The Markets

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – If you thought trading Bitcoin was wild, try figuring out how to pay taxes on it. Cryptocurrency investors are wrestling with spotty records, tangled blockchain addresses and rudimentary guidelines issued back in the ancient days of 2014. After last year’s boom in values, many people are likely disclosing transactions for the first time, adding to confusion. Digital-coin enthusiasts and tax professionals are “freaking out” before next week’s filing deadline,…

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – WINDHOEK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Uchumi Supermarkets Plc started talks with a private-equity fund and other investors over a potential capital injection that could help the Kenyan supermarket chain survive a cash crunch. “We’re following different channels of financing,” acting Chief Executive Mohamed Mohamed said in an interview in the capital, Nairobi, declining to name potential suitors. “Where Uchumi is right now, it needs some cash almost immediately. We…

WINDHOEK (Capital Markets in Africa) – Namibia, whose currency is pegged to South Africa’s, diverged from its neighbour’s moves on monetary policy for the first time since 2015 as the country seeks to curb further declines in reserves. The southwest African nation’s Monetary Policy Committee maintained its key interest rate at 6.75 percent Wednesday. Last month, its counterpart in South Africa reduced its key gauge to 6.5 percent, making this the first time since December 2015 that…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) Initial coin offerings have raised billions of dollars for start-ups while attracting criminals and authorities around the globe. Now, the young market may get some help cleaning up from the Big Four consulting firms. In recent months, the largest accounting firms have started — albeit cautiously — offering services specializing in the risky market for ICOs. The fundraising mechanism, where a company creates a new digital currency and sells it…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Is the rise of Bitcoin analogous to the spread of an infectious disease? Analysts at Barclays Plc saw enough similarities to develop a pricing model for the cryptocurrency that takes its cues from the world of epidemiology. Their diagnosis: Bitcoin has probably peaked. The Barclays model divides the pool of potential Bitcoin investors into three groups: susceptible, infected and immune. It assumes that as prices rise, “infections” spread by word-of-mouth (nobody likes missing…