The Editorial Team |

Drug-Deal Bitcoins Lead to $940,000 Gain for Berlin Prosecutors

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Crime may not always pay for criminals, but fighting it does sometimes. Berlin prosecutors are about to make 774,000 euros ($940,000) on 64 bitcoins they seized in drug deal in April of last year. When they froze the funds last year, bitcoins changed hands for $1,348 a piece, according to a composite of prices compiled by Bloomberg. On Friday, they were worth 10 times as much, trading at $13,755. The prosecutors estimate their…

Tanzania’s Tough Stance on Banks to Stoke Consolidation: Moody’s

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DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – Central bank’s revocation of five lenders’s licenses and their subsequent liquidation last week signals willingness to let ailing banks fail, which will lead to industry consolidation and smaller number of larger, stronger banks, Moody’s Investors Service says in an emailed note. Move will lead to struggling small banks merging with each other, being acquired by larger competitors or finding strategic shareholders Contagion risks remain for smaller lenders…

Mnuchin Says U.S. Wants G-20 Crackdown on Bitcoin Secrecy

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he will work with the Group of 20 nations to prevent cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin from becoming the digital equivalent of an anonymous Swiss bank account. Speaking to the Economic Club of Washington on Friday, he said wants to ensure “bad people cannot use these currencies to do bad things.” Under U.S. law, “if you have a wallet to own bitcoins, that company has the…

Tanzanian Probe Finds Airtel Unit Was Privatized Illegally

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DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in Africa) – A Tanzanian probe found that the local unit of Indian mobile-phone company Bharti Airtel Ltd. was originally transferred from the state illegally and the government will start talks to retake what it says is its rightful share of the business. The investigation discovered that the initial privatization of Tanzania Telecommunications Corp. “broke the law, regulations and procedure,” according to a statement from President John Magufuli’s office that quoted Finance Minister Philip…

What Will It Take to Fix the Mess in Zimbabwe?

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HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Busisa Moyo can’t wait to get out the door. It’s the middle of a Monday afternoon, and the chief executive officer of Zimbabwe’s United Refineries Ltd. is striding briskly out of his crushing plant—a vast rectangular structure with red brick walls and a corrugated metal roof. In theory, this is where millions of soybeans at a time can be cleaned, heated, cracked, and pulverized to extract vegetable oil. Except today, like most…

Kenya: 2018 Real Estate Investments Opportunities and Trends

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What real estate investor should look for in 2018? The economy is expected to rebound in 2018 following a difficult 2017. Some of this rebound will trickle down to the Real Estate market but developers and property owners should not expect things to normalize immediately. In this instance, where should Real Estate Investors focus their attention in 2018? Key 2018 Macroeconomic trends 2017 saw a significant reduction in consumer spending and both local and international…

Bitcoin Fund’s 91-for-1 Share Split Is Another Dot-Com Flashback

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Here’s one more way Cryptocurrencies are mimicking the dot-com frenzy as they capture popular attention: massive stock splits. Greyscale Investments announced that its Bitcoin Investment Trust — an open-ended fund that provides the purest exposure to owning the most popular currency short of owning the underlying asset — will undergo a 91-for-1 spliton Jan. 26. That’ll turn the 1.9 million shares currently outstanding into a whopping 174.4 million. Based on…

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