Namaste,
Last week, a few users received invitation codes from Alibaba’s cloud computing division to test the Chinese company’s in-house artificial intelligence tool and extensive language model, Tongyi Qianwen.
The name roughly translates to “Truth from a Thousand Questions” and was partially inspired by the ancient philosopher, Mencius.
The website — Alibaba Cloud — is only available in Chinese, suggesting that Chinese-language queries may make up most of those it responds to.
This is yet another effort by a Chinese company to compete with Open AI’s ChatGPT. In February 2023, Baidu planned to launch an AI bot similar to ChatGPT, known as “Wenxin Yiyan” in Chinese and “ERNIE Bot” in English.
Here’s what I’ve got for you today:
- Nigeria police detain crypto traders in ₦450m Flutterwave breach
- Worldcoin enters Kenya
- Safaricom provides cheaper roaming rates than Airtel in Kenya
Nigeria police detain crypto traders in ₦450m Flutterwave breach
Remember this? Hackers steal ₦2.9 billion from Flutterwave accounts, motion granted to freeze accounts connected with stolen funds
According to some sources, Flutterwave has been breached multiple times since the first one was reported in March.
While the details of this new breach aren’t clear, recipients of the stolen money and other sources, claim that there was a ₦200 million ($434,470) and ₦250 million ($543,088) sale of cryptocurrency to a Chinese merchant.
A beneficiary, *Samuel Johnson, who received payment for crypto assets from *Damilola Williams — another recipient — said, “Since the first court petition went viral, they (Flutterwave and banks) stopped going to court even after they (Flutterwave) were breached multiple times.
“All they do is set EFCC on merchants, and banks lock the accounts without a court order, just a mail from Flutterwave through the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS).”
For example, *Abiodun Ajayi, a crypto trader who sold USDT worth around ₦200 million to a Chinese customer, said the transaction started on March 21 and ended on March 22, 2023.
However, by March 22, 2023, his account was frozen, with no explanation from his bank.
Interestingly, all three leaks have a Chinese payer in common, but the fintech insists all is well.
Sadly, beneficiaries of these leaks were reportedly detained by the police. For more information, check out Bolu’s story here: In what looks like fresh ₦450m Flutterwave breach, Nigeria Police detains crypto traders(* – not real name)
Worldcoin enters Kenya
Decentralised open source protocol, Worldcoin, has expanded into Kenya.
The company is reportedly collaborating with local organisations to give Kenyans access to the global digital economy and to provide educational resources about blockchain technology and upcoming Web3 technologies.
One of the main aspects of Worldcoin’s entry into Kenya is the launch of a peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange created by Tools for Humanity (TFH), a tech company that supports the Worldcoin protocol.
The service provides Kenyans with access to the USD and cryptocurrencies at 16 locations across Nairobi.
Worldcoin, founded by Alex Blania, Sam Altman, and Max Novendstern, claims to increase cryptocurrency adoption by giving away tokens. Participants must, however, be willing to have their eyes scanned during registration.
According to Worldcoin, the scan is necessary to prove that users are human and to verify their identities without “intruding on privacy.” Apparently, scanning your eyeballs is not intrusive at all.
The company says it has received over 360,000 sign-ups since its pilot phase, and the World App has been downloaded over 1,200 times per day.
This expansion into Kenya comes just days after the company launched World ID, an AI-resistant protocol that will allow humans to verify their identity online using an iris scan.
Safaricom provides more cheaper roaming rates than Airtel in Kenya
According to a study, Safaricom outperforms Airtel Kenya in providing cheaper roaming rates for Kenyans visiting other African nations, even though the latter has a larger regional footprint.
The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) and the African Competition Forum (ACF) — two competition watchdogs — conducted the research.
They also found that Safaricom was less expensive in countries where Airtel Kenya and its partners had partnerships.
Safaricom and Airtel Kenya offer affordable roaming services for Kenyans in countries with the Airtel and MTN networks.
Calls to, from, and within Kenya are the most expensive in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
Due to the One Network Area (ONA), the East African Community (EAC) is the least expensive region for Kenyans to roam in.
In May 2017, Airtel announced that it had reduced its postpaid roaming tariffs in Kenya.
However, a cross-country analysis of the roaming service within the telecommunications industry conducted by the two competition watchdogs revealed that Airtel was still the continent’s most expensive roaming provider.
Per the CAK, “Across Africa, Airtel Kenya has the highest costs of roaming despite having a presence in fifteen (15) countries. The roaming agreements could be investigated further.”
Last week on Techpoint Africa
What I’m reading and watching
Opportunities
- Pulse Sports is hiring a Brand Manager. Send CV and cover letter to sports@pulse.ng. Check this out for more information.
- RelianceHMO is looking for a Technical Product Manager in Lagos, Nigeria. Apply here.
- RelianceHMO is hiring a User Experience Researcher in Egypt. Apply here.
- VEED is looking for a Digital Marketing Analyst to join them remotely. Apply here.
- Givebutter is hiring a Data Analyst. Apply here.
- If you are a software engineer, creative designer, product manager, design researcher, or a techie looking for an internship role, please, check out this website.
Have a stress-free week!
Victoria Fakiya for Techpoint Africa.