In the latest government’s threat to the crypto market that suggestively contributed to its current plunge that has put the market capitalization at below 40%, the lowest since July, Russia is wielding the amour.

Russia’s central bank on Thursday proposed banning the use and mining of cryptocurrencies on Russian territory, citing threats to financial stability, citizens’ wellbeing and its monetary policy sovereignty. The report was first made by Reuters.

The move is the latest in a global cryptocurrency crackdown as governments from Asia to the United States worry that privately operated and highly volatile digital currencies could undermine their control of financial and monetary systems.

Russia has argued for years against cryptocurrencies, saying they could be used in money laundering or to finance terrorism. It eventually gave them legal status in 2020 but banned their use as a means of payment.

In a report published on Thursday, the central bank said speculative demand primarily determined cryptocurrencies’ rapid growth and that they carried characteristics of a financial pyramid, warning of potential bubbles in the market, threatening financial stability and citizens.

The bank proposed preventing financial institutions from carrying out any operations with cryptocurrencies and said mechanisms should be developed to block transactions aimed at buying or selling cryptocurrencies for fiat currencies.

The proposed ban includes crypto exchanges. Cryptocurrency exchange Binance told Reuters it was committed to working with regulators and hoped the report’s release would spawn dialogue with the central bank on protecting the interests of Russian crypto users.

Restrictions on owning cryptocurrency are not envisaged, said Elizaveta Danilova, head of the central bank’s financial stability department.

Active cryptocurrency users, Russians have an annual transaction volume of about $5 billion, the bank said.

Shadowing China?

The central bank said it would work with regulators in countries where crypto exchanges are registered to collect information about the operations of Russian clients. It pointed to steps taken in other countries, such as China, to curb cryptocurrency activity.

In September, China intensified its crackdown on cryptocurrencies with a blanket ban on all crypto transactions and mining, hitting bitcoin and other major coins and pressuring crypto and blockchain-related stocks.

“For now there are no plans to ban cryptocurrencies similar to the experience of China,” Danilova said. “The approach we have proposed will suffice.”

Joseph Edwards, head of financial strategy at crypto firm Solrise Group, played down the report’s significance, saying no one outside Russia would be losing sleep over it.

“Moscow, like Beijing, is always rattling its saber over ‘crypto bans’, but Russia has never been a pillar of any facet of the industry in the same way as China has been at times,” he said.

Crypto mining

Russia is the world’s third-largest player in bitcoin mining, behind the United States and Kazakhstan, though the latter may see a miner exodus over fears of tightening regulation following unrest earlier this month.

The Bank of Russia said crypto mining created problems for energy consumption. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are “mined” by powerful computers that compete against others hooked up to a global network to solve complex mathematical puzzles. The process guzzles electricity and is often powered by fossil fuels.

“The best solution is to introduce a ban on cryptocurrency mining in Russia,” the bank said.

In August, Russia accounted for 11.2% of the global “hashrate” – crypto jargon for the amount of computing power being used by computers connected to the bitcoin network.

Moscow-based BitRiver, which operates data centers in Siberia hosting bitcoin miners, said it did not consider a complete crypto ban likely, expecting a balanced position to develop once different ministries have discussed the proposals.

The central bank, which is planning to issue its own digital rouble, said crypto assets becoming widespread would limit the sovereignty of monetary policy, with higher interest rates needed to contain inflation.

Bitcoin fell to $36,000 on Friday, wiping off billions of dollars in investors’ funds, and heightening concern over volatility that has been a major obstacle for cryptocurrency adoption. Russia’s proposed ban, if approved, will mean further harm to the already troubled crypto industry.

Due to the feedbacks that the last piece: “Mopha in prison for failure to perfect bail; what you should know about bail & it’s conditions” which summarily talked about the concept of “Bail” generated, readers reached out to confirm the veracity of the most used phrase in police stations; “bail is free”. The question posed is; “is bail really free”?.

For the sake of leaving no stone unturned, we’d redefine the term “bail” here:

Bail is the temporary release of an accused person who is awaiting trial while he guarantees that he will be appearing in court or reporting to the police whenever his presence is needed and he also guarantees that he won’t won’t run away or go into hiding. In the case of  Onyebuchi v FRN & ORS (2007) LPELR- 4135 (CA) Bail was defined as the process by which an accused person is temporarily released from the state custody to sureties on conditions given to ensure his attendance in Court whenever he is required until the determination of the case against him.

By the virtue of s.35(4) of the constitution,  any person who is arrested by the law enforcement agency for commission of crime must be brought before court within a reasonable time. Reasonable time in this regard is “24-48 hours”. Therefore, it is illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and breach of fundamental human right for a suspect who has been accused of a crime to be detained in police custody for more than 48hours, hence the reason why there’s room for police bail, which simply means; temporary freedom pending when the police would have made enough case against the suspect  in order to charge him to court.

Readers should note that there are two major types of bail and they are;  Police Bail (administrative bail) and Court Bail but we are going to  pay more attention to police bail in this piece because of our theme, the notorious phrase; “bail is free” which has been a mantra to the police agency and other law enforcement agencies.

Police Bail which is also known as administrative Bail is the bail granted by the police to a suspect who is in their custody. It is a temporary freedom the investigating police officer(s) grants a person suspected of committing a crime pending when they obtain enough evidence to charge such a person to court.

Police bail is statutorily provided for in s.62 (2) of the police act which is in line with the proviso of s.35(4) of the constitution and in no statute or any written law in force in Nigeria was it provided that a suspect should pay a fee for his bail.

This phrase “bail is free” with it’s syndicate phrase “police is your friend” are the most unbelievable sentences in the history of the Nigeria police system.

Fortunately, as paradoxical as it may sound; the phrase “bail is free” is right, accurate and true as bail is actually very free in Nigeria as of today.

We are not ignorant of the fact that It is a well-known secret that individuals are made to pay scrupulous amount in police stations before they can bail themselves or bail their ward that is in police custody, which is the root of doubt of the accuracy of the “bail is free” slogan, even when it has been incessantly emphasized on by the police agencies themselves. This is no doubt the handiwork of the “black-sheep” police officers bringing the name of the police commission to disrepute.

The take home; Un/fortunate as it may seem, bail is free and don’t hesitate to report a police officer who is asking you for a fee for your bail or your ward’s bail. 

Africa is taking a bold step to join the growing game industry that is rapidly attracting the big names in the tech industry as investors.

Carry1st, an African mobile gaming publisher, has announced a $20 million Series A extension round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), its first investment into an African-headquartered company. New participants in the round are Avenir and Google as well as other prominent angel investors including Grammy winner and crypto investor Nas, and founders of Chipper Cash, Sky Mavis, and Yield Guild Games. Riot Games, Konvoy Ventures, Raine Ventures, and TTV Capital, who were also part of the Serie A round, participated in the extension round.

Founded in 2018 by Cordel Robbin-Coker, Lucy Hoffman, and Tino Mundangepfupfu, Carry1st is a publisher of social games and interactive content with a focus on frontier markets like Africa.

“We’re excited to partner with this world-class group of investors who, in addition to capital, bring expertise across gaming, fintech, and web3,” said Cordel Robbin-Coker, Carry1st’s CEO and co-founder.

“In 2021 we launched multiple games and digital commerce solutions achieving really strong growth. Together we can accelerate this growth and achieve our goal of becoming the leading consumer internet company in the region.”

Since launching its game publishing platform last May, Carry1st has grown by over 90% month-over-month, Robbin-Coker said. “Our team nearly doubled in 2021 in order to support and build on the growth. This funding from some of the world’s most renowned investors will allow us to take the next step forward.”

“We have an incredible market opportunity; coupled with a clear strategy and the resources to realize this potential. In short, we have a chance, which is very exciting,” he added.

Carry1st partners with mobile games studios and content owners around the world to enable them to “launch their content profitably in the region. We’ve developed a payments platform which allows users to purchase using their preferred method of payment, and a marketplace for digital products”.

Having recently partnered with online payments provider PayPal and Chipper Cash, its users can now also pay for digital services like Tinder subscriptions, mobile data, and gaming currency.

Robbin-Coker believes connecting international content owners with “a large, engaged, aspirational user base” is a way to help solve Africa’s notorious connectivity problems.

“Due to app distribution and digital payment problems in the region, it’s extremely difficult for studios to make money off their games – and for consumers to pay for the content they want,” he said.

“As a result, consumers across Africa are underserved. We work with international publishers to access the world’s fastest-growing market. Our publishing solution, which handles user acquisition, live operations, community management, and monetization for our partners, is the solution to this.”

Andreessen Horowitz general partner David Haber said the firm was “delighted to be making our first investment in an Africa-headquartered company” in the mobile games and fintech platform. “We see immense opportunity for the company to mirror outstanding successes we’ve seen in markets like India, China, and Southeast Asia. We couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with founders Cordel, Lucy, Tino, and the Carry1st team on their mission to build the Garena of Africa.”

Gaming has recorded rapid year-on-year growth to become a $200+ billion industry, attracting the flotsam and jetsam in the tech industry as the number of game players jump globally 3 billion. In 2021 alone, the total number of video game releases was up 64% compared to 2020.

The U.S leads the pack with 51% of players reported spending more than 7 hours per week playing across console, PC and mobile. Though China’s recent regulatory framework targeting its game market has resulted in decline in the number of players, there has been an uptick in other countries. The number of gamers is expected to grow to 4.5 billion by 2030.