One of Africa’s leading crypto exchanges, MARA, has received $23 million in funding from Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research (FTX), Distributed Global, TQ Ventures; DIGITAL; Nexo; Huobi; DAO Jones (investment DAo sponsored by Mike Shinodo, Steve Aoki and Disclosure); and almost 100 crypto investors, including Amit Bhatia and Hamad Al-Hoimaizi.
For its first phase, MARA will be rolled out in Kenya, Nigeria, and other neighboring African countries.
Real-time crypto investment and money transfer to loved ones are two of the features of the MARA wallet.
The Central African Republic, which just enacted legislation legalizing Bitcoin as legal cash, has also announced a cooperation with MARA.
MARA’s goal is to provide Africans with access to the crypto-economy. Cryptocurrency and other cutting-edge technologies have shown great promise among sub-Saharan Africa’s young and tech-savvy population, yet there are significant obstacles to implementing them.
Chi Nnadi, Lucas Llinás Mnera, Dearg OBartuin, and Kate Kallot lead the MARA executive team. Kojo Annan and Tatiana Koffman serve as board advisors to the team.
“MARA’s objective is to allow a more fair distribution of capital by providing a decentralized alternative that extends beyond tribes, classes, cultures, and countries,” says Chi Nnadi, co-founder and CEO of MARA. For people in Sub-Saharan Africa, “our goal is to eliminate the opportunity gap and construct a financial infrastructure on which they may build their lives.”
The MARA wallet app will be made available on the App Store and Google Play.
MARA will become the Central African Republic’s official crypto partner and an advisor to the President on crypto strategy and planning.
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