Monday, 22 August 2022

Partner(s)

Good morning!

Dennis here,

My watch has literarily begun. Today it seems only fitting that we start this edition with the House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones prequel, and the best thing to have happened to this world, take my word for it.

I personally would have preferred that they had gone way back in time, if possible to the golden age of Valyria. But this is what we have. So far, I like what I'm seeing...so far.

Below are the tech stories and news you need to know to start your day, carefully curated by Technext.

Summary of the news

NBC has revoked the licenses of AIT, Silverbird and 50 other radio and TV stations
The Irishman man whose $1.5 million worth of crypto was stolen has traced it to a Paxful account
FCCPC's Babatunde Irukera has ordered fintech companies to "stop providing payment services to loan sharks”
FTX, the crypto startup's money isn’t insured, FDIC of America has revealed

NBC revokes licenses

The Nigerian government through the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has today revoked the broadcast licenses of over 50 television and radio stations, including Africa Independent Television (AIT), Raypower FM, Silverbird television, and Rhythm FM among other media houses.

Technext reports that Bashir Ahmad, Special Assistant on Digital Communications to President Muhammadu Buhari, announced this on Twitter quoting the head of the broadcast regulator, NBC. The affected stations were accused of failure to renew their licenses.

“The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has revoked the broadcast licences of AIT, Silverbird TV, Raypower FM, Rhythm FM and 48 other stations over failure to renew their broadcast licences, the NBC Director General, Balarabe Shehu Illelah discloses this today, in Abuja,” Mr Ahmad wrote.

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Blockchain burglar steals $1.5 million in crypto under investor’s nose

A crypto investor claims $1.5 million of his stolen funds ended up in an account with a Manhattan-based cryptocurrency exchange, and he wants to know how. In May, corporate quality expert Niall Leonard discovered his Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were suddenly gone from his digital wallets, according to a Manhattan Supreme Court filing.

The New York Post reports that Leonard, an Irishman living in Qatar, immediately hired British financial investigation firm AnotherDay, which traced the funds to an account with Koreatown company called Paxful Holdings. Paxful declined to release the identity of the account holder without a court order. Leonard wants a judge to force Paxful to reveal who is holding the stolen funds.

The company is “working hand-in-hand with Niall Leonard’s team” and is “doing everything in our power to provide transparency” while acting within U.S. law, a Paxful spokesperson said.

No peace for loan sharks

The Federal Government of Nigeria through the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has issued an order to all financial technology companies to stop providing payment or transaction support to digital money lenders otherwise known as “loan sharks” under investigation.

Technext reports that the executive vice chairman of the commission, Babatunde Irukera disclosed this to reporters last week at an event in Lagos.

In his statement, he named specific fintech companies including Flutterwave, Opay, Paystack, and Monify, as either operating payment systems, offering services to digital lenders that are the subject of its investigation or are not doing so in accordance with the necessary regulatory approvals.

FTX’s money isn’t insured, FDIC says

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) slapped the Sam Bankman-Fried-owned cryptocurrency exchange FTX with a cease-and-desist order over “false and misleading statements” that suggest its assets are FDIC-insured. The FDIC doesn’t cover stocks or crypto, and only safeguards funds held in insured bank accounts.

In a letter to the exchange, The Verge reports that the FDIC points to a now-deleted tweet from FTX president Brett Harrison, which states “direct deposits from employers to FTX US are stored in individually FDIC-insured bank accounts in the users’ names.” The referenced tweet also says that “stocks are held in FDIC-insured and SIPC [Security Investor Protection Corporation]-insured brokerage accounts.” The FDIC claims this falsely represents that FTX and the funds invested by users are FDIC-insured when they’re really not.

Harrison has since issued a response to the FDIC’s letter, explaining that FTX “really didn’t mean to mislead anyone,” and claims FTX “didn’t suggest that FTX US itself, or that crypto/non-fiat assets, benefit from FDIC insurance.”

FTX CEO and founder Bankman-Fried provided further clarification as well, stating that while “FTX does not have FDIC insurance,” the banks it does business with do. Bankman-Fried adds that it may “explore potential ways that individual accounts using direct deposit... could, in the future, be used to further protect customers,” and that FTX “would be excited to work with the FDIC on that.”