Nigeria’s NITDA bill, which has been discussed across social media and in a CIO Africa article, as well within as many op-ed pages, has been offered up with a handful of regulations, including registration and compliance measures, whilst being funded by tech firm revenue [1]. NITDA is Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency.

“When we look at what’s happening in Nigeria, we can’t forget that what’s happening internally isn’t happening in a vacuum. The same could be said of South Africa’s questionable handling of cryptocurrency regulatory matters over the past year. Nigeria and South Africa aren’t solely competing with the market conditions within the country. The question isn’t just whether Nigerian firms can take a hit on revenue or whether they can afford the compliance in an enhanced regulatory environment. The question is whether those firms take a look around and decide that there is another country which would be more
friendly to helping provide an environment which would enhance their competitiveness and ability to innovate,” said Richard Gardner, CEO of Modulus [2], a US-based developer of ultra-high-performance trading and surveillance technology that powers global equities, derivatives, and digital asset exchanges.

“We just saw a report which notes that Tanzania, Ghana, and Togo, among others, have seen widespread adoption of P2P cryptocurrency transactions. Ghana is headlong into developing a CBDC. Tanzania has made motions towards the same. Especially when we’re talking about tech, countries are competing with neighbors and the international community. If conditions aren’t favorable in Nigeria, there are plenty of other places to which tech innovators can emigrate. I don’t know that some of the measures that Nigeria has put in place recently is going to bode well for their image as a destination for tech,” Gardner said.

“I’ve talked at length about how the crypto realm requires greater regulation. That industry needs an international approach to how we’re going to handle things like money laundering. Those kinds of regulations keep people safe, especially when designed in a thoughtful way with industry inclusion. But banning bike hailing or blocking MNCs from transferring money into bank accounts without a license… I’m not sure those kinds of broad strokes really paint an inviting image. There’s good regulation, the kind that helps an industry establish parameters of operation for the public good, and then there’s bad
regulation,” said Gardner.

Modulus is known throughout the financial technology segment as a leader in the development of ultra-high frequency trading systems and blockchain technologies [3]. Over the past twenty years, the company has built technology for the world’s most notable exchanges, with a client list which includes NASA, NASDAQ, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Barclays, Siemens, Shell, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Cornell University, and the University of Chicago.

“Right now, Africa is in the middle of a tech renaissance. Companies are looking for entry into the African market, and a surge of new blockchain-based technologies are offering an entry point for first-time innovators. I think we’re likely to see the countries which capitalize on this opportunity establish themselves as long-term players in the tech arena. Those that show indifference, or worse, are really going to squander an incredible opportunity to develop what could be a large segment of their economy,” said Gardner.