The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its latest country report on Nigeria, has raised alarm over the country’s booming crypto economy — warning that if left unchecked, it could destabilize Nigeria’s financial architecture, undermine regulatory controls, and punch holes in already strained capital flow management.

The warning comes at a time when Nigeria has become one of the world’s most active crypto markets. According to Chainalysis’ 2023 Global Crypto Adoption Index, Nigeria ranks among the top three globally, with more than $59 billion in crypto transactions recorded between July 2023 and June 2024. A separate poll by Consensys and YouGov found that 62% of Nigerian crypto users had owned Bitcoin, while others invested heavily in Binance Coin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Tether, and Solana.

This explosion in adoption coincides with a global surge in crypto markets. Since January 2020, the total crypto market value has jumped from $211 billion to $3.4 trillion by the end of 2024 — a meteoric 1,511% rise in just five years. But Nigeria’s case is unique, both in scale and context. With a battered naira, rigid forex controls, and widespread distrust in formal financial institutions, crypto has flourished as both an escape hatch and a workaround.

But not without consequences.

The IMF’s core concern is that Nigeria’s crypto boom is expanding beyond regulatory reach. A significant portion of capital flows into and out of the country now bypasses traditional banking systems. This undermines the Central Bank’s ability to control liquidity, inflation, and exchange rates. More troubling, a large volume of these transactions go unrecorded, effectively stripping Nigeria of foreign exchange earnings and eroding tax revenue.

Informal crypto activity is also contributing to forex market distortions. As users trade naira for dollars through peer-to-peer platforms, dollar demand in the unofficial market rises, feeding speculative behavior and widening the gulf between the official and black-market rates. According to estimates from Bureau De Change operators, up to 90% of foreign currency inflows into Nigeria are now off the radar — a staggering figure that underscores how much influence crypto now has in shaping Nigeria’s currency dynamics.

Beyond economic instability, Nigeria is facing serious image problems internationally. The country remains on the FATF Grey List — a designation reserved for jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in combating money laundering and terrorist financing. The situation is worsened by statistics from Sumsub’s 2024 “Fraudlympics,” which placed Nigeria first globally for crypto-related fraud, identity theft, and forced verification scams. In terms of terrorism risks, Nigeria ranked sixth globally in the 2025 Global Terrorism Index.

Faced with these pressures, Nigerian regulators have begun scrambling for a grip.

Under Dr. Emomotimi Agama, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is leading the charge. In early 2025, the country rolled out its first naira-backed stablecoin, the cNGN, launched through licensed exchanges. By June, the SEC introduced a suite of initiatives including the “Crypto Smart, Nigeria Strong” national awareness campaign, a framework for regulating stablecoins, and licensing guidelines for all virtual asset service providers (VASPs). It now mandates that crypto platforms must register, operate physically within Nigeria, and file regular transaction reports.

In a move to deepen oversight, the SEC has also begun integrating blockchain into its regulatory systems to ensure transparency and data integrity. It’s aligning closely with international watchdogs like the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) in a bid to strengthen cross-border enforcement and secure Nigeria’s position in the global financial ecosystem.

Still, the IMF believes more must be done. In its advisory, it outlined a nine-point policy blueprint with 37 specific actions Nigeria must adopt — from defining the legal status of crypto assets and clarifying tax obligations to monitoring the impact of crypto on monetary policy and building resilient, regulated alternatives for cross-border payments.

The informal nature of Nigeria’s crypto economy means large sums are slipping through regulatory cracks. Profits go untaxed. Illicit financial flows remain hard to trace. And capital flight is harder to control. In a country already contending with high inflation, volatile exchange rates, and an economy that’s heavily dollar-dependent, the risks are real — and growing.

However, crypto’s appeal in Nigeria stems from a deeper distrust — in the naira, in banking systems, in government institutions. Nigerians are embracing crypto not just as a financial tool, but as a protest, a shield, and a last resort.

Financial experts have noted that if the Nigerian government hopes to regain control, it must do more than regulate. It must rebuild trust. That means implementing robust reforms and demonstrating a credible commitment to economic transparency.

President Donald Trump has fired a fresh barrage of tariff warning letters to eight countries, warning them to reach trade agreements with the United States before August 1 or face stiff levies on their exports.

In a particularly pointed rebuke, Trump singled out Brazil for what he described as an international disgrace over the ongoing trial of former president Jair Bolsonaro, threatening a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports unless the country reverses course.

“It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!” Trump wrote in a letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace.”

The White House confirmed the letters were sent Wednesday to Brazil, the Philippines, Brunei, Moldova, Algeria, Iraq, Libya, and Sri Lanka. The letters include customized tariff threats ranging from 20% to 50% and follow through on Trump’s broader April 2 “Liberation Day” trade strategy, which called for sweeping tariffs across virtually all U.S. trading partners unless bilateral deals are struck.

Trump accused the governments involved of erecting unfair trade barriers and contributing to what he described as “unsustainable Trade Deficits” that jeopardize both the American economy and national security.

“Please understand that these Tariffs are necessary to correct the many years of Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers,” the letters stated. “This Deficit is a major threat to our Economy and, indeed, our National Security!”

Each letter opened with near-identical language: “It is a Great Honor for me to send you this letter in that it demonstrates the strength and commitment of our Trading Relationship.”

But the tone quickly turned confrontational, especially in the case of Brazil, which has recently placed former President Bolsonaro on trial over charges linked to election interference.

Trump, who has long maintained a close ideological alignment with Bolsonaro, framed the legal action as a political vendetta. He also used the opportunity to reassert his commitment to defending “Free Elections” and “Free Speech Rights of Americans,” tying Bolsonaro’s prosecution to broader global threats against conservative leaders.

In the same batch of letters, Trump threatened a 20% tariff on the Philippines, 25% on Brunei and Moldova, and 30% on Algeria, Iraq, Libya, and Sri Lanka. He also warned that these rates could be increased if countries retaliate or fail to engage in “good faith” negotiations.

The eight countries are just the latest on Trump’s growing list of trade targets. Earlier this week, he issued similar letters to 14 other nations, including key Asian economies like Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, and Thailand. Altogether, Trump has now publicly threatened punitive tariffs on 22 countries as part of his restructured “America First” trade agenda.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the aggressive moves during a White House briefing, saying, “They will take the letters seriously because they have taken the president seriously… his phone rings off the hook from world leaders all the time who are begging him to come to a deal.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration has identified 18 key trading partners for negotiations since the April 2 declaration, with several deals already in the works.

“We are close to several deals,” Bessent told CNN, while noting “foot-dragging on the other side.” He said announcements of major agreements could come within days.

So far, Trump has finalized provisional frameworks with the United Kingdom, Vietnam, and a ceasefire agreement with China. While the details remain limited, the UK deal reportedly retains a 10% baseline tariff. The agreement with Vietnam imposes a 20% tariff on direct exports and a much steeper 40% rate on goods believed to be transshipped from China or other third-party nations.

Trump has also reinforced 25% tariffs on automobiles, aluminum, steel, and other imports from Canada and Mexico that do not meet standards under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

The use of trade policy to penalize countries over issues unrelated to commerce—such as Brazil’s judicial proceedings—marks a continued evolution of Trump’s diplomatic strategy. His trade doctrine now blends economic leverage with political messaging, signaling that countries that align ideologically or strategically with the U.S. will receive preferential treatment, while those seen as adversarial will pay a price.

As the August 1 deadline looms, businesses, investors, and foreign governments are scrambling to assess the real-world impact of what many see as a volatile but highly calculated trade campaign.

In 1907, US Steel was the most valuable company in America as steel was the core tech. In 1957, IBM was the king as the mainframe ran the show. By 1983, GE ruled. In the decade of 2010s, Apple and Microsoft took over as mobile Internet and apps defined markets. Today, this is Nvidia moment as AI infrastructure is the new steel: “Nvidia added another milestone to its meteoric rise on Wednesday, when its stock briefly pushed the company’s market value above $4 trillion during trading—making it the first company in history to achieve that valuation intraday.”

Congratulations Nvidia. The AI era is not hype; it is real. Yes, AI moment is not the same as the dotcom one because AI companies are generating revenue. As YCombinator recently noted, AI companies are the fastest growing companies on record, and the margins are the best. This implication is that our world is being redesigned and transformed. This a cambrian moment in the market and AI is powering that future.

Nvidia stands alone. The AI chipmaker became the first company to reach a market capitalization of $4 trillion on an intraday basis on Wednesday, before closing out the trading session slightly below that threshold. The world’s most valuable company surpassed Apple and LinkedIn parent Microsoft, which are the only other members of the $3 trillion club. Nvidia has ridden the AI boom to the top of the markets, making the chips that power large language models like ChatGPT. The 32-year-old company has seen the value of its shares surge fifteenfold in just the past five years.

OpenAI is preparing to take on one of the tech industry’s most entrenched monopolies—Google’s Chrome browser—with the imminent launch of its own AI-powered browser, three people familiar with the development told Reuters.

The browser, which could debut within weeks, is part of a broader move by OpenAI to expand its footprint far beyond conversational chatbots and into core consumer technology used daily by billions.

If successful, the launch could disrupt a critical pillar of Google’s dominance—user data acquisition—and threaten its lucrative advertising empire, which relies heavily on data harvested from Chrome’s more than 3 billion users worldwide.

OpenAI, which shook the tech world with the release of ChatGPT in 2022, is now pushing into more integrated digital experiences. According to the sources, its upcoming browser is built atop Chromium, the same open-source architecture used by Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, but is being custom-tailored to embed AI functionality into everyday browsing tasks. That includes an AI agent capable of carrying out actions on users’ behalf—such as filling out forms, booking reservations, or navigating content—directly on the websites themselves.

In effect, OpenAI is positioning the browser as more than just a traditional web tool. Instead of leading users from one link to another, it aims to keep interactions within a native AI chat interface, similar to ChatGPT, offering a fundamentally different approach to how people engage with the internet.

A Data War Brewing

By launching its own browser, OpenAI stands to tap directly into user behavior, the same stream of behavioral data that has helped Google build an advertising empire. Nearly three-quarters of Alphabet’s revenue comes from ads, much of it fueled by insights gathered through Chrome, which remains the default gateway for internet traffic and Google Search queries.

With more than 400 million weekly active ChatGPT users, OpenAI already has a strong base to convert. The integration of ChatGPT-style AI inside a native browser environment could dramatically increase user engagement, while simultaneously allowing OpenAI to access the kind of granular behavioral data previously only available to Google.

While OpenAI declined to comment on the development, sources said the company has opted to build the browser itself, rather than operate as a plugin within an existing browser. The decision, they added, gives OpenAI greater control over the data and user interface—key advantages as it races to stay ahead in the AI arms race.

The browser will also serve as a natural integration point for OpenAI’s “Operator,” an AI agent capable of executing digital tasks autonomously. With access to browser-level data, Operator could evolve into a full-fledged assistant managing entire workflows, from researching a topic to completing purchases or scheduling travel.

An Uphill Climb

However, OpenAI faces a formidable uphill climb. Chrome currently controls more than two-thirds of the global browser market, according to StatCounter. Apple’s Safari trails far behind with 16%, and other Chromium-based browsers like Opera and Microsoft Edge occupy smaller slivers of the market.

OpenAI is not the only player trying to reshape the browser. Perplexity recently launched its own AI browser called Comet. Brave and The Browser Company have also unveiled AI-infused tools designed to navigate or act on behalf of users. But OpenAI’s move may carry more weight given its existing user base and the momentum behind ChatGPT’s brand.

The browser push also follows OpenAI’s foray into hardware. In May, the company acquired AI startup “io,” founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive, in a $6.5 billion deal. These moves signal a new phase for OpenAI as it seeks to build not just software tools, but entire ecosystems.

Adding to its firepower, OpenAI has brought in heavyweight talent from Google itself. Last year, it hired two longtime vice presidents from Google who were among the original architects of Chrome. The hires hint at long-term ambitions to build a Chrome rival from the inside out.

The Legal Overtones

The timing of OpenAI’s browser push could prove strategic. The U.S. Department of Justice is currently pursuing a major antitrust case against Google’s search dominance and has floated the possibility of breaking up parts of its empire, including divesting from Chrome. In a recent hearing, an OpenAI executive even testified that the company would be interested in acquiring Chrome if such a divestiture occurred.

For now, Google has resisted any move to sell and plans to appeal the monopoly ruling. But OpenAI appears to be preparing to challenge Google’s grip on internet navigation head-on—first with its own tools, and potentially later, with deeper ambitions.

The arrival of an OpenAI browser marks a pivotal moment in the AI era. If it gains traction, it could become the competition that Google needs to keep Chrome – as it might finally crack open Google’s once-impregnable dominance over the modern internet.