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Central Bank of Nigeria: Consider A Local Company Over Another Foreign Firm for eNaira Evolution

By
Ndubuisi Ekekwe
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1

If this is true that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)is looking for another foreign company, on e-Naira,  I have a message for it: do not do it. We can all agree that e-Naira did not deliver on its promises, as the new Naira scarcity tested it, and it failed. If that is the case, what is the next game plan on its evolution? In a nation with Touch and Pay, Interswitch, Flutterwave, and some really innovative banks, we do not need to source for these things from outside the nation: 

‘The federal government of Nigeria through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is currently in talks with a New York-based tech firm, to develop a new and improved system to manage the country’s digital currency, the eNaira….Bitt wrote in a statement, “We are aware that our partner, the CBN, works with various service providers to explore technical innovations for their digital infrastructure.” The company added that it continues to work closely with the Nigerian central bank and is “currently developing additional features and enhancements.”’

Simple things can make a product great. Just changing your blog image size from 800×450 pixel to triple that size could reduce your web traffic from Nigeria. Why? No mobile metered reader wants to waste money loading high resolution images. But a New York designer may not understand that for the Nigerian market, putting the highest quality images, and that becomes an own-goal, as people will avoid that website as it costs them tons of money to read contents.

Yes, business is not about technology, but solving people’s problems, and understanding how to deliver on the products to meet those challenges becomes strategic and catalytic. In the fintech space, local domain knowledge wins because commerce is local.

CBN: if you want manufacturers to source raw materials locally, it may be fair to source your secondary tech partners locally. Allow those young people to have the opportunities to pass or fail.

Central Bank of Nigeria in Talks With A U.S. Company to Revamp the eNaira

By
Ojukwu Emmanuel
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0

The federal government of Nigeria through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is currently in talks with a New York-based tech firm, to develop a new and improved system to manage the country’s digital currency, the eNaira.

According to sources familiar with the story, the CBN wants to develop its software for digital currency, so that it can keep full control of the effort, as it is currently discussing plans with R3, a New York-based technology firm. 

The sources further disclosed that the world’s leading digital currency expert Bitt Inc. which had previously helped Nigeria issue its central bank digital currency in October 2021, revealed that a new partner won’t take over its job immediately, but would help the central bank meet its long-term aspiration to control the underlying technology.

Bitt wrote in a statement, “We are aware that our partner, the CBN, works with various service providers to explore technical innovations for their digital infrastructure.” The company added that it continues to work closely with the Nigerian central bank and is “currently developing additional features and enhancements.”

It would be recalled that Nigeria became the first country in Africa and one of the first in the world to release a digital currency in October 2021, to deepen financial inclusion for Nigerians.

During the launch of the eNaira in a press release dated 23rd October 2021, the CBN disclosed that the launch of the eNaira is a ‘culmination of several years of research work’ done by it in advancing the boundaries of payments systems to make financial transactions easier and seamless for every strata of the society.

Meanwhile, ever since the launch of the digital currency, it has been followed by a low adoption rate as the project has struggled to gain traction among Nigerians.

A Bloomberg report in October 2022 revealed that the usage of the eNaira was just at a very low level of 0.5% of Nigeria’s 217 million population. Meanwhile, a huge percentage of the population is increasingly interested in cryptocurrencies.

The disappointing low adoption rate spurred the CBN to intensify efforts to raise awareness for the eNaira to increase the adoption rate, which saw them offer a 5% discount to drivers and passengers in the country.

Soon after, the CBN governor Godwin Emefiele announced that the eNaira project entered its second phase with an adoption target of eight million users. According to him, the CBDC had about 840,000 downloads, with about 270,000 active wallets.

He further added that there had been around 200,000 transactions worth 4 billion naira approximately $9.5 million at the time.

Meanwhile, many Nigerians have failed to see the difference between the government-backed eNaira and cryptocurrencies and thus have wondered about the rationale behind Government’s decision to stop banks from trading cryptos.

Bone now listed in the top 100 Cryptocurrency by Market Capitalization

By
Paul Ugbede Godwin
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1

Bone ShibaSwap [$BONE] is the governance token of the Shiba Inu decentralized ecosystem. $Bone became number 99 in ranking as the globally traded crypto in terms of market capitalization for the first time since launching early 2021. This happened as the project’s official Twitter Page confirmed that the Shibarium beta would happen in the “next week.” Prior to the disclosure, there were speculations that the event would occur in the week before the now-confirmed period. These rumors had triggered increased demand for SHIB.

According to CoinMarketCap, the BONE market cap gained 35% in the last seven days, allowing it to reach the landmark. The price also exchanged hands at $1.85, meaning that the token holders were able to make over 174% in profits. One part that the BONE hammered on that was vital to Shibarium was the SHIB burn. The mechanism involved sending tokens to dead wallets, and being unable to retrieve them. The objective was to make maximum supply scarce with a positive price input.

Now, BONE established that the beta launch will allow SHIB holders to buy the governance token while burning SHIB. Hence, BONE’s part in the layer-two (L2) Shibarium blockchain is important.

At press time, Shibburn revealed that the rate had decreased by 91.88% in the last 24 hours. But as BONE pronounced the burn activity valid, the rate had the potential to increase by next week

Following the disclosure, Santiment showed that BONE’s volume skyrocketed to 24.02 million. This hike suggested that the average number of times the BONE token exchange wallets was at a high velocity.

Another metric that followed the same route was the exchange outflow. At the time of writing, the outflow surged to one of its highest since February began. This means that investors are likely sending BONE out of exchanges for the long-term while displaying possible bullishness in the short term.

SHIB’s lead developer Shytoshi Kusama had released a blogpost on , citing how the team has made Shibarium different. In the post, he explained how Shibarium beta should have happened in 2022, but certain challenges did not allow it. At press time, BONE seemed to be overtaking the 98th market cap position from EthereumPOW. However, SHIB exchanged hands at $0.0001323 while maintaining number thirteen in market cap terms.

Coinbase’s Revenue Tumbles 75% in 4th Quarter of 2022

By
Ojukwu Emmanuel
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0

One of the world’s leading crypto exchanges Coinbase has seen its revenue tumble 75%, while posting a loss of $557 million in its fourth quarter (Q4) report, amid a series of scandals and bankruptcies.

According to reports, Coinbase revenue plunged by more than three quarters, the lowest in two years. While the $629 million in revenue for the three-months which ended in December was higher than the average analyst estimate of $581 million, it was about a quarter of the $2.5 billion registered in the year-earlier period.

The loss was the fourth consecutive one for the crypto exchange, which has suffered from the devastating fluctuations of the prices of cryptos. Also, trading volume on Coinbase exchange platform reportedly fell each quarter of 2022 as investors avoided the crypto market amid a market slump. The company expects first-quarter subscription and services revenue between $300 million and $325 million.

Coinbase disclosed that it was operating toward the goal of improving adjusted Ebitda, a measure of profitability before some costs. The company’s Chief executive officer Brian Armstrong, said on an earnings call that the company has evolved to aim for generating “adjusted Ebitda in all market conditions,” rather than operating with a goal of roughly breaking even across cycles.

It’s no surprise that Coinbase had a challenging quarter given the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and crypto lender Blocki. Both companies filed for bankruptcy last November, affecting confidence in digital assets as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin dipped as low as $15,480.

Meanwhile in 2023, trading volume has increased on Coinbase’s platform, while rivals like Kraken and Gemini have faltered, though this will not be reflected in the upcoming financial report.

The crypto exchange Chief Financial Officer Alesia disclosed that markets have rebounded in the current quarter compared to Q4 2022, which he said that market conditions have really evolved, even in a single month.. He further added that Coinbase generated $120 million in transaction fee revenue in January, adding that retail has come back to the market.

Coinbase’s shares have rallied by about 75% so far this year as a crypto price rally ramped up trading volumes. The stock, which fluctuated after the release of fourth-quarter results, tumbled 85% last year.

The crypto exchange has so far carried out two layoffs, trimming its headcount by roughly 1,100 employees last June and letting go of 950 employees in January last month. Executives disclose that the reduced overhead could help coax Coinbase along its path to restoring profitability.

Coinbase went public in 2021 and is the only exchange based in the U.S. that’s subject to requirements that come with trading on a public stock exchange. Aside from fees related to transactions on its platform, Coinbase sees revenue from providing custody of digital assets, staking, and other subscriptions and services. 

If You Cannot Innovate, COPY Legally

By
Ndubuisi Ekekwe
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2

When Facebook’s parent (Meta) unveiled its Meta Verified where you pay a fee to get the blue badge, I wrote: “I wrote about this when Elon Musk pioneered it, noting that it would be a good feature for Meta (Facebook parent company) and LinkedIn. …For years, nobody wanted to do this until the boldest entrepreneur in our generation, Elon Musk, did it, and it is going to become an industry standard henceforth.”

In this piece, how Meta copied the Twitter playbook is explained. Meta did not just copy the business model, it went also for the absolute pricing mechanism, across digital domains of iOS and Google Play Store.

BoFA research note said, “Given a broader audience reach and bigger revenue opportunity for creators, we believe Meta could outperform the subscriber ramp (as a percent of users) of peer subscription offerings (the service will likely be refined and improved over time)”.

According to a principal analyst Jasmine Enberg, she disclosed that the increased reach and visibility that comes with Meta’s verification service is the real news. In her words, “I expect Meta Verified’s impact on Meta’s revenue will be minimal. But by increasing subscriber reach and visibility, Meta could attract up and coming creators, many of whom have had trouble building audiences on Instagram.” 

Also reacting to Meta’s rollout of a paid subscription service, Twitter CEO Elon Musk responded by tweeting “Inevitable” to a tweet that disclosed that Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg copied the microblogging platform verification payment feature.

Meta’s new subscription service is coming months after Twitter’s CEO Elon Musk rolled out Twitter’s Blue subscription service in December, which costs $8 a month for web users and $11 a month for people who purchase it via Apple App’s Store. Reports reveal that the service currently has nearly 300,000 worldwide subscribers.

Recall that two days ago, tech giant company Meta, rolled out a paid verification service for Instagram and Facebook. Following its launch, the company CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his Instagram account, “This week we’re starting to roll out Meta Verified—a subscription service that lets you verify your account with a government ID. This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services.”

What is the message: if you cannot innovate, COPY. I made that call many years ago in the Harvard Business Review: “Entrepreneurs need to think about whether they need to innovate when there are business models that can be copied lawfully”. 

Comment on Feed

Comment 1: Well said, sir. If one can’t innovate, they should at least be able to copy professionally, legitimately and legally. Whichever way, the brain will be put to use, hands and feet go to work while some good money be brought into the wallet. Thanks a lot my Prof for this great piece.
Comment 2: Copying is innovating! I guess the real sweet spot is in being able to apply what works elsewhere into your own domain probem without loosing the uniqueness of the domain. That is why sometimes when you are searching for solutions in construction, for instance, the answer may just be lying in ecommerce waiting for you to apply in construction. it takes an innovative mind to spot and apply!

Comment 2A: Copying is not innovating because you are simply replicating what someone else evolved on innovated or created. To be innovative is to be novel and pioneering. However, this aspect of innovation is not subject to IP protection, hence Meta copied without consequences.

Comment 2B: innovation is different from invention, you can be in innovative without pioneering anything. So, yes, copying can still qualify as innovation, if you are in doubt, ask Apple. 

Comment 2R: I guess in the context I made my statement, it stands. It takes ingenuity to discover how blockchain that is prevalent in the crypto space can work in optimising a platform business for instance. Same principles but different context. However, in applying same, there is a huge need for customisation and tweeking, there the “innovation” comes in. Another question really could be “How novel is novel”?. There is always an element of leverage in Innovation. You are either combining principles or applying parts of another or creating yours from the micro parts of others. Leverage is key! Thats my point.

My Response: I think I agree with. Innovation = invention + commercialization. That invention may not even have to come from you. Pebble has gone bankrupt after it invented smartwatch. Today, Apple owns that sector because it innovated on it, after copying Pebble. The key is doing it lawfully!

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