Africa is home to some of the fastest-growing crypto communities, and many investors there lost thousands in the FTX crash
Yele Bademosi, the CEO and co-founder of Nestcoin, declined an interview with TIME, writing in an email: “My focus is on supporting our internal stakeholders through the ongoing changes at Nestcoin.”Beyond the many investors nursing immediate losses, Vries and Skinner both say the consequences of the FTX crash could be much longer-lasting for the African crypto ecosystem.
Skinner says the FTX crash will likely make institutional investors and regulators in Africa much more leery about jumping into crypto. “It will hurt all of us. Why would a politician or a policymaker want to be exposed to looking like an idiot? So the meetings get pushed off, the emails get slower. These political folks are looking at this exposure and don’t want to be on another headline.”
Karanja agrees that the crash will make the general public more “afraid of crypto.” However, he has a rosier outlook: he argues that the African crypto ecosystem is slightly insulated from FTX ripple effects because so much of the trading there is from peer to peer as opposed to through large platforms. “A lot of people trade directly with each other on their phones. The intermediaries still have a huge presence, but they’re not critical,” he says.
For small investors like Vries, this debacle is a learning lesson: a reminder to keep cryptocurrency in more secure offline storage and to scrutinize intermediaries offering unrealistic interest rates and premiums. “The more I think about this, it was too good to be true,” he says. “Now we know we need to do background checks on which exchanges we’re using.”
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
FTX: Court says Sam Bankman-Fried ran FTX as a 'personal fiefdom'FTX's collapse was described in court as 'one of most abrupt and difficult' in corporate America.
Read more »
FTX management tracks down $1.24bn in cash holdings\n\t\t\tExpert insights, analysis and smart data help you cut through the noise to spot trends,\n\t\t\trisks and opportunities.\n\t\t\n\t\tJoin over 300,000 Finance professionals who already subscribe to the FT.
Read more »
Hedge funds left with billions stranded on FTX\n\t\t\tExpert insights, analysis and smart data help you cut through the noise to spot trends,\n\t\t\trisks and opportunities.\n\t\t\n\t\tJoin over 300,000 Finance professionals who already subscribe to the FT.
Read more »
Don’t Let FTX Executives Off the Hook Like Bankers in 2008'FTX is a critical opportunity for the government to get it right,' writes Aaron Klein. 'It is critical that the government use every mechanism possible to ensure personal accountability when illegal activity takes place'
Read more »
Bankman-Fried issues mea culpa in letter to former FTX employees\n\t\t\tExpert insights, analysis and smart data help you cut through the noise to spot trends,\n\t\t\trisks and opportunities.\n\t\t\n\t\tJoin over 300,000 Finance professionals who already subscribe to the FT.
Read more »
Bankman-Fried ran FTX as personal fiefdom, court hears\n\t\t\tExpert insights, analysis and smart data help you cut through the noise to spot trends,\n\t\t\trisks and opportunities.\n\t\t\n\t\tJoin over 300,000 Finance professionals who already subscribe to the FT.
Read more »