Crypto in Africa: KuBitX hybrid exchange targets emerging markets, Binance takes on Uganda

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In this week’s roundup of crypto and blockchain news in Africa, KuBitX reveals its plans for the African market, which includes setting up a hybrid crypto exchange to serve emerging markets in the region. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s FDI is expected to improve thanks to blockchain, while Binance expands its hold on Uganda market.

KuBitX hybrid crypto exchange targets emerging markets

Today, 60% of Africa’s combined population of 1.2 billion are potential users of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. This makes the continent a key target for cryptocurrency adoption, and one that KuBitX wants to tap into.

KuBitX intends to leverage the hugely untapped African market to introduce trading in all crypto assets, while providing traditional financial services at the same time. The KuBitX exchange platform, launched in the last quarter of 2017, is a hybrid cryptocurrency exchange that allows trading of crypto assets as well as provide traditional financial services like payment service provision (PSP), trade financing, remittances, and fiat to crypto deposits and withdrawals.

The project is now at 80% in implementation, complete with what it called “MVP” trade engine, which can handle up to 10 million transactions per second, according to the startup. KuBitX also incorporated a compliance architecture and anti-manipulation tools to help detect and counter manipulations in real time.

KuBitX said it has partnered with a Zimbabwean bank to use its KBX token in digital transactions. The partnership will see 2 million of its tokens distributed to Zimbabweans.

Blockchain to improve Nigeria’s FDI

Despite its growing popularity in the region, some countries in Africa have yet to integrate blockchain technology into their economy. Case in point is Nigeria.

Tega Abikure, founder and CEO of Kure Holdings, said while other African countries are embracing the disruptive technology, the Nigerian government is slow in both understanding and embracing it. During the company’s investors’ forum in Lagos, Abikure expressed his fear that Nigerian government’s “foot dragging” is denying the country the chance to tap into the multi-billion cryptocurrency sector, which has the potential to become a major source of foreign direct investment (FDI).

“South Africa has already started taking actions, same as Uganda,” Abikure said, according to local reports.

The executive said one of the challenges the country is facing is the involvement of Nigerians in Ponzi schemes that “wrongly created the impression that blockchain is a technology used for such questionable things.” To address this, Abikure called for education and deeper understanding of both blockchain and cryptocurrency, which he said will enable Nigeria to effectively tap into their various possibilities.

Binance takes on Uganda

Meanwhile, one of the largest crypto exchange on the globe continues to expand its hold on the Ugandan market. Binance Uganda is setting up a first-of-its-kind platform that will allow fiat trading pairs, supporting the Ugandan shilling along with a host of leading cryptocurrencies.

In an interview with CoinTelegraph, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said Binance Uganda is backed by the financial sector, regulators and government in Uganda to bring the project to market. Binance Uganda is to be established as a separate entity, and a separate system to the main Binance platform. While the two companies will remain commercially independent, Zhao stressed there will be “strong business cooperation.”