Safaricom’s leading mobile money platform, M-PESA, gained over 500,000 new users between October and November 2024, bringing its total user base to 34 million in Kenya alone. This represents a 1.5% increase from the 33.5 million active users reported in September 2024.

 

“We are immensely proud to reach 34 million M-PESA customers in Kenya. This accomplishment underscores our dedication to deliver frictionless, always on, and secure financial services to our customers,” said Safaricom CEO Pete

The South Africa Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has approved 248 crypto asset service provider licences out of the 420 applications received, the regulatory body has said.

So far, only nine applications have been rejected, while 106 were voluntarily withdrawn after discussions with the regulator about the suitability of their business and operating models.

One of the main reasons for rejecting CASP license applications has been the failure to meet the ‘fit and proper‘ criteria outli

Nigeria’s fintech ecosystem secured over $2 billion in investments in 2024, according to the 2024 Economic Report released by the Office of the Special Adviser to Nigeria’s President on Economic Affairs, within the Office of the Vice President.

The report identified telecommunications and ICT, particularly fintech, as one of the key sectors driving Nigeria’s economic growth in 2024, with the potential to sustain or even double this performance in 2025.

 

“Nigeria’s telecommunications and ICT

Nigerian fintech, Billboxx, has raised $1.6 million pre-seed funding round, the startup announced in a press release.

The round saw participation from renowned investors including:

Norrsken Accelerator

Kaleo Ventures

Founders Factory Africa – FFA (now 54 Collective)

P2Vest, and

Afrinovation Ventures

FUNDING | Founders Factory Rebrands to 54 Collective, Transforms to a Full-Fledged VC Firm for Early-Stage Startups

Founders Factory has an active portfolio of over 50 ventures across 10 coun

The number of monthly active developers in the web3 ecosystem in 2024 was 23,613, says a new report by Electric Capital.

According to the report, the number represents 39% growth when annualized since 2015 the year when Ethereum launched with 1,085 devs. On a Year-on-Year basis, the contributing developers have dropped marginally by 7%.

Despite a slight drop, the number of established developers (those who have contributed 2 or more years) increased by 27%, while newcomers and emerging develop

Crypto industry giants, Circle Internet Group Inc. and Binance have joined forces in a new strategic partnership announced at Abu Dhabi Finance Week that will expand adoption of USDC and support the development of the global digital assets and broader financial services ecosystem.

With the growth and worldwide adoption of $USDC as one of the most powerful utilities for money on the internet, this collaboration brings together a trusted and compliant digital dollar with the largest platform in t

The story of Legitify, a cutting-edge project developed by a talented team of students from the University of Dar es Salaam is inspirational.

Recently, Legitify was recognized as one of the winning projects at the Based Africa Hackathon 2024, and we’re thrilled to give you an inside look at what makes this innovative solution so impactful.

LIST | Here is the List of the 23 ‘Based Africa’ 2024 Hackathon Winners

With over 750 builders signing up in recent weeks and 280 projects submitted, here

Emerging markets lead the way in blockchain adoption, while many nations in Europe, east Asia and the Americas are more skeptical, according to a new survey by Consensys and YouGov.

According to the survey findings, over half the population in:

Nigeria (84%)

South Africa (66%)

Vietnam (60%)

The Philippines (54%), and

India (50%)

report owning a crypto wallet in 2024.

Wallet ownership in the Americas is highest in the U.S at 43%, while

Turkey leads European countries surveyed at 44%

Glo

The Kenya National Fire Brigades Association (KENFIBA) has become the first labor union in the country to adopt a Bitcoin reserve, according to Proof of Workforce, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping unions and workers adopt Bitcoin.

𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: KENFIBA, The Kenya National Fire Brigades Association adds Bitcoin onto their balance sheet, becoming the first labor union in Kenya to hold Bitcoin!

Potentially, the first labor union on the continent to hold Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/1

The Kenya National Fire Brigades Association (KENFIBA) has become the first labor union in the country to adopt a Bitcoin reserve, according to Proof of Workforce, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping unions and workers adopt Bitcoin.

𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: KENFIBA, The Kenya National Fire Brigades Association adds Bitcoin onto their balance sheet, becoming the first labor union in Kenya to hold Bitcoin!

Potentially, the first labor union on the continent to hold Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/1

According to Tether, 109 million on-chain wallets held USDT at the start of the fourth quarter, making the stablecoin one of the most popular assets.

 

“109 million on-chain wallets held USDT at the start of Q4 2024, which is more than double the number of wallets holding bitcoin and close to the 128 million wallets holding Ethereum – making USDT one of the most widely held digital assets.”

 

USDT wallets have increased 71% in the past year and 129% the year before, driven primarily by walle

BIT Mining Limited has announced the acquisition of 51-megawatt crypto mining data centers and 17,869 high-performance Bitcoin mining machines in Ethiopia in a transaction valued at $14.3 million on December 3 2024.

 

“Upon completion of the first phase, a 35-megawatt operational and electrified crypto mining data center and all the BTC mining machines will be transferred to the company. The first phase is expected to close in the next few days,” said a press release.

“The second phase, which

Yellow Card, Africa’s leading fiat-to-crypto on and off-ramp, has announced a new partnership with  Lightspark at the Africa Bitcoin Conference 2024.

For the first time, businesses and people on the UMA network will be able to send and receive cross-border payments to 20 African countries through an integration with Yellow Card’s Payments API – powered by Lightspark Extend. This will mean businesses and consumers will have access to fast, open cross-border payments – fiat to fiat or sending and

Technology startups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region raised $258 million through 46 deals in November 2024.

The figure represents a 92% increase on the $134 million raised in October 2024 and a 66% rise compared to the same month in 2023.

NORTH AFRICA | Web3 Startups in MENA Region Raised Just $450K Out of a Total of $134 Million in October 2024

After leading for 4 consecutive months in 2024, the fintech sector dropped second in October 2024 with six startups raising funding.

Morrocan startup, Joro Cash, was announced winner of the Best Fintech Startup Award at the just concluded 2024 AfricArena Grand Summit held in Cape Town, South Africa.

More than 100 tech startups from 31 African countries, including winners of the TotalEnergies Startupper Challenge, participated in the 2024 AfricArena Grand Summit.

During the two-day Summit, 45 startups presented their pitches on AfricArena’s stage. The event was co-hosted by TotalEnergies, AWS Startups, the Technology Innovat

SeedStars Africa Ventures I, a venture capital fund making early-stage investments in highly scalable start-ups in Africa, has announced the close of a $42 million raise.

The fund, with offices in:

Nairobi

Dakar and

Paris

has further secured $50 million in commitments towards an $80 million fundraising target. The milestone was announced at the 2024 Africa Investment Forum Market Days currently underway in Rabat.

According to SeedStars, Africa Ventures I is tackling the lack of early-stage

Venture funding in Africa experienced a decline in November 2024, with 32  startups across the continent raising $180 million during the month, according to a report by African venture funding analytics firm, Africa: The Big Deal.

This represents a 29.1% decline from the $254 million raised by 42 startups in October 2024, coming just after Q3 2024 which was the best quarter for African startups so far.

Out of the total $180 million raised in Africa in November 2024:

$122 million, or 68%, came

Pan African exchange, Yellow Card, is seeking regulatory approval from Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company’s VP of Global Operations and MD at Yellow Card, Nigeria Lasbery Oludimu, revealed.

Oludimu stated that the company has already applied to Nigeria’s Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) through the Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme (ARIP) and is now awaiting approval in principle.

Yellow Card, which recently received a Crypto Asset Service Provider (C

Binance, a global leader and Africa’s leading crypto exchange, has announced a partnership with AltSchool Africa to provide full-tuition scholarships to 500 young Africans. Kicking off in January 2025 to December 2025, this collaboration is aimed at addressing the digital skills gap in Africa by offering access to specialised education in fields such as software engineering, cybersecurity, sales and content creation, empowering learners with skills that are essential in today’s rapidly evolving

Solana-based real-world assets (RWA) marketplace, AgriDex, has announced the launch of $AGRI token.

With a total supply of 1 billion tokens priced at $0.065 each, $AGRI is now listed on major exchanges such as:

Gate.io

MEXC Global

CUBE, and

VALR

said the firm.

$AGRI is live on CEXs

Welcome to the Future of World Agriculture#RWA pic.twitter.com/RlCfooS6Lw

— AgriDex (@AgriDexPlatform) December 4, 2024

The $AGRI token serves as the foundation of the AgriDex platform, enabling governance t