“Crackdown on Binance is right but the approach is wrong”- A chat with Oladotun Akangbe of Flincap 

Having been in the African blockchain space for 8 years, Oladotun Akangbe Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Flincap, a company that builds crypto exchanges, gives a nuanced assessment of the situation is at a vantage point of understanding blockchain innovation and challenges in the African continent. 

2024 has been a watershed year in the chequered history of crypto adoption in Nigeria. Notably, the government authorities have gone after executives of the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, blaming them for the woes that have plagued the local currency, naira.

Reactions, propositions, arguments and counter-arguments have trailed the development. Yet, the dispute between the government and the crypto platform is to be resolved.

Read more here: Nigerian court remands Binance executive, Tigran Gambaryan in custody

In a conversation with Technext, Oladotun Akangbe shares useful insights from his depth of experience in the burgeoning African blockchain industry. 

Having ventured into the blockchain space in 2016, volunteering and working for top projects along the way, Oladotun possesses demonstrable knowledge of blockchain technology’s underlying principles, enabling him to build a career in the industry. 

According to him, a few Telegram communities that he had joined helped him to understand Bitcoin and the technology behind it before he started volunteering for blockchain projects like Dash, ICP, Band Protocol, Nervous Network (CKB), and others, contributing to more than 20 projects in the blockchain industry. 

So far, he has worked with Dfinity, Solana, Ocean Protocol, Injective, and other blockchain and Web3 projects. With demonstrable knowledge in marketing over the years, he now serves as the CMO at Flincap. 

Oladotun Akangbe on P2P trading and the naira devaluation 

According to him, p2p trading on Binance correlated with the free fall of the naira. In his opinion, speculation is one of the factors that drives the strength or weakness of a currency and while it might not be the primary factor in the naira’s fall, it played a role in the currency’s weakening.  

“Trading the naira for the dollar in a speculative way was one of the causes of the naira’s fall. People were hoarding the dollar in hopes that the dollar would gain more strength against the naira. This sort of speculation is common to nascent technologies. People will often buy in anticipation of the upward movement of the values of the technology”, Oladotun explained.

Related post: Nathaniel Luz on crypto, web3 and product management

Similarly, Oladotun believes that the crackdown on Binance by the Nigerian government is the right move but with the wrong approach. He noted that, at some point, the government’s role is to ensure that companies operating in the country adhere to regulations that will ensure social good.

But, he thinks that the government isn’t leveraging the event to build a deterrence framework:

“However, cracking down on Binance does not provide a clear regulatory framework for other similar organizations. There has not been any effort to understand blockchain technology or to state clear regulations for the industry’s operations in the country.”

Going forward, Oladotun thinks that the Nigerian government needs to set up committees to study the industry and dialogue with stakeholders to determine the best approach to similar situations. He stressed that regulators can only attain a proper understanding of blockchain technology and its benefits through dialogue and engagements.

Commenting on the arrested/detained Binance execs, Oladotun echoed the popular statement: all men are innocent until proven guilty by a court of law. 

“Therefore, we would have to wait and let the justice system have its final ruling before making any conclusion”, he said.

Read also: Binance secures operational licence in Dubai

Flincap at the centre of these 

Founded by one of the earliest blockchain proponents on the continent, Nathaniel Luz, Flincap builds crypto exchanges. According to its CMO, Oladotun Akangbe, Flincap offers an infrastructure that will aid the rise of existing OTC crypto exchanges and the creation of more OTC desks. 

“With Flincap, OTC traders can build their brand beyond the limitations of trading on social media, automate their processes, and present their businesses better. We do all the heavy tech infrastructure lifting so traders can focus on their business”, he explained.

In his words, the continent cannot continue to rely on a few big exchanges, emphasizing the need to build more to cater to the needs of the burgeoning crypto market.

“There are thousands of OTC exchanges in Africa, but they do not show on the global map as they do not operate as proper exchanges. This is because they lack the technical infrastructure to play in the global scene. This is exactly what Flincap fixes”, Oladotun said.

And amidst the chaos, with Flincap services, more OTC crypto exchanges can rise to fill the gap that Binance left, according to Oladotun. 

Oladotun says Flincap would enable OTC crypto exchanges all over Africa to reach the peaks of their potential in 2024.

“Every aspect of our tech infrastructure is ready, and we will keep improving it as we grow. You can expect to see us at more events and find more businesses backed by Flincap’s infrastructure. We are here to empower every OTC crypto exchange to dominate the African market!” – He concluded.