Serena Williams invests in Nestcoin to drive crypto adoption in Africa

[ad_1]

Nestcoin co-founders Yele Bademosi and Taiwo Orilogbon

Nestcoins

Nestcoin, a company that creates products to help Africans and residents of other frontier markets understand and embrace crypto, announced it raised $6.45 million in pre-seed funding on February 1. Venture capital firms Distributed Global and Alter Global led the round.

Distributed Global primarily invests in blockchain companies, while Alter Global focuses on emerging market startups. Serena Ventures, Alameda Research, A&T Capital, MSA Capital, 4DX Ventures and a few others participated in the funding round.

Nestcoin is co-founded by Yele Bademosi and Taiwo Orilogbon.

Since its launch in November 2021, Nestcoin has taken a few different steps, which collectively confirm the company’s intentions to drive crypto adoption in Africa.

First, he launched a crypto education medium called Breach, which will launch different initiatives to make crypto information more accessible in frontier markets. For example, Breach is launching a program where it works with creators to produce varieties of crypto content, which, in theory, should make it easier to create content that is inclusive, relatable, and accessible.

Second, Nestcoin launched Metaverse Magna, a gaming guild that the company says helps its players earn up to $1,000 per month. The guild currently has about 400 academics, with plans to increase that number to 1,000 before Q2, according to Nestcoin CEO Bademosi, who previously served as head of Binance Labs.

The crypto game rose to fame in 2021 when Axie Infinity helped thousands of players in the Philippines earn up to three times the minimum wage with a 40% unemployment rate.

Like the Philippines, high unemployment is endemic in developing countries, and crypto gambling has created a new type of employment that could potentially include millions of people in the global economy.

Finally, Nestcoin has invested in Lazerpay, a service that allows businesses to accept crypto payments. This investment underscores Nestcoin’s goal of facilitating crypto adoption. Here’s why.

A 2021 report by Chainalysis on crypto adoption in Africa indicated that crypto exchanges regularly experience increased signups during periods of currency devaluation, which frequently occurs in countries like Nigeria. It was a sign that people were embracing crypto to preserve their purchasing power. Yet, many people have to convert their funds back to fiat for expenses as access to crypto payment is still limited on the continent. By supporting Lazerpay, Nestcoin indirectly makes crypto more usable.

Nestcoin competes with a few startups in its focus area.

Metaverse Magna competes with Afriguild, another gaming startup trying to make crypto accessible to Africans through gaming. Afriguild has over 120 fellows, with over 200 people on its waiting list. According to founder Toyosi Abolarin, Afriguild scholars currently earn an average of $200 per month, which is above the monthly minimum wage in several African countries.

Lazerpay competes with emerging African crypto payment services including Busha, Fluidcoin, Paychant and Payourse.

[ad_2]