East Africa is ready to welcome a new cryptocurrency exchange backed by a formidable roster of industry heavyweights looking to tap into a continent teeming with potential users.
Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research, Huobi Ventures, and other leading venture capital firms and angel investors have pledged $23 million to launch MARA. The exchange will initially operate in Kenya and Nigeria, offering new users a simple exchange platform to buy, trade, and withdraw cryptocurrencies.
The platform will offer a professional exchange with extensive trading options and technical analysis tools for the most experienced traders. There are plans to develop the MARA chain, a layer 1 blockchain network that will allow developers to create decentralized applications within the future MARA ecosystem.
The MARA team also confirmed the establishment of a partnership with the Central African Republic. The African country followed in the footsteps of pro-Bitcoin (BTC) state El Salvador by legalizing Bitcoin as legal tender in April 2022. MARA will serve as the country’s official cryptocurrency partner and advise the government on best practices, strategy and planning, as it seeks to adopt cryptocurrencies on a larger scale.
Cointelegraph has spoken with MARA CEO and co-founder Chi Nnadi to unveil the exchange’s beginnings and the prospects Africa offers the newly founded platform. Having spent most of the last decade living in Nigeria, Chi recently moved to Kenya before the underlying idea for MARA occurred to him.
The position of Nigeria and Kenya as key countries for cryptocurrency adoption on the continent was a factor behind MARA’s decision to launch its offering in both jurisdictions. According to Chainalysis, Kenya leads the rest of the world in peer-to-peer (P2P) trading volume, while 35% of Nigerian adults own or trade Bitcoin.
Although African countries remain the largest users of cryptocurrencies, Nnadi admitted that there are still considerable obstacles for the young and technologically native population of sub-Saharan Africa to incorporate cryptocurrencies into their daily lives:
“Many of the existing global exchanges are unable to operate in the region due to regulatory hurdles as well as difficulties in reaching the African consumer in an authentic way. These access barriers significantly restrict both the number of people who can participate in the crypto economy as the possible uses of the digital currency in the region”.
Despite the regulatory challenges and the nascent state of the cryptocurrency space, Nnadi believes that the next generation of Africans will drive a digital transformation on the continent. Noting that Africa has the youngest population in the world, Nnadi said that a growing number of young people are creating revolutionary structures and solutions to adapt new technologies to their society:
“This places Africa at a critical turning point: the younger generation is beginning its rise to adulthood and influence. It is a change that represents a unique opportunity to fully and rapidly transition the region to new paradigms.” of digital property.
As for MARA’s role as the Central African Republic’s partner in the crypto space, Nnadi said the firm would play an advisory role as the country strives to embrace the crypto economy. This will include guidance on how to build the necessary Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) infrastructure, including standardizing personal identification documents for ensure a solid foundation for the country and its five million people.
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