- EmergingCrypto.io Web3 Weekly Update
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- June 20, 2022
June 20, 2022
Kenyan DeFi salary advance pilot on Celo💸, Mining BTC with flare gas in Russia🏭, Yahoo's upcoming metaverse events in HK👾
June 20, 2022
All the emerging market blockchain & crypto news you needin less than 5 minutes
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EmergingCrypto.io Weekly Update June 12 - June 18
Africa
Image Credit: Mercy Corps Ventures (@MCSocialVenture) via Twitter
The Celo Foundation has partnered with Mercy Corp Ventures and Cinch Markets in Kenya to launch a three-month salary advance pilot for farmers and landowners employed by Cinch. Mercy Corp Ventures is the VC arm of Mercy Corp and Cinch Markets is an agriculture company that leases farmland from smallholder farmers and hires farmers to grow high-value crops at scale. The pilot explores employer-based lending using Moola Market, a DeFi lending protocol built on the Celo blockchain, and Kotani Pay, an on/off ramp provider in Africa to offer (1) better interest rates, (2) faster loan delivery, and (3) reduce administrative overheard. Later in 2022 Mercy Corps Ventures and the Celo Foundation will release a comprehensive impact report to assess repayment rates and quality-of-life improvements.
Between January and March 2022 Nigerians traded roughly $185 million worth of bitcoin on the peer-to-peer trading platform, Paxful. This accounted to over a quarter of the total BTC traded on the platform during the first quarter. Paxful reported that this was a 5.71% increase year-over-year, and the rise in trading volume comes on the heels of Nigeria's Central Bank's ban on Nigerian commercial banks from transacting in and with entities dealing in crypto assets.
Eastern Europe
Image Credit: Dirk Ingo Franke via Wikimedia Commons
The world's largest hosting provider for crypto mining, BitRiver, has struck a deal with Russian state-owned gas giant, Gazprom, to provide electricity to BitRiver's data centers using flare gas. Typically burned off, flare gas has become an innovative power source for crypto mining operations around the world. As part of the partnership between the two Russian businesses, BitRiver plans to develop a digital infrastructure on Gazprom oil fields. Russia is the fifth largest bitcoin mining country as of January 2022 according to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index.
The European Blockchain Partnership (EBP), the European Union initiative to develop an EU-wide blockchain strategy and public services infrastructure, has granted Ukraine ‘Observer’ status. The Ukrainian government hopes this will lead to the implementation of blockchain technologies in the country and more efficient crypto regulations. 'Observer' status is a step towards full membership, and Ukraine has now become the third non-EU nation participating in the EBP.
Asia
Image Credit: Julien Tromeur via Unsplash
Residents of Hong Kong, impacted by COVID pandemic restrictions inhibiting engagement in social activities, will soon be able to enjoy virtual events and concerts that Yahoo will be organizing in Decentraland. Head of Yahoo Hong Kong, Lorraine Cheung, wants to use the metaverse to connect people amidst COVID lockdowns. One of the virtual events will be a NFT exhibition called "The Abyss of Kwun Tong" where local artists will virtually recreate the historic neighborhood of Kwun Tong which has been affected by redevelopment.
Global crypto market contagion has reached the shores of Hong Kong. Last week, Hong Kong-based asset manager, Babel Finance, announced that due to liquidity pressure they are suspending redemption and withdrawals of its products. Just last month, Babel Finance raised $40 million in a Series A funding round. The company now joins the ranks of other crypto firms that have halted withdrawals due to current market conditions.
Latin America
Image Credit: Giorgio Trovato via Unsplash
One of Argentina's leading crypto exchanges, Lemon Cash, plans to enter the increasingly competitive market of Brazil by the end of July. The company promises direct integration with Pix, Brazil's instant payment platform managed by the country's Central Bank, and will be able to covert Brazilian reais to users' preferred cryptocurrency and vice versa. After Lemon Cash launches in Brazil the company also plans to offer a credit card that directly debits customers' accounts, allowing cardholders to pay in any cryptocurrency that's converted to reais at the time of payment.
Rounding off this week's newsletter, blockchain technology has been referenced as a use case and an option to improve processes in the fishing industry in Ecuador and worldwide. Blockchain-based software could provide mechanisms for product traceability as they move through supply chains, transferring information and interconnecting all the participants from the fishermen who caught the product, to distributors, processors, supermarkets, restaurants, and ultimately consumers. Product traceability may also provide a solution to prevent illegal fishing and human rights violations of fishermen. Another improvement would be digitization to reduce paper-based processes that are traditional to the fishing industry.
Thanks for reading and have a great week ahead!