https://arab.news/npdqh
RIYADH: Lebanese-based super app Toters raised $15 million in a series B funding round from International Finance Corporation, March Holding, and B&Y Ventures.
The company began as a food delivery platform before transforming into a super app that offers several services including payment and financial transactions.
Toters will use its newly acquired funds to strengthen its presence in current markets as well as expand its operations in Iraq, according to Wamda.
NEW YORK: Meltdowns in the cryptocurrency space are common, but the latest one really touched some nerves. Novice investors took to online forums to share tales of decimated fortunes and even suicidal despair. Experienced crypto supporters, including one prominent billionaire, were left feeling humbled.
When the stablecoin TerraUSD imploded last month, an estimated $40 billion in investor funds was erased — and so far there has been little or no accountability. Stablecoins are supposed to be less vulnerable to big swings — thus the name — but Terra suffered a spectacular collapse in a matter of days.
The Terra episode publicly exposed a truth long-known in the always-online crypto community: for every digital currency with staying power, like bitcoin, there have been hundreds of failed or worthless currencies in crypto’s short history. So Terra became just the latest “sh— coin” — the term used by the community to describe coins that faded into obscurity.
Terra’s quick collapse came just as bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, was in the midst of a decline that has wiped out nearly half of its value in a couple of months. The events have served as a vivid reminder that investors, both professionals and the mom and pop variety, can be rolling the dice when it comes to putting money into digital assets.
After being mostly hands-off toward crypto, it appears that Washington has had enough. On Tuesday, two senators — one Democrat and one Republican — proposed legislation that seeks to build a regulatory framework around the cryptocurrency industry; other members of Congress are considering more limited legislation.
What’s surprising, however, is that the cryptocurrency industry is signaling its cooperation. Politicians, crypto enthusiasts, and industry lobbyists all point to last month’s collapse of Terra and its token Luna as the possible end of the libertarian experiment in crypto.
Stablecoins are typically pegged to a traditional financial instrument, like the US dollar, and are supposed to be the cryptocurrency equivalent of investing in a conservative money market fund. But Terra was not backed by any hard assets. Instead, its founder Do Kwon promised that Terra’s proprietary algorithm would keep the coin’s value pegged to roughly $1.00. Critics of Terra would be attacked on social media by Kwon and his so-called army of “LUNAtics”
Kwon’s promise turned out to be worthless. A massive selling event caused Terra to “break the buck” and collapse in value. Reddit boards dedicated to Terra and Luna were dominated for days by posts referencing the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.
Terra’s ascendance attracted not only retail investors but also better-known cryptocurrency experts. One notable “Lunatic” was billionaire Mike Novogratz, who tattooed his upper arm with the word Luna and a wolf howling at the moon. Novogratz told his followers that the tattoo “will be a constant reminder that venture investing requires humility.”
Michael Estrabillo entrusted his crypto investments to stablegains, an investment vehicle that he says had assured him and other investors that the funds were secured in USD Coin, one of the largest stablecoins. Then, on May 9, he said he was informed his money was locked up in Terra.
“Had I known I was involved in a currency that was backed by an algorithm, I would have never invested in that,” Estrabillo lamented.
Washington may also be waking up to the fact that what used to be niche part of the Internet and finance has gone mainstream and can no longer be ignored.
The total value of crypto assets hit a peak of $2.8 trillion last November; it’s now below $1.3 trillion, according to CoinGecko. Surveys show that roughly 16 percent of adult Americans, or 40 million people, have invested in cryptocurrencies. Retirement account giant Fidelity Investments now offers crypto as a part of a 401(k) plan. Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, has repeatedly pointed out that crypto is particularly popular among Black Americans, a community long distrustful of Wall Street.
Further, crypto has permeated popular culture. Numerous Super Bowl ads touted crypto. Sports arenas are now named after crypto projects and the Washington Nationals baseball team took a sponsorship deal from Terra before it collapsed. Celebrities routinely shill crypto on social media, and YouTube personalities generate millions of views talking about the latest crypto idea.
Terra’s collapse was a bridge too far, it seems.
On Tuesday, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, and Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, proposed a framework to start regulating the industry, which would include giving the Commodity Futures Trading Commission full regulatory jurisdiction over cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and rewriting the tax code to include crypto. It would also fully regulate stablecoins for the first time ever.
This comes after the Biden administration’s working group on financial markets issued a 22-page report last November, calling on Congress to pass legislation that would regulate stablecoins. One recommendation includes a requirement that stablecoin issuers become banks that would hold sufficient cash reserves.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has also called for stablecoin regulation, saying “we really need a regulatory framework to guard against the risks,” during a House committee meeting in May.
Further, it appears that the cryptocurrency industry — with its libertarian leanings and deep skepticism of Washington — might also be on board.
“I do think this is a bit of a wake-up call. A lot of people were taken aback by Terra’s failure,” said Perianne Boring, founder of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, one of the top lobbyists for the cryptocurrency industry.
Other crypto lobby groups, like the Association for Digital Asset Markets, have announced support for the Lummis-Gillibrand bill.
One idea that Washington seems to be coalescing around is that entities that issue stablecoins — often used as a bridge between traditional finance and the crypto world — need to be transparent about the assets backing them and be as liquid as any other instrument playing a key role in finance.
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania, is circulating a separate bill that would require stablecoin providers to have a license to operate, restrict the types of assets they carry to back those stablecoins, as well as be subject to routine auditing to make sure they are complying.
Describing Terra as a “debacle,” Toomey said in an interview that Terra’s collapse made it even more important that Washington build some guardrails around stablecoins. Toomey is the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee.
“It’s always difficult to get anything across the goal line in the Senate, but there’s nothing politically polarizing about creating a statutory regime for stablecoins,” Toomey said.
After Terra’s collapse there are two remaining big stablecoins: USD Coin issued by the company Circle, and Tether, created by the Hong Kong-based company Bitfinex. Both hold hard assets to back their value, but Bitfinex is less transparent about the assets it holds and is not audited. There are also a host of smaller stablecoin issuers, which in the world of crypto could become the latest hot item overnight.
“It’s not just urgent that Washington step in, it’s urgently urgent,” said Jeremy Allaire, founder and CEO of Circle, in an interview.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies supposedly pegged to a cryptocurrency, fiat money, or to exchange-traded commodities. They are supposed to be less vulnerable to big swings, but Terra suffered a spectacular collapse in a matter of days, publicly exposing a truth long-known in the always-online crypto community: for every digital currency with staying power, like bitcoin, there have been hundreds of failed or worthless currencies in crypto’s short history.
LONDON: Dubai and the wider UAE can help UK businesses reach a new potential export market of four billion people in India, the Middle East and Africa, according to a panel of experts.
Speaking during a trade seminar on Monday organized by the Arab British Chamber of Commerce, representatives of Emirati multinational logistics company DP World and the UAE-UK Business Council highlighted the unique opportunities offered by Jebel Ali Port in Dubai and its associated free zone.
DP World CEO Abdulla bin Damithan said the port and its facilities give British businesses the chance to tap into markets in the Middle East, India, the far-east and southern Africa.
“The unique thing about Jebel Ali Port is you will not find another place where there is a port, airport and free zone in the same area,” he said.
This set-up meant it was able to operate relatively unscathed during the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to play a vital role in global trade, he added.
In the aftermath of Brexit, the port can play a vital role as an enabler for deals between the UK and new markets, according to Damithan.
“We believe we’ll be able to open new windows of growth for UK businesses and industry; we are here to open new markets for UK,” he said.
“We are present in different parts of the world, we have more than 180 business units, we have logistics capability — we like to think of ourselves as trade enablers, not just a port or a free zone. We want to move cargo, with our logistics and shipping capabilities, from the factory floor to the customer’s door.”
Bradley Jones, executive director of the UAE-UK Business Council, said that Dubai and the wider UAE offer access to a market with huge potential for British businesses.
“We work very closely with both governments, as well as here in London with the UAE embassy and the Ministry of Economy in the UAE, and we work closely with the Department of International Trade in the UK,” he said.
“What we do is all about adding value to what’s happening at a government-to-government level. We don’t give export advice as such, the DIT are good at that already, but we talk about what’s happening in Dubai, what are the trends and opportunities.
“It’s an economy that’s diversifying at a very rapid pace; it’s investing heavily in skills and technology. It’s important to understand that story if you’re a British startup in (Artificial intelligence, Internet of Things) or edu-tech or medi-tech — there are opportunities for you in Dubai. It’s a matter of identifying the right economic zone and partners to try to help grow the company in the region.”
Referencing the possibility of a free-trade agreement between the UK and the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jones predicted that collaboration between Britain and the UAE on energy transition would play a big role in expanding links.
“The UAE has a really good story to tell on energy transition,” he said. “Only two weeks ago (the country) announced a pioneering partnership with BP to develop hydrogen capabilities in Teeside (in the north of England). Next year it will be hosting COP28 (the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference), and if you look at almost every industry in the UAE, decarbonization is a common thread that runs through them all, whether it’s the environment, manufacturing or logistics.
“The thing that underpins these opportunities is getting the trade framework right. Hopefully very soon we’ll be starting negotiations for a UK-GCC free-trade agreement. It’s never easy negotiating a free-trade agreement with six different countries, all of whom are developing at a different pace, but I think in parallel, the UK and UAE will negotiate their own side agreement.”
Bilateral trade between the UK and the UAE is worth billions of dollars and includes a wide range of products, including food and cars. Damithan believes this trade partnership has helped to cement the strong relationship between the two countries. He also thinks that the ambitions of Dubai, and the wider UAE, in terms of trade targets coincide with those of the UK.
“In Dubai we have an ambition to increase our foreign trade by 80 percent over the coming years,” Damithan said. “We call it the ‘Two Trillion Initiative,’ which is basically to create (trade) bridges between regions. We started with India and Africa and now we’re looking at UK.
“The vision behind the bridges is to offer an integrated network solution across geographies. The UAE is the largest domestic market in the region and the third-largest re-export market, so (within that) Dubai is perfectly positioned to provide the most efficient market access for manufacturers and exporters from the UK.
“We complement the UK’s £1 trillion ($1.26 trillion) export target by 2030, so I think it’s time we all collaborate to achieve that vision.”
DUBAI: A leading airline industry official on Tuesday blasted British politicians for criticizing long airport lines and canceled flights once COVID-19 cases eased and in turn assailed Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s own response to the pandemic.
“You look at the UK, Boris Johnson, he highlights one of the reasons why he should continue to be prime minister as being the way he handled the pandemic. What a joke. They should have done a hell of a lot better,” Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), told the Paris Air Forum.
In response, a British Department for Transport spokesperson said the UK was the first country in the G7 to remove all travel restrictions, but its priority was protecting public health and the measures it introduced “bought vital time for the rollout of our successful vaccine program.”
Earlier this month British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told airlines to stop selling tickets for flights they cannot staff, while Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab recently told Sky News that carriers should have recruited more. Both men serve in Johnson’s Cabinet.
Johnson survived a confidence vote on Monday.
Walsh said airlines could not have recruited staff earlier this year when British traffic was down and industry feared the prospect of new COVID-19 measures.
“You have the politicians saying airlines should have ramped up sooner. No, they shouldn’t,” Walsh said. “Airlines would have gone out of business had they done what these idiot politicians are saying they should have done.”
The Department for Transport said that aviation, which was provided £8 billion of support during the pandemic, “must step up recruitment to make sure disruption is kept to a minimum.”
A snapback in air travel led to long lines at some British airports, as well as in Amsterdam, Dublin and Toronto, as airport managers struggled to fill jobs.
Walsh, a former British Airways and IAG boss, has attributed congestion to delays in getting clearances for airport staff but said the situation is manageable and limited to some airports and airlines.
Walsh argued aviation should have been more forceful in challenging government-mandated COVID-19 border closures which he said did little to curb the virus.
($1 = 0.7943 pounds)
WASHINGTON: The World Bank on Tuesday slashed its global growth forecast by nearly a third to 2.9 percent for 2022, warning that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has compounded the damage from the COVID-19 pandemic, and many countries now faced recession.
The war in Ukraine had magnified the slowdown in the global economy, which was now entering what could become “a protracted period of feeble growth and elevated inflation,” the World Bank said in its Global Economic Prospects report, warning that the outlook could still grow worse.
In a news conference, World Bank President David Malpass said global growth could fall to 2.1 percent in 2022 and 1.5 percent in 2023, driving per capita growth close to zero, if downside risks materialized.
Malpass said global growth was being hammered by the war, fresh COVID-19 lockdowns in China, supply chain disruptions and the rising risk of stagflation — a period of weak growth and high inflation last seen in the 1970s.
“The danger of stagflation is considerable today,” Malpass wrote in the foreword to the report. “Subdued growth will likely persist throughout the decade because of weak investment in most of the world. With inflation now running at multi-decade highs in many countries and supply expected to grow slowly, there is a risk that inflation will remain higher for longer.”
Between 2021 and 2024, the pace of global growth is projected to slow by 2.7 percentage points, Malpass said, more than twice the deceleration seen between 1976 and 1979.
The report warned that interest rate increases required to control inflation at the end of the 1970s were so steep that they touched off a global recession in 1982, and a string of financial crises in emerging market and developing economies.
Ayhan Kose, director of the World Bank unit that prepares the forecast, told reporters there was “a real threat” that faster than expected tightening of financial conditions could push some countries into the kind of debt crisis seen in the 1980s.
To reduce the risks, Malpass said, policymakers should work to coordinate aid for Ukraine, boost production of food and energy, and avoid export and import restrictions that could lead to further spikes in oil and food prices.
The danger of stagflation is considerable today.
David Malpass, World Bank president
He also called for efforts to step up debt relief, warning that some middle-income countries were potentially at risk; strengthen efforts to contain COVID; and speed the transition to a low-carbon economy.
The bank forecast a slump in global growth to 2.9 percent in 2022 from 5.7 percent in 2021, a drop of 1.2 percentage points from its January forecast, and said growth was likely to hover near that level in 2023 and 2024.
It said global inflation should moderate next year but would likely remain above targets in many economies.
Growth in advanced economies was projected to decelerate sharply to 2.6 percent in 2022 and 2.2 percent in 2023 after hitting 5.1 percent in 2021.
US growth was seen dropping to 2.5 percent in 2022, down from 5.7 percent in 2021, with the eurozone to see growth of 2.5 percent after 5.4 percent.
Emerging market and developing economies were seen achieving growth of just 3.4 percent in 2022, down from 6.6 percent in 2021, and well below the annual average of 4.8 percent seen in 2011-2019.
China’s economy was seen expanding by just 4.3 percent in 2022 after growth of 8.1 percent in 2021.
Negative spillovers from the war in Ukraine would more than offset any near-term boost reaped by commodity exporters from higher energy prices, with 2022 growth forecasts revised down in nearly 70 percent of emerging markets and developing economies.
The regional European and Central Asian economy, which does not include Western Europe, was expected to contract by 2.9 percent after growth of 6.5 percent in 2021, rebounding slightly to growth of 1.5 percent in 2023. Ukraine’s economy was expected to contract by 45.1 percent and Russia’s by 8.9 percent.
Growth was expected to decelerate sharply in Latin America and the Caribbean, reaching just 2.5 percent this year and slowing further to 1.9 percent in 2023, the bank said.
The Middle East and North Africa would benefit from rising oil prices, with growth seen reaching 5.3 percent in 2022 before slowing to 3.6 percent in 2023, while South Asia would see growth of 6.8 percent this year and 5.8 percent in 2023.
Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth was expect to slow somewhat to 3.7 percent in 2022 from 4.2 percent in 2021, the bank said.
LONDON: Shell launched a new green power business for homes across Texas on Tuesday, aiming to lure customers with plans including free charging for electric vehicles during off-peak hours and credit for excess solar power homeowners export to the grid.
The new US retail brand called Shell Energy Solutions builds on Shell’s 2017 acquisition of MP2 Energy, a commercial and residential power retailer with about 33,000 customers.
Texas, whose power grid is largely isolated from the rest of the country to avoid certain federal regulations, is the largest energy producer and biggest consumer in the US.
Shell, which still spends the majority of its investments on oil and gas, wants to expand in power trading to underpin its strategy to become a net-zero carbon company by 2050.
Shell has invested in wind farm and solar developers that are building renewables projects producing about 13 GW per year in Texas and elsewhere in the US.
Shell will also buy renewables certificates from other producers to back its retail business in Texas, a company spokesperson said.
The renewable plans will be offered to customers in competitive areas of the Energy Reliability Council of Texas grid, a network that supplies power to more than 26 million consumers across 8 million residential meters.
Shell already offers power to residential customers in the US through non-Shell branded businesses Inspire and Pulse Energy.
