The Markets | - Part 158

Bitcoin Emerges as Crisis Currency in Hotspots Such as Zimbabwe

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – About a third of the customers queuing at La Maison du Bitcoin’s teller windows in Paris aren’t speculating on the value of the cryptocurrency. They’re sending digital money home to Africa. “In many countries in Africa, there are far more cellphones than bank accounts,” said Manuel Valente, co-founder of La Maison. “For bitcoin, all you need is a phone.” Zimbabwe, where the price of bitcoin spiked to double the…

This Cryptocurrency Miner Says It Solved Bitcoin’s Power Problem

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A green-energy startup says it can solve bitcoin’s surging electricity consumption without boosting pollution, an issue threatening to halt the meteoric rise of the virtual currency. Austria’s HydroMiner GmbH raised $2.8 million after closing its first initial coin offering on Wednesday, according to its website. The cash will be used to install high-powered computers at hydropower plants, where the company says it can mine new digital currencies at a cheaper cost and…

Ivory Coast May Legalize Cocoa Farming in Some Protected Forests

Posted on by The Editorial Team

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, plans to legalize farming on almost 5 million acres of protected reserves to help balance the rebuilding of forests with an output of its most important export. The government wants to reclassify protected forests that have been destroyed by more than three-quarters because of unauthorized farming — most of it cocoa — into “protected agroforest” areas, according to a Forestry Ministry document obtained by…

In Topsy-Turvy Zimbabwe, Stocks to Fall on Confidence Return

Posted on by The Editorial Team

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – If investors want a sign that confidence is returning to Zimbabwe following the armed forces’ seizure of power from President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday morning, they should look for stocks to fall. In Zimbabwe’s dysfunctional market, the deeper the economy has sunk, the more equities have soared. The nation’s main gauge is up 322 percent in the past year in dollars, the best performance globally, even as a cash shortage choked businesses and…

Zimbabwe Equities Are Almost More Bitcoin Than Bitcoin: Gadfly

Posted on by The Editorial Team

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – The political turmoil isn’t a prelude to a buying opportunity. Look before you leap. Zimbabwe’s political shake-up isn’t exactly the first step on the road to investment. A jump of 390 percent year-to-date in the benchmark Zimbabwe Industrial Index, which has a market capitalization of $14.5 billion and excludes mining companies, looks fabulous news for frontier funds invested in what used to be called Africa’s bread-basket. It’s held on to those…

Zimbabwe Stocks Fall on Coup as Companies Stay on High Alert

Posted on by The Editorial Team

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Zimbabwean stocks fell the most in two months after the army seized control of the country, prompting shoppers to shun the main retail areas in the capital Harare, and Nedbank Group Ltd. to send some of its staff back to South Africa. The country’s benchmark index slid 1.3 percent, the biggest drop since Sept. 19, led by a 20 percent decline in clothing retailer Edgars Stores Zimbabwe, and financial services…

Bitcoin Surges in Zimbabwe After Armed Forces Seize Power

Posted on by The Editorial Team

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bitcoin climbed as much as 10 percent on Zimbabwe’s Golix exchange on Wednesday after the country’s armed forces seized power. The price of the cryptocurrency in the Southern African nation jumped as high as $13,499, almost double the rate at which it trades in international markets, according to prices cited on Golix’s website. It traded at $13,010 by 3:34 p.m. in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital. Demand for bitcoin in Zimbabwe…

« 1 … 156 157 158 159 160 … 260 »