In Bitcoin Africa’s Weekly News Roundup, we look at the most trending blockchain and cryptocurrency stories from Africa this week.
Here are our top picks!
SA’s VALR Raises $3.4 Million To Expand
VARL is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Africa by trading volume, above Luno, iCE3x and ChainEx has raised 57 million rand ($3.4 million) from 100X and 4DiCapital. The capital will go into creating new products for the South African market and entering new markets in Africa.
In a blogpost, Farzam Ehsani, VALR’S CEO and Co-Founder, said:
“I am very grateful that despite the challenging global COVID-19 pandemic that has adversely affected many businesses around the world, VALR has been able to grow at a phenomenal pace and we’ve been able to raise funds and partner with a set of world-class investors, adding to our already distinguished group of shareholders.”
Before receiving support from 100x (parent company of BitMex), VALR’s had a high profile list of investors. Global exchange powerhouse, Bittrex, Michael Jordaan, the former CEO of FirstRand Ltd.’s First National Bank are investors in VALR.
At the time of writing, VALR has raised 79 million rand so far. Currently, VALR supports over 50 cryptocurrencies. New features rolling out soon include collateralised lending and derivative trading.
The Uganda Communications Commission is Deploying Blockchain to fix SIM Card Verification
The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has partnered with FSD Uganda (FSDU) and CryptoSavannah to implement blockchain technology.
The implementation will be in the data-keeping sector of the commision’s work in registering SIM Cards. SIM Cards have always been an important form of identification. However, the need to have better verification systems is heightened by the popularity of mobile money on the continent.
Currently, the process for registering and verifying SIM cards in Uganda is slow, corrupted by fraud, and is inaccessible to many.
To further secure and enhance the management of SIM cards, UCC will be investigating the use of blockchain technology for SIM card registration and verification.
Conflux Network Launches A $50K Worth Grant
In a press release published by Conflux, the blockchain project announced a $50,000 grant. The grant intends to fund entrepreneurs, developers, and educators who can leverage the Conflux network to build innovative projects.
Conflux will provide support submissions with a focus on building infrastructure tools for developers. These tools will aid developers to build scalable products and DApps .
Finally, the cryptocurrency market has been bullish. The bitcoin price broke its stable price action into an uptrend that has seen a 5 percent rise. On the other hand, altcoins continue to see impressive gains as Ethereum breaks past $270.
