.
For Case B: A partnership with B1 is considered the best option compared to B2 for these reasons:
While B1 has only 20million members per annum compared to the 30million shoppers claimed by B2, those 20million are certain, so are the revenue per annum, unlike B2. Also, their discount rate of 20% seems more favorable.
My Response: great insight. Would your call on Case A change if the CMO works in Company A. In other works, there is no advertising agency. In other words, there is no middleman, referring to your “The marketing agency gets to make more profit from company A2.”
Also, for Case A, is there a consideration that being verified provides a small level of “certainty” (i.e. they are real accounts, not bots)? Thanks for the contribution.
Comment 4: Case A = #A1 has 50 million users ( 10 million verified users and 40 million non-verified users)
#A2 has 1,000,070 users (1 million verified users and 70 non verified users).
As a Chief Marketing Officer, I would ask my non verified users to verify their accounts by promising them some perks( for every verified account, the user gets 1$ bonus)
After I’ve got the users to verify their accounts. I would spend on users with more subscriptions.
Company #A1 is a better company to spend on because they have more subscribers/ users.
For Case B =
#B1 has a verified members with a credible platform .
#B2 doesn’t have a verified members and their claims are based on assumptions.
As the Head of Partnership for Company B, I would rather work with Company #B1 because of its production capacity, quality and credible products. “When you have a quality product, it reduces the risk of returning items back to the company .”
Comment 5: For case A, I will go with #A1 because 25% of the company’s users are verified. I’m certain that my products will be shown to at least 10 million persons.
For case B, I will go with #B1, 20 million verified shoppers is better than unverifiable 30 million shoppers. Besides, #B1 requests for a small discount compared to #B2.
