The Markets

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Wall Street leaders turned up their noses when Bitcoin exploded onto the scene more than a decade ago. Now they’re paying sweet premiums to crypto recruits, amassing an army of enthusiasts within the traditionally staid realm. Some of the biggest banks and financial firms have added about 1,000 crypto-related roles since 2018, according to Revelio Labs, which collects data by scraping LinkedIn. Among those hiring the most are JPMorgan Chase…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Digital-asset companies are pushing back against claims of excessive energy usage in the cryptocurrency sector as world leaders flock to Glasgow this week for key climate change talks.     Global Digital Finance, whose members include industry juggernauts BitMEX, Coinbase Global Inc. and Crypto.com called for greater data transparency around issues of sustainability. The group published a report on Monday in an effort to set industrywide environmental goals amid…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A Mexican dealmaker in China was one of the key architects behind former President Donald Trump’s deal with a special purpose acquisition company. Shanghai-based ARC Group Ltd. was an adviser to Trump’s merger partner Digital World Acquisition Corp. and was tasked with building the SPAC’s deal pipeline, according to its listing prospectus. The boutique is led by Mexican founder Abraham Cinta, who’s lived in the Chinese financial center for over…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – After a wild week on Wall Street that saw inflation expectations reach decade highs, portfolio managers are staring down an ever-more dangerous prospect: A modest rise in yields that inflicts trillions of dollars in losses. It’s a result of investors’ exposure to duration, a key gauge of risk for bondholders that’s near record highs. Even a half-percentage point jump in yields from here, to roughly the pre-pandemic average in…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Optimism about digital assets stoked by Bitcoin’s run to a record high has helped push the overall value of cryptocurrencies to an all-time peak of more than $2.7 trillion. That’s a climb of about $200 billion from the last high in May for a sector that now spans almost 10,000 coins, according to data from tracker CoinGecko. The ascent shows how bets on cryptos are spreading beyond Bitcoin amid enthusiasm about…

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ghana’s credit-risk premium has soared to the highest since the start of the pandemic ahead of next month’s budget. It may widen further if Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta fails to convince investors that West Africa’s second-biggest economy has a handle on servicing its sky-high debt — a task made all the more difficult by sluggish economic growth. That raises questions about debt sustainability, according to Ernest Addison, governor of the Bank of…