MARA, A Startup Hoping To Clear The Barriers To Using Crypto In Africa, Raises $23 Million Seed Round From Coinbase, FTX, And Others

Since they appeared and made their way to Africa, cryptocurrencies have grown in both adoption and usage in the continent. Africa currently is the third fastest-growing crypto economy in the world and this says a whole lot.

But with all that the entire continent has achieved crypto-wise, a school of thought believes that this is just the beginning and that there’s a whole lot more that can be achieved on the continent and startups like MARA want to increase participation in the crypto economy.

MARA is a pan-African crypto exchange platform looking to usher in a long-awaited revolution that crypto represents and help at “least 1 billion Africans learn and build digital wealth through blockchain with ease.” The startup has raised $23 million in equity and token sale in a funding round. The round saw the participation of Coinbase Ventures, FTX’s Alameda Research, Distributed Global, DIGITAL, Nexo, TQ Ventures, Huobi Ventures, Infinite Capital, DAO Jones, and Day One Ventures. It also received participation from about 100 other crypto investors.

Per its website, the exchange platform says that “Our suite of products will address a variety of crypto-finance needs while being regulator-compliant and authentically African-made. By harnessing the deep-rooted power of decentralized blockchain technology, we are set to make cryptocurrency approachable and rewarding for all. We will create a new and sustainable path through which present and future generations can empower themselves.

The company has its headquarters in Kenya and Nigeria and is looking to launch in these countries in July. Although, MARA says that its platform can be used especially by people who have little or no knowledge about cryptocurrency but there exist other crypto platforms already using this “mantra”. Then what really sets MARA apart from the rest of them? For MARA, its products make it stand out from other platforms.

Before the end of this year, specifically the last quarter, the exchange will launch MARA Chain. Powered by the native MARA token, MARA Chain is a layer-1 blockchain that developers will be able to use to build decentralized applications (DApps) in Africa. It also plans to launch a pro-exchange for advanced traders that use technical analysis and prefer a full set of trading options over what is traditionally available on its platform. The company also says its wallet app will be available for download on Apple and Google stores very soon.

According to MARA’s CEO and co-founder Chi Nnadi, “What we’re doing is we’re creating financial infrastructure for people to build their lives. And so it’s more than just being able to buy crypto; it’s about African engineers creating their [own] projects. We want to be the source for incubating talent; we want to give them the platform through our exchange to launch their projects.”

He is of the opinion that “there’s an opportunity to use it (blockchain technology) as a foundational trade technology to make sure capital got to people’s hands and last mile.”

MARA believes in grassroots adoption of crypto and wants to advise governments in Africa on the best crypto practices as well as provide support in the ways it can. It currently has a partnership with the Central African Republic, the first in Africa and the second in the world to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender. The plan is to continue to engage more governments including those that have a strong aversion toward cryptocurrencies like Nigeria and Kenya. It is, however, unclear how it plans to bring these governments to see the benefits of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.

“We are pleased to partner with MARA as it embarks on building a digital financial system for Sub-Saharan Africa. With the right resources, this region has the potential for mass adoption of cryptocurrency. To that end, the local knowledge and specialized skills of the MARA team is quite promising,” Schuster Tanger, co-founder of TQ Ventures said in a statement.