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USA and Nigeria to Discuss Digital Economy and AI Advancements for Economic Growth

The United States of America (USA) and Nigeria are poised to explore potential partnership opportunities in the digital economy, emerging technology, and the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI). The discussions aim to strengthen economic ties between the two countries and foster deeper collaborations in these areas.

The Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy, Mr. Arthur Brown, announced that high-level U.S. government officials will be in Abuja for a conference under the auspices of the U.S.-Nigeria Bi-National Commission. The conference will provide a platform for both countries to discuss the digital economy, emerging technology, and AI advancements.

During the closing ceremony of a four-day Workshop on National Artificial Intelligence Strategy in Abuja, Mr. Brown highlighted the importance of fostering partnerships and working together to drive robust, resilient, and inclusive economic growth. The United States is ready to work with Nigeria as equal partners in various areas, including talent development, infrastructure, research, and innovation. Mr. Brown also commended Nigeria for its support on the adoption of a landmark United Nations resolution on AI and pledged the U.S. government’s continued partnership with Nigeria on the economy.

Nigeria has shown a growing commitment to AI and emerging technologies in recent years. In November 2020, the country established the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), the first of its kind in Africa, marking a major moment for state-level commitment to AI. The NCAIR was established in line with Nigeria’s National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy 2020 – 2030, which listed AI as one of the eight pillars of the country’s digital economy.

Since the establishment of the NCAIR, AI has featured more prominently in government policy efforts. The NCAIR launched programs to equip children with coding and machine learning skills, making them conversant with AI and other emerging technologies. The Nigerian government has also directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to provide AI research grants to tertiary institutions to drive innovation and improve economic resilience.

In March 2023, Nigeria drafted a National AI policy, co-created by the National Information Technology Development Agency and industry experts, to further strengthen its AI commitment. The country has also launched initiatives like the 3 million Technical Talents (3MTT) program and the Nigeria Artificial Intelligence Research Scheme (NAIRS) to train young people in AI and support AI startups and researchers.

The upcoming discussions between the USA and Nigeria present an opportunity for both countries to share knowledge, expertise, and best practices in the digital economy, emerging technology, and AI advancements. By aligning AI governance and ensuring safe, secure, transparent, and trustworthy AI deployment, the partnership aims to drive economic growth and innovation in both nations.

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Nigeria’s Unity Bank Collaborates with Binkabi for Blockchain-Based Agricultural Solutions

Nigeria’s Unity Bank has entered into a collaboration with Binkabi, a commodity trading structure that is blockchain-based. The primary objective of this partnership is to propel lending to Nigeria’s agriculture sector.

Expressly, Binkabi will avail blockchain-based agricultural solutions, whereby value addition will be availed to SMEs and farmers by propelling quality storage for farm produces and grains under the commodities category. Additionally, Binkabi will be instrumental in generating a marketplace, whereby end-sellers and end-buyers of the commodities will be connected.

The collaboration will also be pivotal in boosting finance access to SMEs and farmers. For instance, Unity Bank customers will be advantaged as they will easily attain loans.

Usman Abdulqadir, Unity Bank’s Head of Risk Management and Compliance, stipulated that the partnership was noteworthy as farmers will get end-to-end solutions, whereas the whole agribusiness value chain will be enhanced.

While speaking at an agro commodities trade platform launch, Abdulqadir stipulated:

“There are problems within the agric sector, and one of them is that we have limited bank lending to the sector. There is difficulty in accessing risk because there is no data, and even when there is data, it is not reliable.”

Abdulqadir was optimistic that the partnership would expand farmers’ knowledge base as they will become better risk assessors. Furthermore, the intended platform will propel liquidity and transparency. As a result, the farmers’ purchasing power will be enhanced because of optimal profitability and productivity.

The blockchain innovation will require farmers to avail their warehouse receipts so that they can obtain funding, and this will simultaneously unlock the whole value chain.

Abdulqadir also noted:

“What we are doing today is just to integrate all the various components of the value chain into one single entity to have an integrated approach to funding the agric sector. We have a huge portfolio of primary production; as we speak today, about 40 percent of our entire loan portfolio is in one aspect of agriculture or the other. We are the leading bank in funding primary production; we are also deepening agriculture mechanisation.”

Manrui Tang, Binkabi’s Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder, affirmed that the firm’s objective was issuing financing and trading commodities on the blockchain by connecting all stakeholders in the supply chain, such as aggregators, farmers, logistics companies, commodity exchanges, banks, and warehouses, among others.

Tertiary institution Signs MOU with Cryptography Development Initiative in Nigeria

As the rest of Africa makes an effort to secure a position of relevance in the blockchain space, Nigerian based Nile university has gone into partnership with Cryptography Development Initiative in Nigeria (CDIN), the announcement was made in the official Twitter handle of CDIN on October 16.

Prof. Aras, the institution’s Vice-Chancellor(VC) of the university who spoke at the event, used the opportunity to express his pleasure in the new partnership as he believed that it would play a significant role in fortifying the students with the necessary skills needed to survive the digital space. Professor Can also bolstered the points made by the vice-chancellor by saying that this partnership was going to provide a reliable platform for students to sandwich their theory-based knowledge with helpful practicals.

CDIN happens to be a non-profit organization that aims at tackling the wide learning gap and practice of cryptography within Nigeria.

Mr. Fadele, who stood on the position of the spokesperson for CDIN, commended the warm welcome shown by the institution in a time when not many institutions recognize the need to value and integrate blockchain-related skills to the school system. The event was wrapped up with the formal signing of the MoU.

The efforts to integrate blockchain and crypto-related skills into the educational system, as seen in a report from Coinbase, have shown that rising interest of students in crypto and an increasing number of courses focused on blockchain, cryptocurrencies, or Bitcoin that are being taught across a range of disciplines. This increased interest in studying crypto at colleges and universities could pass for an indication that the future of money has a lot yet to be seen.

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Binance Lists the Nigerian Naira on its Exchange Platform in Partnership with Flutterwaves

Binance has announced its listing of the Nigerian Naira on its exchange in collaboration with Flutterwaves, a Nigerian company that is poised to help banks and businesses build secure and seamless payments solution for their customers.

Trading pairs which include BUSD/NGN, BNB/NGN, and BTC/NGN were also added to the Stablecoin Market (USDⓈ), this means that users can now use Naira deposits to purchase BUSD, BNB, and BTC. This development, which was announced on the official Binance blog on October 24, 2019, has been received with a lot of excitement from many Nigerians as the nation has seen a tremendous level of increased interest in cryptocurrencies in recent times.

In a bid to promote its first fiat listing on the exchanger, Binance has made a zero fee deposit through Flutterwaves of up to N36,000 ($100) for all newly registered users starting from October 24, 2019.

The exchange has also committed a sum of N3,600,000 ($10,000) to reward newly registered users who make deposits on the exchange before 7:00 AM UTC. The rewards would be shared on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Expressing himself on the new partnership, CZ, CEO of Binance, he said: “Africa has illustrated one of the largest demands and instrumental use cases for cryptocurrency, notably for financial access, in the world’s second-largest continent.”

He also added that,

“In sub-Saharan Africa, about 90 million people remain unbanked while many regions in the area, including Nigeria, have embraced new technologies with an increasing amount of innovation. Working with Flutterwave will help bridge the fiat-to-crypto gap, and we hope to stimulate more financial inclusion as Africa demonstrates strong potential in leading crypto adoption.”

CEO of Flutterwave Olugbenga Agboola also reiterated the mission of the company saying that: “What we do at Flutterwave is, create possibilities for the everyday African to become prosperous. (….) that is what this partnership is about.”

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Nigerians Set to Enjoy Remittances at 1% Cost Through the Strategic Partnership Between Dash And Bitfxt

There has been a strategic partnership between Dash and Bitfxt, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Nigeria, to allow Nigerians to enjoy remittances at a lower cost.

According to the report, this partnership is meant to ensure that Nigeria’s crypto-enthusiasts enjoy remittances at a very affordable rate. While Dash is deemed as a leading digital asset for remittances and international payments with secure, fast and affordable transactions, Bitfxt aims to bring more liquidity to the Nigerian crypto market. The recent development indicates that the team has decided to bridge the gap in remittances for Nigerians through the use of Dash at a 1% cost.

Since it has been identified that sending remittances to Nigeria through the use of gift cards on Paxful is very expensive, as high as 30%, Dash and Bitfxt have come together to minimize such excessive cost. Through this establishment, for volumes of $200 and above remittances, the recipient will receive Dash and can then convert to Naira at the cost of 1% while the conversion rate for volumes of remittances below $200 will be at 2%.

According to the report, in 2018 diaspora remittances to Nigeria were more than oil earnings. It went further to note that a PwC report estimated that diaspora remittances to Nigeria were in the region of $25 billion which represented 6.1% of GDP. This, in turn, represented a 14% increase from the 2017 estimate of $22 billion.

The report held that Nathaniel Luz, the Lead of Dash Nigeria, said, “This move is clearly in tune with the motive of Dash as a digital currency that is meant to always be at the disposal of people with respect to international payments and remittances.”

In the same vein, Franklin Odoemenam, Bitfxt CEO, shared this partnership is indeed the vision of Bitfxt as the leading crypto infrastructure company in Africa which is aimed to connect Africa to the world. For Odoemenam, this partnership is meant to grant access to cryptocurrency for thousands of new people which will give them a better alternative of remitting money and experience. He added, “There’s no other way to grow adoption than the daily use of crypto and that is what this partnership does, opening up thousands of new people to crypto for better money remitting experience.”

Luz believed that the necessity of Dash for developing economies like Nigeria cannot be overemphasized, as there is the issue of high fees from the existing financial infrastructures.

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7 Steps in Luno: How to Convert Your USD to Nigerian Naira Using Bitcoin

In recent times cryptocurrencies have been gaining a lot more recognition than in the past, it is almost accurate to say that the speed at which they have been gaining recognition is almost exponential. Bitcoin has the largest market dominance has seen a steady increase from the end of 2019 to date.

Africa happens to be one of the regions in the world that have been responsible for this sudden surge. With Nigeria being at the forefront of this race, Google trend had indicatedan increase in the Google search for Bitcoin for the last few months. Considering the fact that the country has been experiencing some relatively troublesome economic situations, it is not uncorrelated with the efforts its citizens have been making which is a clear pointer that they are now seeing this digital currency as a more stable alternative.

According to the latest World Bank report, in 2019, 9.3% of the value to be transferred is charged as the cost of sending funds to sub-Saharan Africa via regular Remittance services — with Nigeria being the highest user — This is said to be the highest remittance rate anywhere around the world.

Besides the relatively unstable economy, the number of Nigerians in diaspora have been on the increase and seeing that cryptocurrencies are a better alternative to remittance services offered by local financial operators, migrants in need of sending funds to their friends and loved ones are gradually resorting to the use of Bitcoin to escape the exorbitant charges by the banks and other financial operators.

This newly found interest also explains the recent increase in the number of exchange platforms that have been springing up to meet this growing demand for liquidity within this space. Some platforms where Nigerians can receive funds in dollars or Bitcoin and convert to Naira has been seen as a way out of the too many constraints fiat presents, they include Luno, LocalBitcoins, Paxful, Bitpesa, to mention but a few.

In this article, we would be explaining in detail the steps to take in opening an account as well as the process of conversion of USD/BTC to Naira. We would be using Luno which happens to be one of the country’s oldest and trusted exchange platforms.

Luno (formerly known as BitX) offers a 0% fee for users who make liquidity by placing an order while market takers are meant to pay a fee between 0% to 1% for the Nigerian Naira. Bank transfers and credit card deposits can also be made on the platform easily, while bank transfers are free, credit card deposits will incur a fee.

The ease of use, low fees, and high transaction limits are some of the major features that endear it to many Nigerians, thereby giving it a very positive reputation. Besides the BTC/NGN trading pair, Luno also has other Bitcoin trading pairs which include:

BTC/EUR

BTC/ZAR

BTC/MYR

BTC/IDR

Below are the steps to receive and convert your US Dollars or BTC to Nigerian Naira:

Step 1: Visit the Luno website to create an account.

Step 2: Sign up to create an account and sign in using your registered email and password.

Step 3: Select the purpose of opening the account. Note that this is what Luno will use to determine what kind of account a user intends to open.

In this case for “receiving funds into the country”.

Step 4: Now to receive Bitcoin go to the Homepage and click on the BTC option.

Step 5: Click on the receive icon to reveal the wallet address and a bar code to receive BTC.

Step 6: Name your wallet and scan the barcode or copy the wallet address and paste as a message to the sender.

Step 7: Select BTC as the currency you would like to sell and input the amount.

Finally, click on “Next”, now when you get your Naira, link your account to the Luno platform and transfer to your account. It would take a little while for the balance to reflect but after you do that all you have to do is wait for your account to be credited.

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Google Web Searches for Bitcoin Hit a Historic Low with Nigeria Still Leading

Regardless of the fact that there have been a lot of concerns lately about the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus and its possible negative impact on the cryptocurrency market, the price of Bitcoin continues to break new resistance levels, soaring above the $9000 mark over the last few days.

The Global web search data from Google Trends indicate that there has been a decline in searches for Bitcoin in recent times, as it has recorded an all-time low since October 2018. Even in the midst of the activities going on in the global scene we see that some African countries have maintained the lead in these searches with Nigeria is recorded as the country with the highest level of Bitcoin google searches, followed by South Africa and Ghana respectively. Although the results from Google trends are often seen as irrelevant data metrics by some people, it serves a very strong indication which is very important to the growth of the industry.

Image from Google Trends

Google Trends also revealed that “Binance exchange” is the most popular Bitcoin-related search query followed by IOTA, TRON, and Luno.

The top ten countries by global Bitcoin web searches include; Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Austria, The Netherlands, St. Helena, Slovenia, Singapore, Switzerland and Australia with a score of 100, 90, 76, 68, 66, 66, 66, 63, 60, and 59 respectively at the time of writing this report.

However, the major leaders in the industry, i.e., Canada, United States, Malaysia, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates, hold the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th positions, respectively. Statistics from China are left out in this data metrics as Google has no access to that region.

Meanwhile, the United States of America is one of the leaders in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry but has recorded an even lower position on Google Trends than the results generated for previously stated countries.

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Why is Nigeria Africa’s Biggest Crypto Hotspot Even Though it Doesn't Even Have a Bitcoin ATM?

Nigeria is the biggest crypto market in Africa, but based on official records it does not have a functional Bitcoin ATM. WeeTracker reported that this trend is noted in Nigeria despite it backing the first stablecoin project in the continent using its currency the Naira. Other African nations, such as Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, and Djibouti are proud owners of a Bitcoin ATM.

The growth of Bitcoin ATMs globally

In 2014, Canada became the first country to have a Bitcoin ATM globally. A year later, the United States followed suit based on its first installation at a cigar bar located in New Mexico.

This trend has been growing worldwide because at least 4,000 Bitcoin ATMs have been installed. Africa has, therefore, not been left out in getting a share of the cake.

Bitcoin ATMs taking shape in Africa

According to Coin ATM Radar, South Africa is home to 5 Bitcoin ATMs, whereas Ghana has two. On the other hand, Kenya got its first installation in 2019.

Despite this notable trend in other African nations, Nigeria seems not to be hitting the ground running in embracing Bitcoin ATMs in spite of it being among the top three crypto markets in Africa the others being South Africa and Ghana.

The co-founder and COO of Paxful, a peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace headquartered in New York, Artur Schaback, acknowledged that Nigeria is one of the company’s biggest crypto markets, but he was surprised that the nation does not have a Bitcoin ATM.

He, however, noted, “I think it boils down to three factors: investment, maintenance, and security. A good Bitcoin ATM machine requires upfront investment and additional shipping cost and customs charges. Top that with maintenance fees for putting cash, maintaining secure servers and evading petty robbery attempts, establishing a bitcoin ATM is not easy anywhere in the world, even in Nigeria.”

Schaback was of the idea that when it comes to owning a Bitcoin ATM, a sole proprietorship is a bit tricky. Nevertheless, some of the installed ATMs are maintained and operated by companies and societies with the absence of governments.

For instance, in Kenya, the country’s first Bitcoin ATM is run by the BitClub Network, a pool of cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Conversely, in Uganda, it is located at the Kampala Post Office and operated by a local blockchain company called KIPYA Bit2Big.

By 2023, the worldwide Bitcoin ATM market is speculated to get to $145M USD. The trend noted in Nigeria is that crypto assets are a considerable entity in its economy, but Bitcoin ATMs have not yet been embraced.

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Binance Enables Support for Naira, But is Cryptocurrency Legal in Yet in Nigeria?

Binance, one of the top cryptocurrency exchanges in the world has opened support for the Nigerian National currency (Naira) on its trading platform. This move will automatically allow the crypto traders in Nigeria to directly purchase and sell cryptocurrency with the Nigerian Naira. This move is the first by Binance in Africa to enable fiat for trading on its platforms.

In recent times the country has been seen to have experienced an increase in the level of interest within the crypto-space. While addressing the latest development, Binance CEO, Chanpeng Zhao stated that Nigeria’s advanced innovation space, as well as the drive Nigerians, have shown towards cryptocurrency, gave the platform no other choice than to open support for the National currency. The charismatic CEO further commented, “We strive to provide the easiest cryptocurrency access and best trading service for the African community, and P2P trading is a more flexible approach, giving users the freedom to choose their payment methods and counterparty in a trade.”

The addition of Naira is supported with the following pair and users can trade it against popular currencies like BTC, ETH, USDT, BNB and more. This can be done through peer-to-peer with other users and verified merchants at zero cost of the transaction using both the website and App. Additionally, users with a reliable fiat base and cryptocurrency can apply to become a merchant of P2P, post-trade adverts while earning cash in return on the Binance platform.

Is cryptocurrency legal yet in Nigeria?

Although it is not fully recognized by regulatory bodies, neither is there a legal action for or against the use of cryptocurrency in the country, but cryptocurrency exchange which includes trading and selling of digital assets or fiats is becoming a booming business in the country. As merchants spring up across the Nation, many people are already involved in buying and selling of cryptocurrency.

As such, initiatives like this will only make trading in the space easier and far more appealing for more people.

With the rate the Nigerian community is embracing blockchain and cryptocurrency, moves like this will tend to see more people interested in joining the space thereby creating a platform where the country can become one of the early adopters of cryptocurrency.

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Paxful Research Reveals How Nigerians Are Fighting Devaluation of Native Currency Naira with Bitcoin

The current pandemic has led to a devaluation of Nigeria’s native currency Naira and affected how cryptocurrency trades are conducted in the country.

Devaluation of Naira

With the devaluation of Naira (NGN) from 2018 to now, the exchange rate of Naira inflated from 306 NGN to 380 NGN for one USD, a considerable devaluation that has gotten Nigerian business owners worrying about the repercussions and impacts on their companies. The local currency’s devaluation means that if one had 1,000 NGN in their savings, for example, the monetary sum would have shrunk to 750 USD with the inflation of Naira – this translates to a staggering 25% decrease for Nigerians.

Speaking to local Nigerian traders and business owners, peer-to-peer Bitcoin market platform Paxful discussed probable solutions and brainstormed how Nigerians could combat the devaluation of Naira during the ongoing pandemic.

Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin hedging

IT consultant Ebuka provided a different perspective to the devaluation of NGN, saying that he had managed to profit a little from the Nigerian currency drop by exchanging his USD funds into Naira.

Trading with foreign currencies like Ebuka and converting USD to NGN is not always an alternative for Nigerian locals, however, as many only earn income in Naira and do not have funds in foreign currencies. With the devaluation of NGN, it has become increasingly difficult for Nigerians to exchange Naira for other currencies due to the inflation in the currency’s price. Cryptocurrency trading is therefore a great hedge solution for Nigerians in light of the financial crisis brought upon by COVID-19.

Cross-border trading must be done in a tactful manner, however, and “the focus must be to make small profits first, and not expect to get rich fast overnight,” revealed full-time trader Happy in a discussion with Paxful. She added:

“If you buy BTC at a high rate, be mindful when you hold for too long because any rise in the price of Naira may lead to a fall in BTC price. It’s challenging to monitor the prices of both BTC and Naira, but you’ve got to stay alert.”

Despite the devaluation of the foreign currency affecting international trading, another plausible alternative for Nigerians proposed by Ebuka may be income earned through arbitrage. Arbitrage is a practice used by investors where securities and assets are purchased and sold in order to profit from a difference in the asset’s price across various markets.

In order to help Nigerians and the crypto community worldwide achieve financial freedom, Paxful has also come up with an Affiliate Program, which enables an investor to earn Bitcoin (BTC) and 50% of the escrow fee every time they invite “an affiliate” friend to buy Bitcoin on the trading platform.