Sango: Africa’s newest crypto hub 🌍and underground crypto mining ⚡ in Russia’s oldest prison 🏢

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EmergingCrypto.io Weekly Update May 22 – May 28

Africa

Sango: The Central African Republic’s soon-to-be crypto hub

The Central African Republic (CAR) will be building a crypto hub to develop the local crypto economy. The project is called “Sango” and is where the CAR will set up a special crypto economic zone and legal framework for crypto country wide. To attract builders and investors, the legal framework will include an e-residency program, citizenship by investment, online business registration, 0% income tax, and 0% corporate tax. The 24-page overview presentation detailing the project can be viewed here. (Read more on EmergingCrypto.io; Read more on BitcoinKE)
 

Algorand selected for Nigerian intellectual property right project

The government of Nigeria inked a three-year Intellectual Property Right (IPR) partnership with UK-based Developing Africa Group to launch a sovereign IP marketplace and wallet to commercialize all forms of intellectual property created and registered in Nigeria. Software company, Koibanx, was chosen to implement the wallet, the token for the IP on sale, a stable token equal to the value of the Naira, and integrating the system into different vendors. Algorand was chosen as the blockchain for the project and project tokens. (Read more on EmergingCrypto.io; Read more on CryptoSlate)

Asia

The largest bank in the Philippines is issuing a bond that will be registered on a blockchain

The Philippines largest bank, UnionBank, is issuing a blockchain-registered digital bond. The issuance amount is expected to be at least one billion pesos ($19 million USD) and up to nine billion pesos ($172 million USD). With HSBC and Standard Chartered as joint lead arrangers, the listed 1.5-year bond has a 3.25% annual rate. UnionBank is a veteran to blockchain compared to other banks. Eighteen months ago, UnionBank and Standard Chartered co-created a blockchain platform for retail bond issuance as part of a proof of concept to tokenize bonds. (Read more on EmergingCryptop.io; Read more on Ledger Insights)
 

China’s latest CBDC innovation: a digital RMB smart student ID card

The latest application of China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) is a digital RMB smart student ID card. A smartphone-based solution, the ID card is in the form of a mobile sim card and was co-developed by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China’s largest bank, and China Mobile. To make payments, students can use the card on the school’s campus and will use NFC technology for payments and to identify the student. Despite the convenience for parents, concerns have been raised about activity tracking, compliance, and privacy for children. (Read more on EmergingCrypto.io, Read more on Ledger Insights)

Latin America

Tether enters Latin America with a Mexican peso-backed stablecoin

Last week, Tether made its first entry into Latin America and launched a new Tether token pegged to the Mexican peso (“MXN₮”). It will have support on the Ethereum, Tron, and Polygon blockchains. The MXN₮ is Tether’s 4th fiat-backed stablecoin including the US dollar USD₮, the Euro EUR₮, and the Chinese Yuan CNH₮. The introduction of MXN₮ on the blockchain will provide faster and cheaper options for wholesale and retail cross border payments to Mexico. (Read more on EmergingCrypto.io; Read more on Blocknews)
 

Brazilian NGO lists the world’s most expensive NFT to raise awareness of missing children in Brazil

Brazilian NGO, Mães da Sé (Mothers of the See), listed the most expensive non-fungible token (NFT) on the OpenSea platform for 99,999,999,999,999 ether, approximately $195.5 quadrillion USD. More of a statement than a serious listing, the goal of the NFT listing is raise awareness of missing children in Brazil. The NFT is a photo of Fabiana Esperidião da Silva, the daughter of the NGO’s founder, who disappeared on December 23, 1995, and was never seen again. According to Mães da Sé, daily, 172 people disappear in Brazil and children are the majority. (Read more on EmergingCrypto.io; Read more on Blocknews)

Eastern Europe

More crypto regulation is coming, next stop: Turkey

Regulation of Turkey’s cryptocurrency market is getting closer, according to two anonymous Turkish officials. Draft regulation to regulate the market is expected in the coming weeks that would include greater government oversight on the market and impose taxes on transactions. Turkish appeal for crypto has been growing over the years as the Turkish Lira has collapsed in value and inflation erodes people’s savings. (Read more on EmergingCrypto.io; Read more on Bitcoin Magazine)
 

Underground crypto mining farm found in Russia’s oldest prison

Rounding off this week’s newspaper, an underground crypto farm was uncovered at Butyrka, Russia’s oldest prison. The farm is suspected to have operated between November 2021 and February 2022 and been run by a high-ranking representative of the prison management. It is unknown how much crypto was minted, however, the machines consumed almost 8,400 kW of electricity that cost more than 62,000 rubles, roughly $1,000 USD. Crypto mining with subsidized and stolen electricity has become an attractive source of income for some Russians. Regions that have kept low electricity rates for its populations have become hotspots for underground crypto farms. (Read more on EmergingCrypto.io; Read more on CoinNewsExtra)

Thanks for reading! Have a great week ahead!

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

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