African Cryptocurrency Firms Raise Capital Despite Regulatory Hurdles


Africa cryptocurrency

African blockchain and crypto businesses have been raising funding despite regulatory issues in some markets.

A new report by Weetracker highlights that most of the capital raises and moves towards ICOs have predominantly been in South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

The report looks at the first quarter 2018 activity across the continent. It also notes that African fintech start-ups have been the most attractive for funding flowing into African tech start-ups.

It details that “Kenya’s crypto exchange platform SureRemit raised $7 million in an ICO” during the first half of 2018 while “South Africa’s The Sun Exchange launched a $5 million ICO”.

In Zimbabwe, Golix is moving ahead with its plan to launch a $32 million ICO after the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe was ordered to lift its ban on crypto businesses in Zimbabwe.

Other notable developments in crypto and blockchain across Africa include installation of bitcoin and crypto ATMs in Zimbabwe and South Africa among other markets.

Although there is growing awareness and interest in cryptocurrency across Africa, Europe and Asia, the report by Weetracker says the last two weeks have been chaotic for cryptocurrencies across the world amid mixed fortunes for blockchain and virtual currencies in Africa.

“Globally, bitcoins and cryptocurrency have seen notable downfall with a scare of coming close to end, just like the dot-com crash. Last two weeks especially have been chaotic for the global markets as all the cryptocurrencies were trading at lower rates than preceding weeks.

“Africa too has had its share of surprises in this sector in H1 2018, taking many tumultuous turns,” says the report.

Global crypto markets have tapered off significantly throughout 2018, and this lack of volume does not bode well for the prospects of a market recovery in the short-term.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

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