Monthly Archives: January 2020

According to data from CivicScience, adoption of digital interest-free payment programs—like Affirm, Afterpay and Sezzle—has grown gradually in the past year, from 24% in Q1 2019 to 30% in Q3 2019 among US internet users.Consumers may turn to these alternative credit solutions to purchase a luxury handbag or new sofa, but not everyone is using digital installment plans solely for big-ticket items.“That's a common misperception,” said Paul Paradis, co-founder and chief revenue officer of Sezzle, an ecommerce payment platform. “Our average order value is right around $80, which is a lot lower than most people think it is.”

Ce vendredi 3 janvier 2020, la revue des titres de l'Express de Maurice révèle que Wikileaks et Al-Jazeera (média qatari) ont mis au jour des documents prouvant une vaste affaire de corruption entre une société de pêche islandaise et "des hauts-fonctionnaires et des politiciens de Namibie" écrit Wikileaks. Des millions de dollars ont été sortis d'Afrique pour arriver sur des comptes bancaires de l'île Maurice. La masse de mails et de photocopies date de 2010 à 2016. Elle permet d'avoir une vision très précise des accords, des quotas de pêche et des engagements que devait tenir la société de pêche internationale Samherji.  L'argent destiné au pays a servi à la corruption"La société islandaise devait construire des infrastructures dans le pays et créer des emplois. Deux promesses qui n'ont jamais été tenues. Au contraire, la société a utilisé sa structure d'entreprise internationale pour transférer le produit de ses opérations directement hors du pays. Cela s'est fait par le biais d'intermédiaires qu'elle contrôle à Chypre et dans le paradis fiscal de l'île Maurice", précise l'enquête publiée les 12 et 26 novembre 2019.Ces documents révèlent également comment les pots-de-vin sont revenus en Namibie via Dubaï sur les comptes des corrompus. L'île Maurice veut jouer la carte de la transparenceCette affaire financière, une de plus, dérange l'île Maurice et le ministère des Services Financiers et de la Bonne gouvernance. Le ministre " rassure toutes les parties concernées sur le fait que Maurice s’engage à adhérer dans ce domaine aux meilleures pratiques et aux normes internationales" et de poursuivre sur Defimedia, "toutes les mesures appropriées seront prises pour protéger la bonne réputation de Maurice en tant que centre financier international". Une enquête a été ouverte à l'île Maurice qui s'est engagée à transmettre tous les éléments dont elle disposera.

n November 2019 news.Bitcoin.com reported on the successful launch of an informational and practical assistance resource known as Bitcoin Cash House in Venezuela. The project, which is the brainchild of Roberto Garcia, exists to help people learn about crypto and connect them with opportunities and resources in the space. This is especially key in struggling regions affected by political unrest, embattled economies and poverty.The project seems to be succeeding in connecting residents of the nation with crypto, and spreading word of the various utilities of peer-to-peer, permissionless cash.In fact, the movement in Venezuela toward a better understanding of BCH is even evidenced by new signs on the street. While the statist economy may be in shambles, individuals in the country have a tool in crypto to help preserve financial sovereignty, but this can be difficult at times; largely due to lack of information, crypto-savvy social networks and resources. This utility is equally sought after in other parts of the world, evidenced by the recent announcement that a separately operated BCH House will now be opening in the African nation of Ghana.Decentralized Crypto HubsKousha, a BCH ecosystem grower with a focus on developing nations, and ambassador at Bitcoin Cash House Ghana, writes in his recent announcement article:First and foremost the House is intended to provide education and tutorship for merchants and individual users alike. On the base level we offer the same as casaBCH in Venezuela.Services BCH House Ghana is set to provide include educational resources on sending and receiving BCH, advantages of crypto over fiat, protection against volatility and safe storage of assets. Like BCH House Venezuela, the hub in Ghana will help individuals learn “how to find work and get paid in cryptocurrency,” as well as “ways for developers and future developers to get involved with Bitcoin Cash.”The announcement further notes that “We are also open to any modular business idea or project, that we can provide next to the basic functions of the BCH House.” This might include “Developing tools in direct communication with local merchants to implement non-custodial financial services,” the post details.Kousha, who is located in Heidelberg, Germany, is clear in pointing out the independent, and decentralized nature of the ‘Cash House’ movement:As far as I can tell, there are more BCH Houses planned, while all of them are organized by individuals in an atomized fashion.According to Kousha, “Just as BCH itself, organizing such a house is pretty permissionless,” and “I myself am in contact with crypto enthusiasts from Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria, who are all eager and interested to have the BCH House project expand to their region,” he notes.

The commercial version of the S-Pod is intended for use on closed campuses, like airports, theme parks, or the deck of a luxury space cruiser 800 years in the future. It's billed as intuitive and easy to use. Unlike Segway’s signature transporter, you don’t have to lean forward or backward to make it move. Instead, the rider navigates via a knob on a navigational control panel.While its speed is locked at 7.5 mph maximum, it can be unlocked to reach 24.8 mph. Unlocked, it might be illegal on many public streets; most city-legal e-bikes max out at 20 mph. It also has a range of 43 miles and can climb angles of up to 10 degrees. Segway has also noted that because you brake the S-Pod by shifting the pod’s center of gravity, it’s almost impossible to tip it over.Around WIRED’s Gadget Lab, we have a catchphrase known as “the Segway problem.” It usually refers to a device that’s revolutionary but is too awkward, bulky, or just plain geeky for people to use.It’s too soon to tell if the S-Pod will also suffer from the Segway problem, but right now, the S-Pod still seems limited in scope. Since it’s intended for theme parks or malls, it’s not part of the great transportation revolution that will help replace cars—unless you're using a gas-powered vehicle to get between the Dippity-Doo and the spinning teacups, for some reason.That's not to say you couldn't try to use it around a city or as a commuter vehicle. But it’s 60 inches tall and weighs a cool 330.7 pounds, so you can’t carry it up or down a flight of stairs if the subway station elevator is broken. Segway said the S-Pod could accommodate a payload of up to 265 pounds.The Segway is associated with tour groups who are too lazy to walk. Building a chair so that people don’t even have to stand might be a little too on-brand for a company whose name already invites some mockery and sarcasm. Segway’s design notes state that the chair was modeled after the gyroscope pods in Jurassic World, but it’s impossible to look at it without thinking of future humans zooming around, drinking their lunch from a cup.

Faustin is among the African entrepreneurs who are tapping into what economists have labeled Africa’s “new oil” — the soil itself — and changing lives for farmers at the same time. By investing in processing, the agribusiness sector can turn into a $1 trillion industry by 2030, according to the African Development Bank.In Tanzania, agriculture employs two-thirds of the workforce and accounts for 30 percent of the gross domestic product — which has been steadily growing at more than 5 percent per year. And although the sector is gradually modernizing, many smallholder farmers still live below the national poverty line, and consumers’ increasing demands for processed foods are met by imported goods.“Processing is critical because the raw materials are not worth much — it all depends on the value you add,” says Michigan State University assistant professor Felix Kwame Yeboah, who analyzes African agriculture and youth employment. For example, the world’s largest cocoa bean producers, Ghana and Ivory Coast, make about $6 billion in a chocolate industry worth $100 billion.[FEMALE FARMERS] USE THEIR EARNINGS TO SEND THEIR CHILDREN TO SCHOOL, COMPARED TO MEN WHO MIGHT SPEND IT ON ALCOHOL.BRIGITHA FAUSTINTurning the fertile regions of Tanzania and other African countries into food processing powerhouses requires entrepreneurs like Faustin, who realize the market opportunity. “They help invest resources and attract capital,” Yeboah says.Faustin, who holds a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s in community development, had not previously delved into economics, until an ordinary day in 2015 when she was looking for cooking oil. Standing by the tall supermarket shelves, she couldn’t help but notice a common denominator: “Ninety percent was imported,” she remembers. The only two Tanzanian brands on the shelf stood at about 5,600 Tanzanian shillings ($2.43) per liter, and Faustin suspected this to be a rip-off.Startled by the absence of local sunflower oil, she began her research, visiting sunflower farmers and meeting with the owner of a local cooking oil brand. Two months later, Faustin left her job at the World Wildlife Fund, and in April 2016 she was producing her first batch of sunflower oil. What started as a small facility north of Dar es Salaam with two assistants has now grown to a processing facility in southern Tanzania employing seven permanent staff that handles a daily production of 10 tons of pure sunflower oil.“I’ve seen her starting her business from scratch and she was very determined,” says Faustin’s younger sister Viola Faustin Chuwa. Introducing a new brand of cooking oil to the local market, Faustin went from shop to shop to offer her product, and although she was often turned down, she soon struck short-term deals with convenience stores. “What I learned from her is to never give up,” Chuwa says.From the store shelf, a liter of OBRI cooking oil goes for 3,700 Tanzanian shillings ($1.61). Although it is only slightly cheaper than competing brands, priced around 5,000 shillings per liter ($2.17), Faustin argues that the price difference does make a “huge impact for low-income consumers.”While the product is designed to make sunflower oil affordable to a wider range of Tanzanians, the farmers also win. Earning 800 shillings (35 cents) per kilo of sunflower seeds, compared to 200 shillings (9 cents) through middlemen, the farmers are in a better position to send their children to school and tend to their other small businesses, Faustin argues. Working with female farmers creates a ripple effect on the wider community, she says. “They use their earnings to send their children to school, compared to men who might spend it on alcohol.”Without any formal business training, Faustin has taken courses to learn “the ABC in business” and sought advice from a senior Tanzanian businessman. As a new entrepreneur, attracting investors who have never invested in Africa — and certainly not in a business led by an African woman — has proven one of her main challenges. Now, as OBRI plans to expand to neighboring countries and scale up production by 5 to 10 times, Faustin needs to bring even more investors on board. “It is very hard, but we are still pushing,” she says. “We are stepping out of the box, but we believe it will pay off.”To divide the workload, she hopes that more young Africans will find prosperity in the soil of their backyard rather than careers abroad. Mentoring other up-and-coming entrepreneurs, she doesn’t hold back from sharing both successes and mistakes — wanting others to steer clear of them. “I believe that Africa has a bright future,” she says, “if we all decide to invest at home.”

Entrepreneur Snatches 182 Bitcoins From His Former CompanyThe investigation was launched on a request from the digital technologies startup, which he helped launch in 2013. It was a pretty successful endeavor for the electronics specialist until a conflict broke out over differences regarding the development strategy. He was eventually fired from his position at the company and decided to leave the country in search for better opportunities.The man’s former partners allege that acting from abroad he managed to steal 182 BTC, or around €1.2 million at the time of writing. According to the Le Parisien newspaper, which covered the story, that’s the third-largest crypto theft in the history of France so far. The misappropriation of funds took place between December 2018 and January this year, Russian media reported.According to the publication, the tech expert knew the company’s electronic system very well and was able to penetrate it without being detected. He also withdrew the money in multiple transactions making sure each one was smaller than the limit that would automatically trigger a security alert. It took the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office several months to identify the wallet the cryptocurrency was transferred to and link it to the suspect.The man was detained on Dec. 22 in the French department of Calvados upon his return to the country. Despite the prosecutors’ request for a permanent arrest, the accused has been released by court authorities and placed only under “strict judicial supervision.”

Mauritius’ Financial Services Commission Warns the Public About Cloud TokenAfter leaving Singapore, the publication behindmlm.com reported that the CTO project leaders retreated to Malaysia and the Republic of Mauritius. “In addition to committing securities fraud in the US, Cloud Token is also not registered to offer securities in Singapore or Malaysia,” behindmlm.com explained in June. The following September, Mauritius’ Financial Services Commission (FSC) issued a statement to the public telling people to beware of CTO:The public is being solicited by a certain group of people on social media under the name of ‘Cloud Token Mauritius’ and ‘Cloud Token Indian Ocean and Africa’ to invest in digital assets and cryptocurrencies through the ‘Cloud Token’ mobile application. It has also come to the attention of the FSC that events are being hosted in publicly accessible areas in Mauritius to promote this application. The FSC urges investors and the public to exercise caution in any dealings with Cloud Token Mauritius and Cloud Token Indian Ocean and Africa.Following the FSC statement, in December news.Bitcoin.com reported on the arrest of 72 CTO associates. Police from Taiyuan, Shanxi province busted the alleged scammers at a train station and investigators disclosed the project defrauded Chinese investors out of 30 million yuan ($4 million).An editorial published by the China-based publication 8btc explains that during its tenure, the CTO project got away with $500 million. An anonymous CTO victim told 8btc that they deposited $20,000 into the wallet. “The crypto scam stole over $500 million from unsuspecting holders, claiming it’s a decentralized wallet that would reward its users for holding coins,” the anonymous person stressed. “Payment was to be received in the form of the company’s utility token and the reward would be 6% to 10% of the invested coin amount. [Meanwhile] the man promising all these rewards vanished with funds from over 800,000 members wondering when and how they will get their initial investment back.”

The Dodo racks up around 2.3 billion views each month with heartwarming videos about extraordinary pets (like this super-affectionate python), unlikely interspecies friendships (like this mini horse whose best friend is a goose), and animals in need of adoption by just the right human (like this sick, hairless pupper who became a floofy doggo). They have a separate YouTube channel for kids (Dora the Explorer is a sponsor), a Facebook Watch show about animals overcoming adversity, an Animal Planet show called Dodo Heroes, an IGTV series for teens about influencers and their pets, an upcoming unscripted series for Netflix Kids about an 11-year-old koala activist, and a newly inked children’s book deal with Scholastic. For a company named after a bird that is famously extinct, the Dodo is everywhere.It didn’t exactly come from nowhere. The Dodo’s founder, Izzie Lerer, is the daughter of Ken Lerer, a well-known media executive and cofounder of The Huffington Post. Her brother, Ben, cofounded Thrillist and now runs Group Nine Media, which in 2016 became the Dodo’s parent company. When Lerer was hatching the idea for what the Dodo would become, she was a PhD student at Columbia University, studying philosophy with an emphasis on animal ethics and human-animal relationships. She launched the website in January 2014 (months before she was due to graduate) with the hope of combining entertainment and animal advocacy, Early on, the Dodo found success as a blog, first going viral with an article about a 103-year-old wild orca whale that put the lie to SeaWorld’s claims that their whales, which frequently die in their 20s, were living to a ripe old age. Then, in 2015, the Dodo made its canniest move to date. Noticing the trend away from blogging and toward mobile and visual entertainment, it pivoted to video.

But still the myth endures. The message is that bitcoin, by virtue of its technical underpinnings, is something that sits outside of our world—a tool for people left out of the system. That, at least, was the pitch of the pyramid scheme scammers, who preyed on vulnerable people with the message that shares in a fraudulent bitcoin mining operation would save them when the traditional financial system could not. Many were taken in by that promise.So Bitcoin has strayed a bit from its cypherpunk origins. But not blockchain, right? The underlying platform offers a Platonic form of decentralization, the cryptographic guarantee of trusting no one, of shrugging off central authority. It looked like the perfect antidote to the centralized internet, a weapon of war against Big Tech.This year, Big Tech made its move into blockchain, in what may ultimately look like a hostile takeover. It was convenient, just as our national conversation moved, threateningly, to antitrust and privacy. Earlier this month, Twitter announced it was (maybe) “decentralizing” with (maybe) blockchain, despite long ignoring the cries of people asking it to do just that (with readily available, non-blockchain technology). Critics noted that more private tweeting would help it dodge concerns about content moderation. Facebook has developed a cryptocurrency, Libra, that it claims it doesn’t control, but which will certainly entrench its power. That move helped spark China to accelerate its own push into digital currency, which would become a handy surveillance tool. It’s unclear what role blockchain will play in that effort, but in any case, Xi Jinping is trumpeting public investment in the technology for other purposes.The co-opting of blockchain—its inevitable centralization—should not have come as a surprise. It’s a lesson we’ve learned again and again: We bestow our social values upon technology, not the other way around. We‘ve been through this before. Take the internet. First came the promise that it would unlock knowledge and make us all free—until a dictator cuts the cord and companies track and manipulate our behavior. For blockchain, using words like “decentralization” and “self-sovereignty” doesn’t simply make it so. That takes work: protections for privacy and safety, assurances that networks operate as intended. Like the internet, that doesn’t mean the initial hope and promises were untrue; we were just blind, at first, to alternate interpretations—to manipulations of certain ideals.I could be underselling the influence of blockchain, the subtle nudge at least that technology can be better for users, a reminder of what the early internet promised. For most uses of blockchain at the moment, “decentralization” may be most charitably understood as a collaboration between mistrusting corporate partners. That’s not, I imagine, what Satoshi intended. But perhaps the technology will enable Twitter and Facebook and Goldman Sachs to embrace at least some ideas about openness, the belief in the power of the individual user. How that plays out will be the story to watch in the 2020s.