Africa’s digital finance story is often measured by adoption figures, trading volumes, and the rapid rise of peer-to-peer cryptocurrency markets.

But the next chapter of the continent’s crypto economy will not be defined by adoption alone. It will be defined by usability.

For blockchain technology to transition from early adoption into everyday utility, the user experience must become simpler, safer, and more intuitive. Users should not need to understand the complexities of wallet addresses, transaction flows, or blockchain infrastructure before they can move value. The real breakthrough comes when technology fades into the background, allowing people to transact naturally and confidently.

That is why Binance’s introduction of Pay-in-Chat represented far more than another product release. It marked an important step toward making crypto transfers feel conversational, accessible, and familiar for everyday users across Africa.

Across the continent, financial behaviour is inherently social. People negotiate prices, confirm transactions, support family members, settle obligations, and build trust through conversations. More often than not, a payment begins long before money changes hands, it begins with a message.

Someone asks for a price. Another confirms availability. Payment details are exchanged. Proof of payment follows. Confirmation comes next.

The conversation almost always comes before the transaction.

For years, however, crypto transfers interrupted that natural flow. Users chatted in one application, copied wallet addresses or payment details, switched to another interface to complete the transfer, and then returned to confirm payment.

Every additional step introduced unnecessary friction. Every copied address increased the possibility of error. Every app switch created another opportunity for confusion, delay, or abandonment.

Pay-in-Chat addressed that challenge by bringing communication and value transfer into the same experience.

The feature enabled users to add trusted contacts within Binance, maintain unified conversations with counterparties, and send cryptocurrency directly inside the chat interface. Rather than treating payment as a separate activity, Pay-in-Chat integrated value transfer into the conversation itself.

For African users, that shift mattered.

Across many African markets, innovation is judged less by technical sophistication than by practical usefulness. Users ask simple questions: Is it easy to understand? Can I trust it? Will it save me time? Can I complete a transaction without unnecessary complexity?

Pay-in-Chat was designed around those realities rather than around technology alone.

One of the fintech operators closely associated with the feature’s regional launch and positioning was Sunny Joseph Imohimi, who served as Regional Growth Manager for Africa at Binance.

His responsibilities spanned P2P market growth, merchant operations, product localisation, payment optimisation, user education, and go-to-market execution across African markets.

His role placed him at the intersection of global product development and local market realities, understanding what Binance’s technology could deliver while helping translate those capabilities into practical value for African users.

According to accounts of the rollout, Sunny played a key role in shaping the African launch narrative for Pay-in-Chat. His contribution involved connecting the feature to familiar user behaviours, simplifying its value proposition, and positioning it as a practical improvement to how Africans communicate, trade, and transfer value within the crypto ecosystem.

That distinction was important because products rarely succeed simply because they exist. They succeed because users clearly understand why they matter.

For many African users, the innovation was not that cryptocurrency could be transferred—that capability already existed.

The real innovation lay in reducing the distance between intention, conversation, and execution. When people are already discussing a transaction, negotiating terms, or confirming details, the ability to complete payment within the same environment creates a far more natural experience.

Sunny recognised that this was the real story behind the product.

In Africa’s digital economy, ease of use is not a secondary consideration, it is a growth driver. It influences adoption, builds merchant confidence, encourages repeat usage, and ultimately determines whether digital assets become part of everyday financial life rather than remaining tools for speculation.

Successfully introducing Pay-in-Chat therefore required much more than announcing a new feature. It demanded a nuanced understanding of African user behaviour, P2P trading patterns, trust dynamics, and the role communication plays in financial transactions.

Africa is far from a homogeneous market. Payment habits, user expectations, banking infrastructure, and levels of crypto maturity differ significantly across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Francophone Africa, and other emerging digital economies.

Some users are experienced crypto traders. Others are engaging with digital assets for the first time. A global product becomes truly successful only when it is carefully adapted to meet those diverse realities.

That was the challenge with Pay-in-Chat, not simply introducing a feature, but helping African users understand why it improved their everyday experience.

Its value became clear in several ways.

By allowing crypto transfers within ongoing conversations, it simplified the transaction process and reduced unnecessary steps. By enabling trusted contacts within the Binance ecosystem, it strengthened confidence by bringing identity, communication, and payment into a single flow.

It also made the speed promised by blockchain technology more tangible, allowing users to experience faster value transfer without navigating fragmented interfaces.

More broadly, Pay-in-Chat reflected a shift in product philosophy. Rather than building exclusively around trading screens and price charts, it demonstrated how crypto platforms could design integrated financial experiences that mirror the way people naturally interact.

That broader significance extends well beyond Binance itself.

The feature points toward a future in which digital assets become embedded within communication, commerce, communities, and everyday financial relationships. It suggests that the next wave of blockchain adoption in Africa may be driven not by more exchanges or speculative activity, but by better product design.

Some of Africa’s most successful fintech innovations have flourished because they aligned with existing behaviour rather than attempting to replace it. Mobile money succeeded by fitting naturally into local payment habits.

Agency banking expanded by bringing financial services closer to underserved communities. Peer-to-peer crypto gained momentum by adapting to local payment realities instead of waiting for traditional banking systems to evolve.

Pay-in-Chat follows that same philosophy.

It brings crypto transfers closer to the conversations where trust, intent, and financial decisions already begin.

Sunny’s contribution to the rollout reflects a broader pattern throughout his career. During his time at Binance, he was involved in product-led market execution designed to make crypto more practical, accessible, and intuitive across African markets. Whether supporting P2P growth, payment optimisation, or user-focused product launches, a consistent philosophy underpinned his work: technology should remove friction from everyday financial interactions.

That philosophy is particularly relevant in Africa, where young, mobile-first populations, expanding creator economies, increasing cross-border commerce, and growing demand for flexible payment infrastructure continue to reshape financial services.

Yet these opportunities exist alongside real challenges, including fragmented banking systems, foreign exchange constraints, payment delays, transaction costs, fraud risks, and uneven access to formal financial institutions.

Blockchain products can help address many of these challenges, but only when they are designed around the people using them.

Infrastructure alone is not enough.

Products must be intuitive. They must inspire confidence. They must simplify complexity and earn trust.

Pay-in-Chat offered one practical example of that evolution.

It demonstrated that blockchain becomes more powerful when it feels more human. Rather than asking users to change their behaviour entirely, it embedded crypto transfers within behaviours they already understood.

It also reinforced the importance of regional leadership inside global technology companies.

Products may be built globally, but their success in emerging markets depends on local operators who understand both the technology and the people it is intended to serve.

They bridge the gap between product capability and market reality, ensuring innovation becomes genuinely useful within local contexts.

Sunny Joseph Imohimi’s work on Pay-in-Chat reflects that kind of execution.

He helped position the feature not simply as another Binance update, but as part of a broader evolution in how Africans communicate, exchange value, and participate in the digital economy.

That distinction matters.

The future of blockchain adoption across Africa will not be won by technical complexity. It will be shaped by simplicity, trust, usability, and relevance.

The products that succeed will be those that reduce friction, strengthen confidence, and make digital finance easier for ordinary people to embrace.

Pay-in-Chat offered an early glimpse of that future.

By bringing payments closer to conversation, reducing unnecessary steps, and making crypto transfers feel more familiar, it demonstrated how thoughtful product execution can transform a global feature into a locally meaningful innovation.

In a digital economy increasingly shaped by the convergence of communication, payments, identity, commerce, and community, Sunny Joseph Imohimi’s contribution to the Pay-in-Chat rollout reflects the kind of practical fintech leadership that emerging markets increasingly require.

Not innovation for its own sake.

But innovation that makes technology simpler, safer, and more useful in everyday life.

The post From Chat to Crypto Transfer: How Sunday Joseph Imohimi Helped Champion Binance Pay-in-Chat across Africa appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

This completes a leadership shake-up at the Kenyan fintech as it strives to grow across Africa.

Makarem joins from Agoda, where he served as global CFO and oversaw a payments network handling more than $12 billion in transactions each year.

He has worked on multi-currency systems and high-volume payment operations, areas that are important to Cellulant’s business.

His appointment comes weeks after Michael Muriuki was named chief product and technology officer. Together, both hires fill key roles at a time when the company is rebuilding its leadership team after several exits.

Cellulant processes over 4.5 million transactions daily and operates in more than 20 African markets. It turned a profit in 2024 and is now looking to expand further as digital payments continue to grow across the continent.

Speaking on the appointment, Peter O’Toole, Cellulant chief executive said, “Darren Makarem doesn’t just understand the numbers; he understands the customer. He will leverage these insights to build a finance centre of excellence, ensuring our financial operations are as innovative, agile, and customer-centric as our products.”

Before Agoda, Makarem worked at Binance as regional CFO for Asia-Pacific and Latin America. He later led OnRamp as chief executive. Those roles gave him exposure to digital assets and evolving payment systems.

Now at Cellulant, he is expected to focus on financial discipline and support the company’s expansion into cross-border payments.

He said, “What excites me about Cellulant is the quality of what has already been built. My priority is to ensure the business has the financial discipline, insight, and operational support to move fast, stay bold, and keep delivering.”

Cellulant is aiming to take a larger share of Africa’s digital payments market, which is projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030.

The company is also competing with other fintech firms and banks that are building their own payment systems for large business clients.

The post Cellulant Appoints Darren Makarem as CFO to Drive Pan-African Payments Growth appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Like millions of others in Africa’s most populous country, trading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which was created as the first digital currency in 2009, has become one of the legitimate ways of making money in a country grappling with immense poverty and underemployment.

The year was 2021, and despite trading in cryptocurrency not being regarded as a crime, it was under governmental restrictions as financial institutions, in February of that year, were banned from allowing cryptocurrency transactions.

“All DMBs, NBFIs, and OFIs, are directed to identify persons and/or entities transacting in or operating cryptocurrency exchanges within their systems and ensure that such accounts are closed immediately,” the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) instructed banks and financial institutions in a circular dated February 5, 2021.

The possible closure of accounts due to their engagement in crypto transactions sent rippling fear and panic through Nigeria’s crypto community.

However, instead of abandoning exchanges, many Nigerians, already beginning to see the financial rewards that sometimes accompany digital currency, with Bitcoin having soared from $0.003 on March 17, 2010, when its price was first recorded, to $33,114.36 by January 31, 2021, actively sought alternatives.

Not only did this ban give rise to the birth of online crypto vendors, but it accelerated the adoption of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) transactions, a feature of exchanges that was first introduced by Binance the previous year as talk of a potential ban intensified.

With the inability to buy and sell directly from their banks, Chiemela, like millions of other Nigerian traders, turned to online vendors, including foreign individuals.

According to him, one of such foreign individuals was a Chinese man who, capitalizing on the ban, positioned himself as the go-to vendor. Nigerians who wished to continue trading would send him crypto, and he would in turn credit them in naira.

“As it was with many that have occurred ever since, the transactions were going well until all of a sudden, this Chinese vendor disappeared with over N100 million in funds of me and my friends. I lost N5 million in that scam,” Chiemela said.

Those were the early days of Nigerians pivoting to online crypto vendors to circumvent governmental restrictions. But within that period, the proliferation of P2P exploded equally.

According to some reports, P2P fueled the adoption of digital assets so much that dealing in crypto became widespread, with Nigerians conducting over $59 billion in crypto transactions between July 2023 and July 2024.

But there are inherent issues in these two means of crypto transactions.

First, within the P2P framework, although there appeared to be heightened security in major platforms that still allow the service, as Binance was forced to discontinue P2P in Nigeria following its clash with the Nigerian government, loopholes exist and are being exploited by people.

According to Eze Prince, a Port Harcourt-based trader, users who are inexperienced or not cautious enough risk losing their money during a P2P transaction.

“There are instances where people in the platform would send fake payment receipts to traders seeking to sell their coins. If you are not careful and verify the transaction, and release the coin in a haste, your money will be gone,” he said.

Another user, Gabriel Nwafor, spoke of an experience where traders would send amounts much lower than the coin’s price.

“I’ve had bad experiences with P2P platforms. I’ve had my money locked up for an entire day because of disputes. Imagine needing that money urgently. Or cases where someone underpaid me, like instead of 200k, they sent 150k, hoping I wouldn’t notice before confirming the transaction. Some people do that intentionally. And even when you raise disputes, the appeals process delays everything,” Nwafor said.

Due to the complex nature of P2P transactions, ridden with several instructions and guidelines, new users often experience challenges in understanding what needs to be done.

This can lead to outright loss of their money when they fail to comply within the 15 minutes required to make a transfer and send proof of payment.

Transactions with online vendors, the informal sector, are ridden with even more challenges.

“Some people who are not yet proficient with using P2P now turn to vendors but the risk of such online, informal transactions is high,” Nwafor said.

He continued: “Recently, one of my friends sent $5,000 worth of crypto to a vendor to get the naira equivalent. The vendor simply blocked him everywhere, yet he’s still online, posting Bible verses like nothing happened. That’s the kind of environment we’re operating in.”

But despite the cynicism, understandable due to the crime that has been associated with crypto, Nigerians, according to Chigemezu Ofoegbu, are increasingly adopting the use of the digital asset, not only as a money-making venture, but as a means of payment, a tool for receiving and sending money across borders.

Ofoegbu, who is the founder of Coinveto, a platform that allows users to convert their money directly from crypto to naira into their bank account without P2P or online vendors who might abscond with their money, says that “majority of Nigerians are dealing in crypto not because they want to trade. Rather, the majority are using crypto to receive money from foreign companies.”

The issue of cross-border payment has remained a major challenge for many Nigerians, from freelancers to entrepreneurs looking to expand their business beyond Nigeria.

Due to several issues, including scarcity of dollars and infrastructural weaknesses within Nigeria’s payment system (gateways), many Nigerians are pivoting to crypto and the exchanges that enable them to facilitate their international online transactions.

“For example, I recently wanted to pay for hosting. I tried all my cards from Visa to Mastercard, and none of them worked. This is despite the Nigerian government saying cards are working and one can make international payment. But the reality is that they’ll work today, tomorrow they won’t,” Ofoegbu said.

The gig economy, freelance writers, designers, developers, virtual assistants, and creators, has risen sharply in Nigeria, contributing significantly to the country’s economy.

With youth unemployment persistently high, the sector has become a vital alternative source of livelihood for many.

According to estimates from the World Bank, Africa’s gig economy could create millions of jobs by 2030, and Nigeria, with its young population, is already positioned as a hub.

But for this potential to truly flourish, access to reliable cross-border payment remains critical. Many freelancers and gig workers in Nigeria now rely on crypto as the primary way to receive payments from clients abroad.

A Nigerian freelance photographer for some of foreign media houses, who pleaded anonymity, said that he believes crypto as a payment system is the future.

“I honestly believe that accepting crypto is where the world and the future is going,” he said.

Yet, after accepting payment in crypto, the challenge often becomes how to safely convert it into naira for local use.

This is where Ofoegbu believes Coinveto provides a safer and more efficient alternative to P2P and informal vendors.

“With Coinveto, you log into our Telegram bot. You see the rate immediately. If you click ‘open wallet,’ the bot generates a personalized wallet address. Any crypto you send there (BTC or USDT) is automatically converted to naira and sent directly to your bank account.”

According to Ofoegbu, it takes less than 30 seconds to 1 minute, making Coinveto a 24/7 crypto vendor that never delays you, never disappears, and never cheats due to its compliance with the recent Investment and Securities Act 2025.

“Since April 1st when we launched, we’ve processed close to ₦100 million in volume. That shows the demand is real,” he said.

Nigeria today ranks among the highest adopters of cryptocurrency globally, with reports from Chainalysis repeatedly placing the country in the top tier of crypto usage.

This widespread adoption highlights both the demand and the necessity: millions of Nigerians are already using digital assets, not just as speculative tools, but as practical payment systems.

If harnessed properly, with safer platforms and clearer regulatory structures, crypto could ease Nigeria’s cross-border payment struggles, empower the gig economy, and ultimately channel billions into the formal economy, providing a much-needed boost to growth and youth employment.

[Featured Image source]

The post P2P Risks, Vendor Scams Threaten Crypto’s Role as a Payment System in Nigeria appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

It’s a serious concern for an industry projected to process over $38 trillion in digital payments by 2030. Meaning the opportunities are huge, but so are the risks.

In this unpredictable environment, building a community that truly trusts you is like convincing Lagos traffic to move in one direction, very rare, but not impossible.

That’s where Beverly Ezebuike, a distinguished global fintech and blockchain marketing leader, comes in. Her strategies have attracted over 500,000 new community members and generated more than $50 million in profit for brands.

Beverly Ezebuike is renowned for her consistent success in spearheading and overseeing large-scale marketing operations within the tech sector, turning fintech users from sceptics into loyal advocates.  

Her outstanding and influential work in the fintech industry led her to pursue a Master’s in Digital Marketing at the University of Northampton, where she delved deeply into the transformative capabilities of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, and Augmented Reality. Tools she believes are revolutionising modern marketing. 

Beverly Ezebuike also holds certification as a Digital Marketing Professional from the Digital Marketing Institute (DMI), further demonstrating her commitment to excellence.

Over the past three years, she has made a significant and lasting impact on both the African and global tech spaces, using innovative strategies to propel fintech brands,  boost revenue, and grow creative communities that contribute to the development of the digital economy.

At Bundle Africa, a Binance-owned company, she initiated and executed top marketing campaigns that secured the brand’s first one million app downloads, delivered 5x growth in Monthly Active Users and supported the successful launch of Cashlink, a peer-to-peer payment platform that processed over $1.7 million transactions within its first year. 

As Community Manager at Kuda Bank, a pioneering fintech company dedicated to making local transactions quick and reliable for Africans, Beverly Ezebuike became the prominent face of the brand’s community and drove significant commercial impact for the brand. 

Within her first two months, her deep knowledge of Fintech products made it seamless to market the brand on digital platforms. 

One of her initiatives earned the bank 26 million weekly Impressions and helped it surpass the seven million customer milestone just five days after she executed a viral digital campaign. 

During her tenure, Kuda secured a spot among the top 250 fintech platforms worldwide in the neo-bank category, according to CNBC.

In September 2024, Beverly Ezebuike was appointed to lead Community and Partnerships initiatives at Raenest, a global payment fintech company that helps African businesses and professionals to transact and receive foreign payments around the world.

Since then, she has represented the brand in numerous tech events, one of which was a panel session during the 2025 Africa Tech Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. 

In this interview, Techeconomy highlights Beverly Ezebuike’s effort in the Raenest’s marketing team, contributing to the brand’s $11 million in Series A Funding, led by QED Investors. Excerpt:

TE: Let’s begin with a big picture. What does leading a digital tech community mean to you, especially in the fintech and blockchain space?

Beverly Ezebuike: Leading a digital tech community is both an art and a responsibility, demanding a deep understanding of users’ needs and an unwavering commitment to delivering genuine value. Fostering trust and loyalty is no small feat. It takes a lot of time, intentional effort, and consistency, yet it is crucial for building any thriving community. 

At its heart, the role is about serving as an essential link between brand and audience. Also, it’s about nurturing relationships, fostering vibrant engagement, and ensuring the brand’s communications genuinely resonate with the experiences of its community.

No community can survive without dedicated advocates and enthusiastic individuals passionate about the brand’s mission. A successful community requires detailed attention to members’ evolving needs and the ability to adapt as expectations shift. With more than 75% of internet users now taking part in digital communities, the impact of this area of marketing is continuously growing and redefining the marketing landscape.

Real leadership in community management stems from careful listening, forming real connections, and prioritising long-term value above short-term gain. Adopting such an approach is vital in transforming ordinary users into devoted champions who not only stay with your brand but also become proud ambassadors, happy to always recommend your services to others.

Leading communities in Blockchain and Fintech spaces are quite similar but very different. In the blockchain and Web3 sectors, the pace is relentless and volatility is high. Users join active communities, eager for premium insights and early knowledge of emerging developments. They are searching for the next promising opportunity where they can safely and confidently invest. 

The sector is structured in a way where it’s never a good idea to play alone, and that’s why most people find themselves in various blockchain communities because of the extreme value it creates for them. We see over time that community is a key priority to the success of most projects, like Binance, Vechain, and many others. 

While working at Binance, I experienced firsthand that despite having good products, you need people who will never stop supporting your brand and are always ready to recommend you to their entire network in their best interests. 

However, in the fintech space, leading a digital tech community is fundamentally about relationship building and management above all else. In a fintech community, users want reassurance that their funds are secure and that they can receive assistance whenever they need it. 

While people are not as eager to join fintech communities as they are in the blockchain space, those fintech communities that provide users with genuine value, human connection, and a clear reason to trust them will always stand out.

I am proud to have had the opportunity to lead communities in both of these sectors.

TE: You’ve built communities for high-growth brands like Binance, Kuda, and Raenest. What core strategies helped you scale those communities effectively, and did any of them surprise you?

Beverly Ezebuike: Since I began building communities for leading tech brands, it has been a journey of learning, unlearning, and implementing ideas that create value for these brands. Transitioning from building blockchain communities to now focusing on fintech, I have utilised a variety of strategies to achieve success. 

The numerous growth results stemming from various marketing initiatives, which I both led and executed, have produced significant commercial impact for these brands. They still impress me to this day.

A very notable time was in January 2024 when I was barely 2 months into my new role as the Community Manager at Kuda Bank. I was in charge of managing the brand’s two largest digital platforms, X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram, which had a cumulative of about 400,000 followers.  

During that period, I  initiated a viral fintech campaign via a tweet that put Kuda on the trend table for weeks. It happened during the well-known “No gree for anybody” trend, when one of our community members tweeted about cooking for her husband at 4am and was criticised by the public for how she ran her household. Because she was victimised in this situation, people empathised with her and generously gave her cash gifts and various items. She made it known that she banks with Kuda, and encouraged people to send the money to her Kuda Bank account.

When I noticed these conversations taking place on the platform, I realised it was a perfect opportunity to position Kuda as a reliable platform for receiving money, as well as one that processes transactions swiftly.

While actively engaging in some of the conversations initiated by our community members, I decided to publish a tweet that would gain even more visibility, building trust for the brand. Altogether, this gives the public further reason to sign up for and use Kuda.

I picked up the conversation, and the rest is history. For the first time in a single week in a long time, we reached approximately 26 million channel impressions and increased our X followers by over 15,000. 

The final highlight of the campaign’s success was that after five days of continuously engaging with the trend, we hit the milestone of 7 million customer sign-ups at Kuda.

Another core strategy I have consistently employed over time to scale tech communities is the User Icebreaker sessions, designed to sustain communities and keep users engaged, thereby preventing any possibility of churn. 

I have been using this strategy since my very first community management role. When I consider my responsibilities as a community manager, I think of ownership and dedication to that community.

The User Icebreaker session is a community virtual event I organise monthly or quarterly to connect deeply with, and onboard new users who registered on the brand’s platform within a specific timeframe. During these sessions, I guide them through the entire mobile app, from signing up to performing actions such as transacting. I demonstrate how to use various product features and encourage them to complete their KYC verification.

While there are other methods to onboard users and show them how to take various actions, it is more than simply sending onboarding emails or sharing “How-To” content videos on social media for them to watch. 

These sessions foster an intimate connection with the brand. I ensure they know firsthand that they have come to the right place to receive the services they need and reassure them of the value the brand will provide. I also inform them about the platforms on which we exist and encourage them to join our official community channel.

The Icebreaker sessions also allow me to explain each of our products in a manner that is less technical than how a product or engineering team member might present it. So, it is essential to maintain up-to-date knowledge of every product. 

During the sessions, I always have representatives from the Product, Compliance, and Customer Support teams present, so that any technical questions or complaints from users can be addressed promptly.

Through these strategies, and many others, I have successfully built and scaled communities, leading to a cumulative total of over 500,000 new community members for various brands.

TE: Many assume community growth is about going viral. In your experience, what does sustainable growth actually look like?

Beverly Ezebuike: Over the years, managing communities in the tech industry has taught me that sustainable growth is about the results you continue to get after a peak moment has passed. As marketers, we understand how crucial it is to make a brand or product go viral. Gaining visibility and publicity for brands and products is at the heart of our work as marketers. Often, going viral lasts for days or weeks; if you are really lucky, then perhaps months.

However, these are short-term wins. As a community manager, you must ask yourself questions such as: How is this viral moment gained through community efforts translating into product usage? What will our brand retention rate look like going forward? Will more people trust our brand enough to continue using it after this viral moment? Are there likely to be loyal community members who will keep vouching for us beyond now? 

Let me give you a scenario. When I joined Raenest (a fintech company facilitating cross-border payments for African businesses and professionals) as the Community and Partnerships Manager, one of my main responsibilities was to bring influencers and affiliate partners into our community. 

We needed individuals who could continually keep the brand in the public eye. As they already had a large social audience, it was easy for them to secure visibility for us and introduce the brand to the type of audience we needed. 

While the visibility was valuable, part of the goal was to attract even more people into the community who could organically continue to speak positively about the brand, refer their networks to use our services, and participate in our community initiatives of their own free will.

This is what sustainable community growth truly looks like. As a community manager, this is why your role is so important in helping a brand build genuine relationships within its community, fostering long-term growth.

TE: What was your most challenging moment leading a community, and how did you scale through it as a leader?

Beverly Ezebuike: My most challenging moment leading a community occurred in 2023, when I worked at Kandle, a blockchain gaming platform, as their Community and Social Media Lead. At the time, I had just left my role as a Social Media Manager at Binance.

What made leading and managing the community particularly demanding was the fact that Kandle was an Asian start-up, with barely three months of operations in the African crypto gaming market. 

There was no existing community, and my primary responsibility was to kickstart the brand’s community and nurture its growth from zero to one, with a major focus on organic growth. 

This was especially challenging for me, as it was my first ever ‘zero to one’ role in community management, and I had to strategise how to grow it organically in 6 months, all by myself.

I came up with core growth strategies and executed activities that took the community from 0 members to 3,000 within just 4 months.

What enabled me to succeed in this lead role was, above all, my growth-driven mindset. As someone who had just left Binance, I had, of course, acquired a wealth of strategies and skills during my time there. One key strategy was the power of cross-community collaboration and relationship management. 

I had built a robust network within the crypto space, made up of people who managed their communities, so it was relatively easy to collaborate and stimulate growth within the brand’s community. It was not long before we began to see people joining, largely through word-of-mouth marketing and referrals from friends.

TE: You’ve worked across multiple platforms; TikTok, Telegram, X, etc. How do you lead with consistency while adapting to the culture of each platform?

Beverly Ezebuike: I always tell myself that if I can succeed on one platform, there’s no reason I can’t do it on another. In every marketing role I’ve taken on, I’ve had to manage at least 3 platforms at a time for each brand. It’s not easy, trust me, but there are ways to make it easier for yourself.

Two main things help me stay consistent across multiple platforms. The first is product knowledge. Working in fintech and the wider payments industry, I’ve had a hand in developing over 50 digital products for different brands. Whether I’m coming up with ideas or planning campaign strategies, having first-hand knowledge of the products is vital.

Once you understand what each product does, promoting them on digital platforms becomes much more straightforward. Not only does it help you communicate more effectively, but it also means you’ll know the best times and places to position your products online.

The second thing is understanding your Audience Demographics. I always tell my mentees and anyone who asks me for advice just how important this is. It’s something I see a lot of marketers get wrong.

Sure, you have your overall brand audience, but it’s easy to forget that every platform has its unique audience too. Figuring out how to connect and meet both groups in the middle can be the difference between simply being present and consistently achieving outstanding results across all your platforms.

TE: How do you measure success in community-building beyond just numbers? What metrics or signals matter most to you?

Beverly Ezebuike: One of the major ways I know I’ve won as a brand’s community manager is whenever I see community members genuinely referring their close circle and friends to join my community and use my brand’s products/services. I mean, there are thousands of platforms out there offering similar services to ours, yet they chose us? And, without any prompting, they went a step further and encouraged their network to join as well? That’s genuine, top-tier community loyalty.

In terms of core numbers and metrics, I keep a close eye on things like member growth, engagement rates, and how satisfied our community feels overall.

Recently, in my role as Community and Partnerships Manager at Raenest, I’ve started paying special attention to user-generated content from community members. With the creator economy booming and so many creators among our user base, it’s become a key metric I’m tracking very closely.

TE: You also wear the hat of a Partnerships Manager. How does your community leadership influence the way you build and manage strategic partnerships?

Beverly Ezebuike: I’d say it’s the perfect blend. One thing I never thought I could pull off so seamlessly.

A quick backstory about my current role at Raenest. While I was still working as the Community Manager at Kuda Bank, I kept thinking about my career progression and how I wanted to transition from community management into a different marketing role. I knew I was super good at community management, but my gut kept telling me it was time to move on to something new.

At the time, I was considering doing a Master’s in Digital Marketing in the UK, hoping it might bring me clarity on the career transition I wanted.

That was also the period when the Head of People Operations at Raenest reached out to me with an offer to be their very first Community and Partnerships Manager. I was genuinely excited when I got the message. Although the partnerships aspect was new to me, I was eager to see how my existing relationship-building skills could transfer into this role, so I accepted the offer.

Fast forward to when I joined the company on 2nd September 2024, I immediately became part of the core planning team for the brand’s first-ever community event (Geegs and Groove), targeted at their B2C audience. Mind you, this event was scheduled for the 20th of that same month. About 3 weeks after I started the role.

I was told I would give the closing speech at the event, so our users could put a face to their new Community and Partnerships Manager. While preparing for this, I kept wondering how I could quickly connect with community members to understand their pain points, build relationships, and familiarise myself with them ahead of the event.

I started brainstorming and considered all my low-hanging fruit. The idea that excited me most was to host a 24-hour-long X Space just before the event day. I had no clue exactly how I was going to pull it off, but I was determined it would happen. Thanks to my love for networking and public speaking. 

Thanks to the entire marketing team at Raenest for helping to execute this last-minute idea, it was a success. It turned out to be the perfect way to welcome the community and have pre-event conversations with them.

Now, this is me as the community manager, which is just one aspect of what I do at Raenest. I also manage Raenest’s Affiliate and Brand Partnerships, sourcing, strategising, and closing partnership deals with creators, community members and brands.

This role has shaped me in ways I never imagined. From representing the company at major tech events to being a global speaker for the brand, I use every opportunity to build strategic relationships and position Raenest in the best possible light.

One of my recent highlights as Partnerships Manager was launching the Raenest Perks program on  24th July, 2025. 

This initiative helps community members access various services like health, groceries, deliveries, solar and wellness, at exclusive discounted prices. 

We featured some of our B2B community members, like Fez Delivery and Pricepally, and closed deals with Adidas, Clafiya, ProductDive, Enyata, Blumefy, Skoolified, OneNet Servers, and many more. The program has grown significantly with 19 amazing brands onboard, and more deals in the pipeline. I’m excited to see it continue expanding.

By truly understanding our community members’ pain points, addressing their needs, and finding suitable brands to partner with, leading this project has felt natural and straightforward for me within the company.

TE:  With the digital payments industry projected to hit $38 trillion by 2030, what kind of leadership do you think brands will need to win the trust of users and Communities?

Beverly Ezebuike: Winning the trust of users and communities is becoming harder than ever, so brands need to be prepared to put in the extra work to make it happen. More frequently, we hear of payment brands suddenly halting operations, which poses huge risks to customer funds, data, and more. Situations like these take away trust in the industry, and we see them unfold all too often.

Leaders who know how to leverage their users and community to build brand trust will, without a doubt, be the ones who come out on top. One of the most effective ways to do this is by fostering a user-generated content–driven community that amplifies word-of-mouth marketing.

Imagine a scenario where a brand’s biggest cheerleaders are its users. People who willingly go the extra mile to refer friends, boost the brand’s visibility on their social media, and even vouch for it in conversations, all without being asked. Sweet, isn’t it? That’s what I think. 

TE: As a woman in a male-dominated sector, what has leadership taught you about resilience, visibility, and influence?

Beverly Ezebuike: Being a woman in a male‑dominated industry has been more motivating for me than anything else. 

Throughout my career, I’ve held several managerial roles, and the pattern has been the same: working mostly with men, with around 80% of the company’s top decision‑makers also being male.

I’ve always loved taking the lead on projects, tasks, and initiatives. But in a male‑dominated sector, your contributions can sometimes feel overlooked. 

What I’ve learned is that the easiest way to stay visible in this space is to show up every day, and to make your results impossible to ignore. Don’t let your achievements sit quietly in a Google Slides or Spreadsheet. Share them. Demonstrate their impact. 

Make sure people, both inside and outside your immediate team, know exactly how your work is driving the organisation forward.

As a leader, I’ve realised that initiating recurring company‑wide projects that involve multiple teams is a powerful way to stay both visible and influential. Create initiatives that have your name on them. 

The kind where, when someone thinks about executing it again, you’re the first person they want to call because of how well you’ve done it before.

I also encourage people to master at least two skills they’re genuinely good at. Results speak loudest, and the ability to bring measurable value to the company’s goals will set you apart every time, whether man or woman. 

So, to any woman working in a male-dominated sector, my advice is simple: keep showing up and make sure your efforts are visible to those who make the key business decisions. Don’t hide your wins. Celebrate and share them proudly!

TE: Finally, what advice would you give to someone trying to build and lead a digital community in fintech today, not just for growth, but for long-term impact?

Beverly Ezebuike: I have two key pieces of advice for anyone looking to build and lead digital communities in the fintech space.

Firstly, focus on building genuine relationships with your users and community. 

Not only will they provide invaluable feedback when needed, but they will also stand by you in times when your brand needs their support the most. This kind of connection will impact everything your brand aims to achieve.

Secondly, be intentional about the community you are creating. Take ownership and make a point of showing up regularly. Be present, visible, and most importantly, be genuinely helpful to your community. 

The post From Binance to Kuda to Raenest: Beverly Ezebuike’s Playbook for Thriving Tech Communities appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

They’re what people turn to when salaries lose value before payday, when sending money across borders seems like smuggling, and when your bank app is down more times than it’s up.

Nigeria’s crypto market is projected to hit $2.4 billion by 2025, with a user base expected to reach 28.69 million by 2026. The average revenue per user sits around $87, and 85% of all crypto transactions remain under $1 million, pointing to strong grassroots adoption. 

This is a market of everyday people and small businesses,  no longer focused on just innovation, but usefulness.

Binance Africa, the global giant with its wide-ranging tech ecosystem, and Yellow Card, the African-born disruptor, designing crypto rails to move money, are both walking on both innovation and usefulness for many.

Two Approaches, One Market

Binance Africa offers a broad suite of services including spot trading, futures, staking, lending, NFTs, and educational resources. It’s a global platform which processes billions of dollars in daily trading volume, with high liquidity and has gained popularity in Africa, particularly for peer-to-peer (P2P) trading of USDT and Bitcoin. 

The platform’s native BNB token adds further value for users, with many traders actively monitoring BNB to USD price movements to optimize their trading strategies and reduce transaction fees across the Binance ecosystem.

It also supports mobile money payments in six African countries, helping users convert crypto to local currency more easily.

Yellow Card, by contrast, is focused more narrowly, but purposefully. It’s known for its work in stablecoin-based payments, cross-border remittances, mobile money integration, and B2B financial services like treasury management. 

Since its launch in Nigeria in 2019, it has processed over $6 billion in volume and operates in more than 20 African countries.

Key Differences at a Glance

Regulatory Standing and Trust

Regulation has become a key differentiator. Binance, though popular, has encountered regulatory resistance across several African countries, including Nigeria, where it faced operational restrictions in 2024 and warnings from the SEC.

Yellow Card, on the other hand, has emphasised a compliance-first approach. It operates under licences in multiple jurisdictions and works closely with financial authorities.

Its services are tailored to meet local needs, particularly for users who rely on stablecoins for cross-border transfers, SME operations, and inflation hedging.

This divergence doesn’t imply one is better,  just different. Binance’s platform may appeal to users seeking high-level trading tools, while Yellow Card’s regulated simplicity offers comfort to risk-averse or new users.

User Experience and Feedback

App store reviews shows the real-world usage of both platforms:

• Binance users laud its range of features but constantly mention delayed withdrawals, slow customer support, and complicated fiat conversions.
• Yellow Card is commended for ease of use and stablecoin transfers, but users have also reported app crashes during withdrawal and concerns about rate transparency.

Neither platform is without fault, but their weaknesses mirror their scale. Binance may struggle with personalisation and responsiveness, while Yellow Card, being smaller, may face technical limitations.

Infrastructure vs Ecosystem

Binance is building a crypto ecosystem, from trading and NFTs to staking and institutional tools. It offers high functionality but requires technical knowledge and a higher tolerance for risk, especially in regions with uncertain regulatory environments.

Yellow Card, by contrast, is building infrastructure, the digital roads that enable local businesses, NGOs, freelancers, and families to move money legally, simply, and quickly. Its YC Business API allows invoice settlement and USD liquidity for African companies, something Binance does not currently prioritise on a local scale.

Again, the comparison is not about superiority but use case. Each serves a purpose — and each is valuable depending on the user.

Funding, Scale & Recognition

• Binance remains privately held with deep liquidity and billions in daily global trading volume. It has invested heavily in education across Africa and received awards like Emerging Technology of the Year (Ghana Fintech Awards 2022).
• Yellow Card has raised over $88 million, including backing from Coinbase Ventures, Jack Dorsey’s Block, and Valar Ventures. It’s received accolades for economic mobility in payments and digital innovation in Kenya.

So, Which Should Nigerians Choose?

That depends entirely on what you need:

• For traders? Binance remains unrivalled. Its liquidity, advanced features, and global access are unmatched.
• For businesses and everyday users, Yellow Card is designed with compliance and local usability in mind.
• Want deep liquidity, advanced trading tools, and the chance to earn through staking and futures? Binance has the edge.
• Need to send money to another African country, manage small business payments, or hedge against naira volatility using stablecoins? Yellow Card may be more aligned with your needs.

There’s no one-size-fits-all winner here, just two platforms interpreting the crypto moment in Africa differently.

Nigeria’s crypto space is no longer a fringe movement; it’s formalised, regulated, and expanding, with stablecoins, P2P networks, and digital naira equivalents all part of a growing sector.

As the Central Bank warms up to digital assets and the SEC begins licensing Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), the winners will be platforms that can navigate compliance, deliver value, and adapt to local realities.

Binance and Yellow Card are both part of this story, but they’re writing it from very different pages.

The post Binance or Yellow Card? Inside the Battle to Define Africa’s Crypto Space appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Order cancellations failed. And yet again, the cryptocurrency space was forced to reckon with the risks of depending too heavily on a single cloud provider.

At around 9:15am (8:15am GMT) on Tuesday, AWS reported a connectivity issue that affected at least a dozen of its services. The incident, which lasted for less than 40 minutes, impacted centralised exchanges that rely on AWS to power their operations.

Binance was the first to sound the alarm. For 23 minutes, users couldn’t withdraw their assets. The platform posted a brief message on X (formerly Twitter): “To keep safe, we’ve temporarily suspended withdrawals.” Barely ten minutes later, they were back online. But the damage had already begun.

KuCoin followed. “Due to a large-scale network outage with AWS services, our platform is currently experiencing temporary disruptions,” the exchange announced on X. Their spokesperson confirmed the outage hit Tokyo’s data centre directly. 

“Some services have already been restored, and our team is working closely with AWS to recover full functionality as quickly as possible. No user assets or data have been affected.”

MEXC also felt the heat. Users were left staring at abnormal candlestick charts, failed order cancellations and delays in asset transfers. “We want to assure you that your assets on MEXC remain fully secure. For any losses incurred as a result of this platform-related issue, we will prepare a compensation plan to appropriately reimburse affected users,” the exchange stated publicly.

Coinstore, Gate.io, DeBank, Rabby Wallet, Weex—one by one, platforms reported similar issues. By mid-morning, more than eight exchanges had acknowledged problems linked to the AWS outage.

For anyone watching closely, this wasn’t just a technical hiccup. It was a warning siren.

AWS, known for providing fast, scalable infrastructure, has become the spine of the crypto economy. From Binance to Coinbase, Crypto.com to Kraken, most big-name exchanges run on its cloud. When that spine snaps—even momentarily—the entire ecosystem wobbles.

“The issue has been resolved and the service is operating normally,” said an AWS spokesperson after full service was restored. But not everyone is ready to move on.

Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget exchange, said: “AWS data centre issues impacted several CEXs — no need to panic. It’s a solid reminder: Maybe it’s time to explore decentralised cloud services.”

It’s not the first time this conversation has come up. Centralised infrastructure in crypto—ironically—is a contradiction that continues to haunt the industry. It’s efficient. It’s scalable. But it’s also brittle. One crack in the system, and everything unravels.

Edmund Chua, head of mETH Protocol, didn’t hold back: “AWS down and 90% of crypto is down. Decentralisation is a meme.”

There are already decentralised alternatives out there: Filecoin for storage, Akash Network for computing, Render Network for graphics processing. But adoption has been slow, and trust in cloud giants like AWS remains the norm—until moments like this remind everyone why that might be dangerous.

In the end, yes—assets were safe. Services came back online. But as I watched events in real time, it became clear that fixing a technical error wasn’t the only issue. The need to confront a deeper problem is a must.

Crypto was built on the idea of freedom from central control. Yet here we are, watching entire exchanges freeze because one cloud provider faltered.

The post AWS Outage Disrupts Binance, KuCoin, Other Crypto Exchanges, Exposing Single Point of Failure appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

This comes as Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), is said to be seeking a presidential pardon following his issues in the United States.

Zhao stepped down as Binance’s CEO in 2023 after pleading guilty to violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws. He also served a four-month prison sentence and paid a $4.3 billion fine as part of a settlement with authorities. Nonetheless, he is still the company’s main shareholder.

Binance has been unable to secure partnerships in the U.S. and obtain crypto licenses in Europe due to its legal history. Addressing reports of an investment deal, Zhao denied any involvement, stating on X: “I have had no discussions of a Binance U.S. deal with… well, anyone.”

It is not yet clear what role Trump’s family would play in the deal or if their investment is connected to Zhao’s exertions to secure a pardon. 

Meanwhile, Trump’s recent pro-crypto moves, including an executive order establishing a strategic reserve of digital assets, have led to talks about possible conflicts of interest.

Trump and his family have previously launched cryptocurrency-related ventures, and the former president also has a stake in World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform. 

The post Trump’s Family in Talks to Invest in Binance While Founder Seeks Pardon appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Recall that the Binance executive named three Nigerian lawmakers who allegedly demanded a $150 million bribe from him.

The head of financial crime of crypto firm Binance, who was detained in Nigeria for several months and was discharged by a Federal High Court in October 2024.

But, Mohammed Idris, the minister of Information and National Orientation, said the government has “noted with concern the outrageous allegations, misinformation, and defamatory statements being disseminated by Tigran Gambaryan, an American personnel of Binance who was recently tried in Nigeria for financial crimes”.

“While the Federal Government of Nigeria is reluctant to engage Mr. Gambaryan, due to the high-level diplomatic intervention that resolved his case, we are compelled to set the record straight to prevent his falsehoods from gaining traction”.

The Minister said that the first visit of Tigran Gambaryan and his colleagues to Nigeria was at their own discretion, and the Government was not officially involved.

“However, when the Government’s attention was drawn to an alleged bribery demand during that trip, an investigation was immediately launched, despite there being no formal complaint from anyone.

Mr. Gambaryan’s second visit to Nigeria was part of a wider probe into the criminal manipulation of the Nigerian currency through peer-to-peer platforms like Binance, but investigators were frustrated by the tactics deployed by Gambaryan and his team.

Mr. Gambaryan was released by the Nigerian government in October 2024 on humanitarian grounds and following a high-level diplomatic intervention that ended with tangible benefits for Nigeria.

The government rejected Binance’s offer of a $5 million down payment in exchange for Mr. Gambaryan’s freedom, in favour of a more beneficial settlement with the American government.

“We categorically deny the retaliatory claims made by Mr. Gambaryan against Nigerian officials involved in his case, and we urge the public to disregard these false accusations in their entirety.

“It is essential to note that Mr. Gambaryan’s allegations are not only unsubstantiated but also lack credibility, given his apparent motive to discredit and intimidate those who ensured he faced justice.

“However, we are confident that both the Nigerian and American judicial systems will provide Mr. Gambaryan with a fair opportunity to substantiate his claims in court. Until then, we advise the public to exercise caution and not be swayed by Mr. Gambaryan’s unfounded and malicious claims”.

The post FG Believes Nigerians Should Regard Tigran Gambaryan’s Bribery Allegations against Officials are ‘Falsehoods’ appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

This is the first time Tigran Gambaryan would comment, revealed what transpired from the time, himself and Nadeem Anjarwalla, another Binance executive were arrested in Nigeria

It all started on March 1, 2024 in the first of tumbling naira, the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) has said the Federal Government was investigating the operations of Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange company.

Afterwards, officials of the company were detained and subsequently charged to court.

After his release in October 2024, Tigran Gambaryan left the country.

Today 14/2/2024, using his verified X handle, he provided details of alleged bribe demands naming three Nigerian lawmakers, including the date it occurred and the conditions under which it was demanded:

READ:

“Some Unknown Facts- you can read the rest in the Wired article and the NPR story.

The DSS was involved in the House of Representatives matter. We met with them at their office on Friday, January 5, 2024, as a prerequisite to our meeting with the House of Representatives. They alluded to the fact that we had to comply with whatever the House members instructed us to do. 

At the House meeting, there were three members present. Two of them were Peter Akpanke and Philip Agbese, both working under the leadership of Ginger Obinna Onwusibe. There was a third House member, but I don’t recall his name. They set up fake cameras and media to make the meeting appear official, but the cameras weren’t even plugged in. As you may already know, this ended with them asking for a $150 million bribe, paid in cryptocurrency into their personal wallets. A Mickey Mouse operation at its best.

@NuhuRibadu invited us to the official meeting and worked through Sa’ad Abubakar. Another key figure in this situation was Hamma Adama Belloji. Ogunjobi was just a pawn; they used him too. This was a sold as a friendly meeting with the NSA, the head of the SEC, and the CBN governor and include the discussion of the bribe that was solicited by the house of representatives.

The $26 billion figure they kept pushing publicly as some mystery money escaping Nigeria is complete BS. This information was provided in response to their request and was simply cumulative trade data for Nigerians on the platform. This money didn’t leave Nigeria—it was just people buying and selling crypto. For example, if you trade $100 a hundred times, that’s $10,000 in trade volume, but in reality, you only used $100. Again, just another example of them lying to cover up their BS investigation.

They lied about Nadeem escaping during mosque prayers. In reality, he returned and escaped afterward. I don’t know exactly how he managed to flee. He emailed me in November, but we haven’t discussed the details of his escape. It’s possible he paid someone off, but I have no proof. If Belloji had simply checked his passport for a visa, he would have realized that Nadeem did not use that passport to travel to Nigeria.

They sent a letter to the U.S. Embassy and the British High Commission, falsely claiming that we were voluntarily participating in strategic talks. This was a blatant lie.

Nadeem did not escape lawful detention—we were being held illegally. Belloji even admitted that he would fabricate evidence to obtain a court order to detain us for 14 days. Once the court order expired, they were unable to get an extension from the judge. At that point, they continued holding us illegally and had no justification for doing so.

There was a lot of noise about using Interpol to capture Nadeem. As someone who has been involved in multiple extradition cases, I can confidently say this was a joke. Extradition is a lengthy legal process, and no rational judge in Kenya or wherever would ever approve extradition for someone who escaped illegal detention at the hands of rogue law enforcement—especially when that detention involved holding employees hostage to pressure their employer. All noise.

They tried to use us to violate international privacy laws by demanding user data on all Nigerians to target opposition members allegedly “manipulating the price of the naira.” However, they all knew that the naira’s devaluation was a direct result of Tinubu’s monetary policy, which depegged the naira from the dollar. I’m not saying this policy decision was wrong, but everyone understood that removing government intervention would lead to extreme devaluation. Instead of acknowledging this, they used Binance as a scapegoat.

They also detained innocent EFCC detectives who weren’t even present when Nadeem “escaped.” If anyone should have been detained, it was Belloji, for multiple basic law enforcement failures, incompetence, and negligence- including:

• Failing to search our belongings
• Not checking passports for visas
• Neglecting to coordinate with    immigration to issue travel restrictions or alerts
• Mismanaging the situation internationally, creating an unnecessary diplomatic crisis

We had a strong working relationship with Nigerian law enforcement, but their greed destroyed all cooperation between Nigeria and the entire industry.

They even threatened administrators at Nizamiya Hospital, instructing them not to admit me when I was extremely ill. Additionally, they pressured the hospital to withhold my medical records from my attorneys. This was later confirmed by the Turkish Ministry of Health when my friend met with their officials in Turkey. 

Ribadu emphasized that he wanted billions in payouts to fund his future political ambition. However, when the corruption scandal came to light, he was trapped—because any settlement would now be perceived as a bribe. I guess he really wanted his boss’ job

Ribadu even hired a U.S. law firm to negotiate my release, but this failed due to their incompetence and greed.

Looking at you Idayat Hassan.

Ribadu overstepped his authority and embarrassed Nigeria in front of U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

Ribadu acting like an asshole angered the White House and led to diplomatic repercussions—the U.S. limited visas to the Nigerian delegation for UNGA, and Biden refused to meet with Tinubu until my situation was resolved.

In the end, Ribadu overestimated his influence. They thought they could secure a quick win, but instead, they created an international incident, exposing his incompetence on a global scale.

That’s it’s for me for now. I don’t want to dwell on this, but it’s important for Nigerians to get the facts. I met amazing people in Nigeria. It’s a shame that these muppets are in charge”.

The post Binance: Full Text of Tigran Gambaryan’s Account on His Detention in Nigeria appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

The head of financial crime of crypto firm Binance, who was detained in Nigeria for several months and was discharged by a Federal High Court in October 2024.

Techeconomy had reported that Mr Gambaryan and another Binance official were detained by the Nigerian government which accused their firm of money laundering and encouraging criminality in Nigeria.

He was only released after the government dropped the charges against him following the intervention of the US government.

The Binance chief, during his detention, mentioned that some lawmakers demanded bribes from him to stave off his arrest and prosecution.

On Friday, he named the suspects in a post on his verified X (formerly Twitter). He named the suspects – Peter Akpanke, Philip Agbese and Ginger Obinna Onwusibe.

Paradoxically, Mr Onwusibe heads the House of Representatives Committee on anti-corruption. Mr Agbese is the deputy spokesperson of the House.

Efforts are ongoing to get the accused persons to speak but the House has in the past denied demanding bribes from the Binance chief.

In his post, Mr Gambaryan provided details of the bribe demand, including the date it occurred and the conditions under which it was demanded.

“The DSS was involved in the House of Representatives matter. We met with them at their office on Friday, January 5, 2024, as a prerequisite to our meeting with the House of Representatives. They alluded to the fact that we had to comply with whatever the House members instructed us to do.

“At the House meeting, there were three members present. Two of them were Peter Akpanke and Philip Agbese, both working under the leadership of Ginger Obinna Onwusibe. There was a third House member, but I don’t recall his name. They set up fake cameras and media to make the meeting appear official, but the cameras weren’t even plugged in. As you may already know, this ended with them asking for a $150 million bribe, paid in cryptocurrency into their personal wallets. A Mickey Mouse operation at its best.”

The post Binance: Tigran Gambaryan names Nigerian Lawmakers Who Allegedly Demanded $150m Bribe appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.