Comment: Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso do not have nationwide political structures like their APC (Tinubu) and PDP (Atiku) counterparts. My Response below on why you should not discount Obi and Kwankwaso as technology has reduced information asymmetry [‘occurs when one party to a transaction has more or superior information compared to another’] which made local structures very potent.

This is not to say that structures are not important, my point is that disintermediation [“reduction in the use of intermediaries”] is evident, and general voters have access to more information about candidates now, to make decisions independently, out of the influence of political bundlers and brokers.

Technology will create disintermediation that old-style political structures may not matter that much since information asymmetry will be reduced as a result of the ubiquitous smartphones and mobile internet connectivity in Nigeria. Nigeria’s electoral market is becoming more perfect with reduction of information asymmetry (everyone gets the same info about candidates and can make decisions unlike in the past when people relied on emirs, obas, obis, village heads, etc to guide them). 

As digital systems penetrate, the influence of political brokers, bundlers, etc will fade, since those citizens now have access to the right info about candidates and make decisions.

Yes, you can have party chairmen in all local government areas. But if you do not have the message for the citizens, the chairman  will not stop them from learning about those with the right messages. In the pre-mobile internet age, those chairmen were the pipelines to reach the voters. They used their positions to influence how those voters vote. 

Today, do not count on those old-style structures. You can have them – very vital – but if you do not have the right message, you will struggle. It is like in football where some clubs have zone playbooks – defend in zones and attack in zones. You get a village head, and with him, you have cornered everyone in the village politically. Just like playing zone in football which does not guarantee wins, having those village heads when the citizens can get the information directly will cause a dislocation.

With your phone today, there is no information you cannot reach. Many Nigerians are getting the right info and they can independently make decisions. And they have the channels to also express those feelings, recruiting and influencing others, without just relying on what the pundits are telling them. So, a small party with the right message could be a threat because technology can create disintermediation to the old structures we have seen in Nigerian politics.

Of course, this does not mean that a contestant does not need to build the old structures. My point is that those structures will not win elections unless they come with great visions for Nigerians since mobile internet will help voters discover those with the right messages!

Obi, Oba, Emir, etc could influence in the past as custodians of info; today, the youth sabi wetin dey.

Comment on LinkedIn Feed

Comment: America, whose democracy we follow and whose people have the most mobile internet connectivity, in the world has never produced a president outside the two major political parties- Democrats and Republicans. Why is this so? The structures both parties have that are not available to anyone outside the two parties. Without structures that APC and PDP possess, no other party can win the presidential elections in our beloved Nigeria.

My Response: I think you are not doing a good comparison here. If I ask you the logo of Joe Biden’s party, you will struggle. They have attained near zero information asymmetry where you do not even need logos or emblems to know candidates. How do you know them? Their policies or what they stand for. So, it is personalized not “party-nized”.

That is what I am saying. Nigerians will begin to pay attention NOT to party but what the candidates offer them. Interestingly, minor parties in US have nothing new to exploit. But in Nigeria, there are still opportunities as we have not attained policy saturation or stable state in our evolving democracy.

{As late as 1930s, African Americans voted mainly Republican. Later, they moved Democratic as Democrats used voting rights, etc to attract them]

Mobile internet can move us from party to person. That is the message.

Bitcoin went crashing further on Monday below $24,000, hitting a 29-month low. The recent dip was spurred by sustained selloff of crypto assets by investors as it becomes clearer that bitcoin is not a hedge to inflation.

Bitcoin has been on a nosedive performance since mid-last year, following the pullout of Tesla from the frenzy by its major cheerleader Elon Musk. The electric vehicle manufacturer had opted out of using bitcoin as a means of payment due to concern about its carbon footprints, which is contrary to the gospel of cleaner energy that Tesla stands for. The crypto market’s predicament was exacerbated by China’s clampdown on everything crypto.

As a result, the crypto market has lost its glorious capitalization of $3 trillion, costing investors billions of dollars and forcing crypto companies to downsize and to limit their services.

Over the weekend and into Monday morning, more than $200 billion had been wiped off the entire cryptocurrency market. The cryptocurrency market capitalization fell below $1 trillion on Monday for the first time since February 2021, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Celsius, a crypto lending company has suspended withdrawals for its customers. “Due to extreme market conditions, today we are announcing that Celsius is pausing all withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts,” the company said in a memo to clients on Monday.

Crypto exchange company Crypto.com announced on Saturday that it is laying off 260 workers, 5% of its workforce. CEO Kris Marszalek said in a tweet that the Singapore-based exchange uses the approach to stay focused on executing against [its] roadmap and optimizing for profitability.

“That means making difficult and necessary decisions to ensure continued and sustainable growth for the long term by making targeted reductions of approximately 260 or 5% of our corporate workforce,” he added. The CEO did not specify when the layoffs would be happening.

Others have towed the same path. On June 2, Coinbase said it will freeze hiring and withdraw some job offers. On the same day, Gemini said it was going to cut about 10% of its workforce. Binance has also paused withdrawal.

These drastic measures not only spark fears of contagion into the broader market, but also concern that the crypto crash is far from over.

A CNBC analysis that involves chats with experts in the industry highlights key factors enabling the current downturn.

Macro factors are contributing to the bearishness in the crypto markets, with rampant inflation continuing and the U.S. Federal Reserve expected to hike interest rates this week to control rising prices.

Last week, U.S. indices sold off heavily, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropping sharply. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have tended to correlate with stocks and other risk assets. When these indices fall, crypto drops as well.

“Since Nov 2021, sentiment has changed drastically given the Fed rate hikes and inflation management. We’re also potentially looking at a recession given the FED may need to finally tackle the demand side to manage inflation,” Vijay Ayyar, vice president of corporate development and international at crypto exchange Luno, told CNBC.

“All this points to the market not completely having bottomed and unless the Fed is able to take a breather, we’re probably not going to see bullishness return.”

Ayyar noted that in previous bear markets, bitcoin had dropped around 80% from its last record high. Currently, it is down around 63% from its last all-time high which it hit in November.

“We could see much lower bitcoin prices over the next month or two,” Ayyar said.

This is the summary: BTC is just lines of codes, and codes belong to the world. This thing is behaving like most tech companies without the balance sheet (and possible dividends). People, bitcoin is crashing really fast!

Some crypto lending platforms like Celsius are pausing withdrawals as its CEL token plunges 50%. Microstrategy Inc may be over if care is not taken; it has fallen from $891 to now $153 in twelve months.

Coinbase is in another world, from $368 to $50 in twelve months. This is the reality: bitcoin may be “decentralized” but humans and companies which trade on it are “centralized”. If inflation ravages the world, those humans and companies will exit some asset classes. Unfortunately, with no balance sheet to trust, this may not be the bottom for BTC.

Shine ya eyes, people.

Cryptocurrencies kicked off a new week with deep losses, extending weekend selling following surprisingly high U.S. inflation data and troubles for a major cryptocurrency lending platform.

Bitcoin  BTCUSD, -14.66%  has slumped around 12% over the past 24 hours, last trading at levels not seen since late 2020 of around $24,228, with a low in that period of $23,822. Those represent levels not seen since late 2020. Bitcoin is down more than 60% from its November 2021 high.

Bitcoin Drops to $24k, Adding to Fears that the Crypto Market May Be Heading for Worse

Comment Below

The most valuable and precious things are the ones wanted by everyone but only few can get them. The value doesn’t increase because of increased utility, but rather because it’s very difficult to acquire.

There is inflation in energy and food, so if you keep money on crypto, to what end exactly? The price would have remained up if it has a single supply source, with limited quantity; but as long as people can launch their own coins, the market will remain chaotic.

If you are holding coins but seriously in need of gas, but no one is willing to take your coins in exchange for gas, you are still in deep trouble.

Only things that are productive on their own command greater value, money is not productive on its own, because you cannot eat money. If you are hungry and they serve you food, it’s problem solved; but if they give you money and you can’t find food to buy, you will still die of hunger, while having money in your pocket.

Those who have things that matter will always attract money, but those who have money may not be able to attract things that matter.

Ndubuisi Ekekwe presentation in RCCG RECALP 2022 (Dove TV) – Equipping The Next Generation: Careers and Entrepreneurship.