Tokenizing a real world elephant is now a thing 🐘

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EmergingCrypto.io Weekly Update April 17 – April 23

Africa

Image Credit: AJ Robbie via Unsplash

NFTs are now being used for African wildlife conservation

The world’s NFT craze continues and now we are tokenizing real world endangered animals in game reserves and privately owned conservation areas in Africa. Lead by Netherlands-based decentralized carbon credit exchange, Coorest, and conservation consulting firm, PLCnetwork of the Southern Hemispherethe two companies have teamed up to mint wildlife NFTs to sponsor lions, tigers, and cheetahs (oh my!). However, owning the wildlife NFT doesn’t give ownership over the animals. 70% of profits from the sales will provide food, shelter, and security for the sponsored animal. The metadata of the NFT contains information about the species, gender, age, and a monthly “proof-of-life” verification that the animal is still alive. An interesting use case of combining blockchain with wildlife preservation, the wildlife concept treats conservation as an investible asset and a new source of revenue for game reserves and conservation areas. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on Cointelegraph)

Nigeria’s CBDC leads the world per PWC’s CBDC Global Index

Nigeria’s CBDC, the e-Naira, has been ranked first by PWC among other retail CBDCs. The PWC CBDC Global Index evaluated the current stage of the CBDC project’s development while also considering the central bank opinion and public interest. Nigeria was ranked first for its successful rollout of the e-naira in October 2021 and is expected to help build a sustainable payment system that is resilient, financially stable, continuously innovative, and increase financial inclusion. In a close second and third place was the Bahamas and China. The Bahamas was the first country in the world to launch a CBDC to be used as legal tender and China has been a world leader in CBDC research and testing. You can view the whole report here. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on BitcoinKE)

Eastern Europe

Image Credit: Tonhar via Wikimedia Commons

Under martial law, Ukraine bans bitcoin purchases

In a surprise turn of events as the Russian war in Ukraine continues, last week the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) announced that they are prohibiting Ukrainians from purchasing crypto in local currency as it attempts to curb capital outflows under martial law. This is surprising given how important of a role crypto has played in the ongoing Russian war as a form of financial relief, and the Ukrainian government’s role to establish a regulated market and legalize crypto last month. The new rules also target electronic wallet deposits, FX transactions and travel payments. Furthermore, the Central Bank is limiting the amount of crypto that can be bought with foreign currency to UAH 100,000, roughly $3,400 USD per month. “The NBU estimates that said changes will improve conditions on the FX market, which is a prerequisite for further easing the restrictions and relieving pressure on Ukraine’s international reserves.” (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on Bitcoin Magazine)

Coinbase reportedly buying Turkish crypto exchange for $3.2 billion USD

American cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbaseis deepening its presence in Turkey and is reportedly planning to purchase BtcTurk for $3.2 billion USD. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, announced last year in a blog post that Coinbase plans to expand to every country it can legal operate in. The company is currently looking to hire a Country Director to drive business growth in Turkey, lead its expansion strategy, and accelerate the company’s strategic partnerships, M&A, and venture bets. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on Cointelegraph)

Latin America

Image Credit: Kurt Cotoaga vis Unsplash

Mercado Bitcoin owners, 2TM, continues its acquisition spree throughout Latin America

2TM is ramping up its 2022 acquisition strategy and is shopping for targets in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Colombia. 2TM is the owner of Bitcoin MarketBrazil’s largest crypto exchange and one of the largest in Latin America. 2TM will not just be focusing on acquiring other crypto exchanges and is reportedly expanding their search to include other crypto segments as well. Coinbase is currently in negotiations with 2TM to purchase a stake in the company. Given the regulatory complexities in each country, crypto giants like 2TM and Coinbase seek to expand via acquisition vs. organic growth. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on Blocknews)

Tether and Bitfinex launch fund and donate 25 bitcoin to support families impacted by gang violence in El Salvador

The darling of the Bitcoin world, El Salvador, continues to be in the news last week with Tether and Bitfinex creating a crypto fund for Salvadoran families impacted by the recent spike in gang violence over the last the couple of weeks. The two crypto-native companies have contributed 25 bitcoin to the fund, roughly $1 million USD. CTO of Bitfinex, Paolo Ardoino, explained that funds “will be deployed in collaboration with the local government and community groups and will be subject to strict monitoring to ensure fair distribution.” Bukele recently declared a state of emergency and suspended constitutional warranties because of the gang violence. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on CoinNewsExtra)

Asia

Image Credit: Element5 Digital via Unsplash

UAE’s education sector continues to adopt blockchain

The UAE government is supporting the adoption of blockchain to digitize school records and credentials. Blockchain is considered a potential tool to lower the costs for schools to securely create, maintain and verify academic credentials. As the technology continues to mature and be adopted in the education sector, blockchain can go beyond merely as a tool for record validation. A blockchain digital certificate or transcript can be highly detailed, containing information about attendance, courses taken and even the results of specific exams or papers. Furthermore, it can be used to accredit education institutions, and provide transparency to parents and students in the development of curriculum, teaching and learning processes, and issuance of grades. The rate of blockchain adoption in the UAE is increasing due to initiatives such as the ‘Fifty-Year Charter’, a project that includes developing a centralized education database for every citizen to document all the academic degrees obtained, classes and training taken, and conferences attended. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on UNLOCK Blockchain)

TRON DAO launches a decentralized algorithmic US dollar stablecoin

Rounding off this week’s newsletter, the TRON blockchainfounded by Justin Sunlaunched a decentralized algorithmic US dollar stablecoin (USDD) by way of the TRON DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization). USDD will not rely on any centralized institutions for storage, management, and redemption and will be pegged to the TRON native cryptocurrency, Tronix (TRX). The stablecoin will be backed by $10 billion in crypto reserves to start and will begin to be issued on May 5, 2022. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on UNLOCK Blockchain)

Thanks for reading and have a great week ahead!

Written by Jon Lira. Connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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