February regulatory roundup & more

Hi there ????,

Amidst the cash crunch and the nerves before and after the Nigerian presidential elections, there were significant regulatory developments in Nigeria and Africa. Many of these came with questions. Others came with a renewed hope for development in the technology ecosystem. In this edition of our regulatory update, we look back at the news, policies and regulations that shaped the technology sector in February.

Nigeria

1. Bamboo secures the digital sub broker license to trade locally listed securities in Nigeria?
2. The Nigerian President signs? the Business Facilitation Act into law
3. Nigeria and South Africa are named in the FATF Grey list
4. CBN reviews the tenure for Bank Executive Management and Non-Executive Directors
5. NDPB Investigates over 100 companies for data breach?
6. The Supreme Court restrains CBN from implementing the deadline for old Naira notes.
7. Kenya releases $51 million to Flutterwave after dropping money laundering charges.
8. The Supreme Court orders old Naira notes to remain in circulation until December 31st, 2023.

Africa

1. Kenya to ban the sale of Non-IPv6 devices this year
2. Airtel to roll out 5G in Kenya?
3. Starlinks launches in Rwanda?
4. Ethiopia’s $150 million mobile money? licence fee?
5. Meet Africa’s newest unicorn : MNT Halan?

World

1. Hermes wins case against Mason Rothschild’s Metabirkins?
2. Microsoft launches the new bing with Chat GPT built-in?
3. Snapchat is releasing its own AI chatbot powered by ChatGPT?
4. Colombian Court hosts hearing in the Metaverse
5. UK outlines reforms to thirty year old cybercrime laws.?
6. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to regulate buy now pay later (BNPL) products in the UK ?

Crypto scoop

1. UAE to issue CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency)? as part of its financial transformation program.?
2. Is a virtual assets legislation underway in Kenya?
3. Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority releases a comprehensive regulatory framework for different types of crypto asset companies.
4. ?Legislative proceeding on Markets in Crypto Assets Regulations in the EU has been postponed, again.
5. Crypto crisis becomes existential as US SEC fined Kraken on its now-suspended staking service.
6. Coinbase launches its platform hosting service.
7. Silvergate faces financial crisis as stocks drop by 40%

Deals and raises in Africa

1. Fluidcoins’ reluctant exit and subsequent investor drama
2. Carry 1st acquires African Culture game Gebeta??
3. Smile Identity secures over $20 million in funding
4. Workpay raises $2.7million Pre-series A funding?
5. Famasi raises pre-seed funding to build pharmacy infrastructure in Africa

Upcoming Deadlines

1. Ghana's Sandbox Program
2. Data protection audit filing in Nigeria.
3. Deadline for Tax filing in Delaware

Nigeria

Bamboo secures digital sub-broker licence in Nigeria to trade local securities

Nigeria’s Security and Exchange Commission granted a digital sub-broker license to Bamboo earlier this year. This would not only enable Bamboo to partner with multiple brokers, it would also allow the company to operate in the Nigerian capital market and include Nigerian securities on its platform. As a licensed sub-broker, can Bamboo still continue offering stocks?

The Nigerian President signs?the Business Facilitation Act into law

?As part of recent corporate reforms, ex-President Muhammadu Buhari,? signed the Business Facilitation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022? into law. The new act seeks to amend 21 business-related laws, remove bureaucratic constraints to doing business in Nigeria and ensure corporate efficiency in Nigeria. Stay tuned for our analysis of its key provisions and a prognosis of its potential impact.

Nigeria and South Africa are named on the FATF Grey list

Two powerhouses in the African technology ecosystem have been added to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list for anti-financial crime deficiencies.. You can read more about it in our TLDR.?

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CBN reviews the tenure for Bank Executive Management and Non-Executive Directors

The? CBN released a circular addressing the tenure system for executive management and non-executive directors of Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and Financial Holding Companies (FHCs). Among other provisions, the new circular mandates that no bank executive is expected to stay longer than 20 years across the banking industry from the time of their appointment as Director or as part of the Executive Management.

NDPB Investigates over 100 companies for data breach?

The Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB) announced that it is presently investigating over 110 companies in Nigeria over allegations of data protection and data privacy breaches. The NDPB noted that the most worrisome breaches are from the financial, telecom, gaming, and online lending industries.?

The Supreme Court restrains CBN from implementing the deadline for old Naira notes.

Shortly after the CBN extended the deadline of the N200 note, the Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Government, CBN, commercial banks etc should not implement the February 10 deadline for the old 200, 500 and 1000 Naira notes to stop being a legal tender. Despite the positive reaction to this unanimous ruling, we are left wondering whether the Supreme Court should have even entertained this. Is it within its jurisdiction?

The Supreme Court orders old Naira notes to remain in circulation until 31st December 2023.

After the hardship caused by the previous deadline, the Supreme Court has announced that the old Naira notes will remain legal tender until December 2023. The apex court declared that the Naira note swap implementation was an affront to the Constitution. If the policy violates the Constitution, why extend the date instead of dismissing the new currency entirely??

Kenya to release $51 million to Flutterwave amidst money laundering allegations.

The Kenyan Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) has revealed that its investigations show that Flutterwave’s frozen funds are not linked to money laundering. This comes after Kenyan authorities claimed that Flutterwave had no approval to conduct payments in Kenya, and accused it of fraud.

Africa

Kenya to ban the sale of Non-IPv6 devices.??

This year, Kenya is slowly migrating to Internet Protocol v6 which allows a wider and faster highway for devices to communicate. However, it is banking on the sale of gadgets, phones, computers and printers with the old capabilities by July 2023.

Airtel to roll out 5G in Kenya?

Airtel has announced its plans to launch 5G broadband in the high and middle-class areas of Kenya. This means that Kenyan residents who use Airtel or Safaricom should anticipate a gradual shift from 4G to 5G.?

Starlinks launches in Rwanda?

The Rwanda Space Agency (RSA) has announced that Starlink will begin providing high-speed and affordable internet services to its residents from April 2023. Starlink will be doing this through its Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation in Rwanda.??

Ethiopia’s $150 million mobile operators licence fee for foreign investors

Ethiopia is proposing a $150 million licence fee for mobile operators. This could potentially be the most expensive financial service licence on the continent. ?

Meet Africa’s Newest Unicorn: MNT Halan

MNT Halan, an Egyptian fintech, is the latest African tech company to join the league of unicorns in Africa after raising $400million in debt and equity raising its current valuation to $1billion

World

Hermes wins case against Mason Rothschild’s Metabirkins?

Intellectual Property jurisprudence on the metaverse is finally getting a bit of structure. Would the trademark of the Monalisa painting be infringed if placed on open seas as an NFT? Well it seems this case could prove a worthy precedent.

Microsoft launches the new Bing with Chat GPT built-in

Bing is making a comeback with Chat GPT and we think this could put Microsoft ahead of Google in the search engine wars. Google has responded with Bard but experts say the model is still nascent. These developments in AI and chatbots deployment have significant regulatory considerations in privacy, competition and intellectual property.?

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Snapchat is releasing its own AI chatbot powered by ChatGPT?

In a few years' time, we might never be able to tell a world without Natural Language Processors (NLPs). Shortly after the launch of Chat GPT, Snapchat announced it intends to release its own AI chat box powered by Chat GPT

Colombian Court Hosts hearing in the Metaverse

Columbia had its first hearing in the metaverse whilst integrating Chat GPT to aid the understanding of some concepts in the metaverse to the audience. Are Nigerian courts about to follow suit?

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to regulate buy now pay later (BNPL) products in the UK?

Due to the potential threat to consumers, the UK drafted legislation to regulate BNPL products. This new law would give the FCA the power to regulate firms offering certain types of interest-free installment credit to consumers and responding to concerns over the risk of consumer harm of the unsecured credit market.

UK outlines reforms to thirty-year-old cybercrime laws.?

The UK came to the conclusion that their 32 year old cybercrime legislation was due for an update. The intention of this is to give the Government more law enforcement powers against hackers, and to shield security researchers that are acting in good faith.

Crypto Scoop

UAE to issue its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)? as part of its financial transformation program.?

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) is planning to launch its own CBDC for cross-border and domestic use as part of the first of its newly-launched financial infrastructure transformation (FIT) program.

Is a virtual assets legislation underway in Kenya?

Cryptocurrency might not be getting the backlash everyone thought. The Kenyan Senate, on its official Twitter page, announced that it is keen on developing a regulatory framework for the use of crypto assets and virtual assets in Kenya. Despite this news, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has not made any move to change its stance on virtual currencies not being legal tender. We are looking forward to seeing what new developments might come up.

Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) releases a comprehensive regulatory framework for different types of crypto asset companies.

The UAE’s VARA has issued new guidelines to regulate the virtual assets and cryptocurrencies to set a standard for the Industry. The new regulation covers a range of virtual assets and sets out specific rules, licence requirements, penalties for non-compliance and others. Learn more about this here.

Legislative proceedings on “Markets in Crypto Assets Regulations (MiCA)”? in the EU have been postponed, again.

After much waiting, the final vote on the EUs set of crypto regulations was deferred again to April 2023. This comes as a result of technical difficulties in their translation systems. By the time MiCA is released, will it be robust enough to effectively regulate the ever-changing crypto industry??

Crypto crisis becomes existential as US SEC fines Kraken on its now-suspended staking service

As part of a settlement with SEC, Kraken has ended its crypto staking program in the United States, and must pay a fine of 30 million USD. This raises concerns about the fate of crypto in the US, especially with the recent shift to proof of stake validation mechanisms. Read more about this here.

Coinbase launches its platform hosting service.?

Coinbase announced the launch of its Layer 2 Ethereum Network “Base” to provide faster and cheaper transactions for Ethereum users. It mirrors the Platform as a Service model in traditional finance. There are a lot of interesting features of Base and you can learn all about them here.?

Slivergate faces financial crisis as stocks drop by 40%

Silvergate has been plunged into a financial crisis after the bankruptcy of FTX rattled crypto markets last year. The bank has been evaluating the impact of these events as a going concern but we are yet to see the effects of this on businesses that use Silvergate Bank.

Deals and Raises in Africa

Fluidcoins’ reluctant exit and subsequent investor drama

Nigerian cryptoassets startup, Fluidcoins, was acquired by Blockfinex to “scale it across the world”. Blockfinex stated that it will leverage the acquisition to launch a new product, BlockPay, which will be available in the UAE, US and Africa. Reports suggest discontent among initial investors in the cryptoasset company. ?

Carry 1st acquires African Culture game Gebeta??

African gaming is getting a global facelift with the acquisition of Gebeta by Carry 1st, Africa’s leading mobile games and interactive content?publisher. African culture might be getting increased representation in the global gaming industry.??

Smile Identity secures over $24 million in funding

The Nigerian customer onboarding and identity verification platform, Smile Identity, successfully raised $24 million in a Series B funding round led by Costanoa and Norskenn22.

Workpay raises $2.7million Pre-series A funding?

YC-backed Kenyan startup Workpay has raised $2.7 million in its? Pre-series A funding. This funding is to aid its expansion plans into 40 African countries.

Famasi raises pre-seed funding to build pharmacy infrastructure in Africa

The Nigerian E-health startup, Famasi, has secured pre-seed funding from Microtraction. The digital health platform intends to use the funds to onboard more customers and offer personalized medication, automated refills and connection with healthcare providers to customers across Africa.

Upcoming deadlines

Ghana's Regulatory Sandbox Program

The deadline for joining the first cohort of the Bank of Ghana's regulatory sandbox is fast approaching. The apex bank announced that the last day for applications will be the 14 March 2023.?

Deadline for Data protection audit filing in Nigeria.

As stipulated by the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), all organizations are required to submit a summary of its data protection audit to the Nigeria Data Protection Bureau not later than 15 of March of each year.

Deadline for Tax filing in Delaware

The taxes and Annual Reports for the State of Delaware were due to be filed on the 1st of March. If not filed at the appropriate time, there is a $200 late filing penalty that starts accruing monthly from next month at 1.5%. Financial institutions are to make a note of this to avoid hefty penalties.