Author: Elan

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In brief Visa is moving to close a loophole in Crossmint-powered checkouts that let meme coin purchases made with credit cards be processed under a merchant code meant for digital media. The move follows a challenge from Chase, which said one Visa transaction was misclassified and shouldn’t have earned rewards; the New York AG’s office is also reviewing the matter. Meme coin purchases will continue but must be coded as crypto transactions, subject to Visa’s rules; processors have a grace period expected to end next week. Banks came away empty-handed in their bid for tighter restrictions on stablecoin rewards after…

Spend enough time around venture capital in emerging markets, and you keep hearing the same ambition: modernising the informal economy. Look at Nairobi, Kenya. Tens of thousands of neighbourhood kiosks sell bananas, tomatoes, and cooking oil, yet getting those goods from a smallholder farmer to a shop can involve four or five informal brokers, each taking a cut. Much of the trade still runs through wholesale markets, driven by handwritten ledgers, cash, and little technology. To a software investor, this looks like friction waiting to be swept away by software. If you can aggregate demand on a mobile app, run…

While smartphones are improving every day with new hardware, not everyone has access to the latest flagship devices. The bottom line is: how long can you use a device before it starts lagging? Related My old Android was laggy until I toggled this setting I thought I needed a new phone—this tweak saved it. I’m testing this using my Pixel 8 Not that old, but definitely not new Credit: Rajesh Pandey/MakeUseOf I wanted to test this very theory by using a 3-year-old smartphone and testing if I could improve the user experience by tweaking a few key settings. To start off,…

Lagos, NigeriaHere are summaries of the most widely read stories from the past week on Africa Private Equity News.1. Airnergize Capital reaches final close with DBSA commitmentAirnergize Capital, the clean technology investment platform of New GX Capital, has completed the final close of its Fund I at R3.89 billion ($238.65 million). The Development Bank of Southern Africa participated as lead development finance institution with a R240 million ($14.72 million) commitment. Read the full articleA MESSAGE FROM OUR SUPPORTERSSouthern African VC shows growing maturity and attractive exit pipelineSouthern Africa’s venture capital industry continues to demonstrate resilience, adaptability and growing maturity, with…

Note to editors: You can download a sound clip in English from Cllr Bettie Lawens. Damning revelations have come to light, exposing how the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality completely disregarded several payment agreements put in place to curb its spiralling Eskom debt. Despite defaulting on the National Treasury Municipal Debt Relief Programme and then entering into an additional debt relief agreement, the municipality continued to ignore payments due to the parastatal, racking up an additional R111 million in debt while paying back just over R2 million. In response to a question submitted in the Eastern Cape Legislature by DA MPL…

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) tribunal in Paris, France, has ruled in favour of Nigeria in the $2.35 billion claim brought by Sunrise Power over the Mambilla hydropower project. The tribunal dismissed Sunrise Power’s claims against Nigeria and also ordered the company and its promoter, Leno Adesanya, to reimburse the Nigerian government for 75 per cent of the legal fees and expenses it incurred in the arbitration. According to TheCable, the award was issued on Thursday. Follow us on WhatsApp | LinkedIn for the latest headlines In its final decision, signed by the three-member tribunal, the panel rejected Sunrise’s…

Washington came surprisingly close this week to writing a dollar amount into one of its thorniest crypto ethics rule debates.Under the final Senate draft of the CLARITY Act, senior federal officials holding equity worth at least $15,000 in certain businesses that issue or sponsor digital assets would have had to sell that interest or place it into a qualified blind trust. Their spouses would have faced the same restriction, but their adult children wouldn’t.The bill failed to advance on Sept. 15, so none of this became law. But the language is revealing because CLARITY was primarily supposed to establish who…

A decade ago, influencers and creators did not have the kind of authority they have today. If a restaurant said it served the best food in Lagos, you mostly had to take its word for it. If a phone brand promised a better camera or longer battery life, the explanation usually came from the company selling the device. That relationship has changed. Today, consumers hear about a product or business from someone who has tested it, criticised it or built enough trust to influence how people see it. In some cases, that opinion can carry almost as much weight as…

My phone and Android Auto go together like two peas in a pod. I use my phone all day, and the moment I get in the car, Android Auto becomes an extension of it on my dashboard. Maps, music, messages, calls — I’m so used to the two working together that I rarely stop to think about where my phone ends and Android Auto begins. Until Android Auto decides to play by its own rules. That’s usually when I remember that Android Auto isn’t simply my phone on a bigger screen. Things that feel completely normal on my phone can…