Author: mogbonda

  • State of Bitcoin Literature in Africa: What We Know, What We’re Missing, and Why It Matters; Part 6

    Mayowa Joy David and Atta Addo’s 2025 study offers one of the first empirical examinations of cryptocurrency use for cross-border trade in the African context, a significant gap that researchers have flagged for years but rarely filled. Its value lies in going into the field rather than adding to an already crowded body of conceptual…

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  • The Infrastructure Shift, Africa’s Next Financial Chapter:

    Africa Tech Summit 2026 convened founders, investors, policymakers, and ecosystem builders to address a pressing question: how can Africa scale its digital economy sustainably? Across panels, roundtables, and side events, one message rang clear: Stablecoins and Bitcoin have moved beyond fringe debate. They are fast becoming foundational infrastructure for Africa’s Digital Economy.  Most of the…

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  • State of Bitcoin Literature in Africa: What We Know, What We’re Missing, and Why It Matters; Part 5

    Elemegious Mugamba’s 2025 paper advances a firmly state-centric digital finance thesis: Uganda’s financial inclusion gap—where more than 40% of adults remain outside formal banking—will not be materially reduced through incremental banking expansion but through a coordinated digital monetary triad anchored by a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The paper’s central contribution is its effort to…

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  • PayPal, Nigeria, and the Case for Open Financial Systems

    This report analyzes PayPal’s historical service limitations in African markets and the emergence of local fintech and peer-to-peer systems in response. Using Nigeria as a central case study—alongside Ghana, Liberia, Zimbabwe, it traces how domestic innovation consistently filled gaps created by corporate exclusion. Drawing on scholarly studies, institutional reports, and media sources, it shows how…

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  • State of Bitcoin Literature in Africa: What We Know, What We’re Missing, and Why It Matters; Part 4

    A new peer-reviewed study asked whether blockchain can meaningfully improve African capital markets, or whether it will simply digitize existing institutional failures. C. Osemwengie’s Spectrum of Adoption of Blockchain Technology: Implications for Emerging Markets in Africa, published in the Journal of British Blockchain Association, pushes back against the assumption that blockchain is a shortcut to…

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  • Beyond the Grid: Open-Source Communication and Bitcoin in Uganda’s Election

    On Tuesday, January 14, at approximately 6:00 p.m. (EAT)., internet access across Uganda was suspended. The suspension followed a directive from Uganda Communications Commission ahead of the presidential elections. Internet-dependent services including email, web browsing, and popular messaging applications, stopped functioning nationwide. Financial access was also limited. Mobile money withdrawals were disabled, and transfer limits…

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  • Understanding the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF)

    The growth of crypto-assets has introduced structural shifts in global finance that existing tax transparency systems were not designed to address. Crypto-assets rely on cryptography and distributed ledger technology (DLT), enabling decentralized issuance, custody, and transfer without traditional financial intermediaries. While this architecture supports innovation, it also presents challenges for tax administrations seeking to ensure…

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  • State of Bitcoin Literature in Africa: What We Know, What We’re Missing, and Why It Matters; Part 3

    Writing in Perspectivas: Journal of Political Science, Tlhokomelo Rethabile Monethi, in “The feasibility study: Is Africa ready to join the blockchain revolution?” locates the core constraint on blockchain-based financial adoption in Africa not in technology but in political economy. Drawing on development economics, governance literature, regulatory analysis, and empirical reporting, the study demonstrates that African…

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  • Reflections from the Africa Bitcoin Conference (ABC ‘25)

    The fourth edition of the Africa Bitcoin Conference (ABC) concluded in Port Louis, Mauritius, under the stewardship of Farida Nabourema, the outgoing executive director and human-rights advocate. Previously hosted in Accra and Nairobi, the 2025 edition brought the community together to interrogate Bitcoin as a transformative tool for African agency. The conference was well curated,…

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  • Kenya and South Africa recalibrate digital-asset oversight — but in different ways

    Kenya’s new Virtual Asset Service Provider regulations officially came into effect on 4 November 2025. However, the Central Bank of Kenya and the Capital Markets Authority later issued a joint clarification on 18 November 2025 indicating that no VASP has been licensed yet. The regulators confirmed that licensing will only start once the Treasury issues…

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