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Data-driven Economy in Nigeria: Perspective, Orientation and Opportunities

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Timi Olubiyi Data-driven Economy

By Timi Olubiyi, PhD

In most African countries like Nigeria, individuals are typically born, grow, live through adulthood, retire, aged, and die without the government’s knowing or being aware of their existence.

This happens more in the remote villages and more within the informal sector and within the unbanked population.

Noticeably, due to lack of political will, successive governments and heads of nations in these African countries have ignored the lingering need for a data management system to improve the political, societal, and economic development landscape.

Big data analytics has been the technology drive that many nations of the world are adopting for improved governance, Africa should not be an exception.

A clear instance in recent time was in Nigeria, the biggest economy in Africa, where millions of the citizens were expectant on palliative care from the government but due to logistics and lack of national data bank, it was difficult to achieve a seamless reach to the citizenries.

The distribution could have been more effective with an efficient database and social welfare systems instead of the eventual looting of the stored palliative items that ensued. Social welfare protection is key to provide citizens with an economic safety net during periods of illness, and economic hardship.

Records indicated that the social welfare system in the form of insurance and assistance programmes to the public emerged in Europe in the 1800s to majorly support the vulnerable and it has been driven largely by adequate data management.

This is the 21st century, yet Africa is still struggling with a data-driven economy. It is significant to state that most of the major decision-making or policies in western countries from the USA, Canada, Australia, and most European countries, these days are largely data-driven.

For instance, the Canadian government announced COVID-19 aid in the form of a one-time payment of up to $500 for eligible seniors to offset any increased living expenses they have incurred as a result of the pandemic.

In the same vein, such government supports and economic stimuli are applicable in the USA and the UK to save jobs, businesses and to minimize the economic impacts of the pandemic.

In Africa, it has been a difficult task and the issue has been mainly due to the lack of adequate citizen information, thereby increasing economic hardship and poverty.

Consequently, a national database is vital, it would provide insights into population demographics, unemployment rate, age distributions, births, deaths, mortality, marriages, and infrastructure gaps.

It can also help in developing the right targeted policies to fix or alleviate social issues such as corruption, inequality between the wealthy and poor, level of education and rate of unemployment among others.

Under international human rights law, Nigeria’s government has an obligation to protect people’s rights and to ensure a meaningful standard of living, including adequate food and nutrition, the highest attainable standard of health, and the right to social security.

To conveniently achieve this all-important mission, agreeably a national database is required.

In addition, to address the obligations especially the unemployment rate distribution across the country especially can be addressed, the national database is key and can help in a lot of national planning.

The process of capturing and storing citizen information backed with a data protection bill in the National Assemblies is highly desirable and seemingly necessary, particularly in Nigeria.

This national database can be used for so many verifiable and evidence-based statistics, evaluations, and a lot of inferences can be derived from it.

At this point, post-COVID-19 has presented an opportunity, which is the creation of a national database in these African countries. It is highly desirable and the benefits outweigh the costs meaningfully.

When a national database is in place it can be accessed, analysed and contact tracing can be made a lot easier. Agreeably, it can help in a variety of other ways, such as public service improvement, designing of policies, public health development, public safety, national security, national development, and poverty reduction.

It can also help in developing empirically-proven techniques for fostering human and capital development. No nation attains sustainable economic growth without developing a national database necessary to drive such growth. The national database methodology is a less expensive option to performing a physical census because it is a register-based census.

So far, the year 2020 has been filled with disruptions due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Despite COVID-19 being a health issue, has continued to have a high-impact and severity on the economy, business, and lifestyle globally.

It continues to reshape the ways of doing things and high disruptions across the remains across all sectors and countries.

For a developing country like Nigeria and as obtainable in most African countries, the disruption level is higher, stern with fragile economies across the continent.

The majority of the African populace lacks a reliable social welfare system; therefore, the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 has been more severe on the continent.

It is, therefore, recommended that concrete policy adoption be considered for the management of national emergencies, humanitarian responses, reduction of the impact of the current pandemic, and the attendant looming economic recession.

Returning to business of lack of a strong data management culture and lack of sound data for governance Post COVID-19 will only further retrogress the continent’s development and living of the over 1.2 billion population. In fact, solutions to social and economic problems are often inseparable from the data

Broadly speaking with COVID-19, the number of incidences keeps increasing, consequently, flattening the curve or having a drop in the reported cases is still a mirage at least for now mainly because of lack of effective data-driven decisions.

Therefore, measures to preserve the livelihoods of workers and businesses and ensure they get by conveniently during this period are vital. This is supported by the World Bank’s stipulation in their 2005 report, which recommends that countries should design, finance, and deliver social welfare accordingly with a data management system.

The methodology to adopt as part of the post-COVID-19 recovery policy and national development is for the countries to introduce a data-driven economy and effective national data management platform. In my opinion, data is a developmental infrastructure that can provide critical insights into the trend of human actions, practices, behaviours, and social impacts.

The government cannot improve on school infrastructures without adequately knowing how many children need to be enrolled. Therefore, when citizen data management is properly earnest, it holds tremendous potential to stimulate economic growth and measurable development.

In light of the many African nation’s desire for accelerated economic growth particularly Nigeria, a national database is necessary as part of the post-COVID-19 policy priority.

Nevertheless, if it is open, integrated, unified, and harmonized amongst all the tires of government it will be an enabler for transparency and accountability, as well as reduce crime and criminality in Africa.

A low number of African countries including South Africa, Namibia, Mauritius, and Lesotho have some form of social package much can still be achieved in education and health which are two widely acclaimed barometers used to measure economic growth.

The citizenry should be catered for especially the vulnerable, through an adequate social welfare system. The COVID-19 experience exposed this inadequacy in Africa and this can be corrected easily by initiating and achieving an acceptable national database in each country.

From adequately capturing birth registration, education enrolments, adulthood, citizens in diaspora, retirees, to the closure by death registration, the citizenry must be known, captured, and catered for adequately in Africa.

Nonetheless, the COVID-19 relief programs across Africa just go to show how far behind the continent is with the data-driven economy and national database development, especially in Nigeria. The vast majority of people in Africa are most vulnerable according to context observation, and many of the countries are still grappling to protect their citizens from the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That said, the fertility rate in Nigeria is very high with a population forecast of 400m by 2050 according to reliable data from Worldometer.

Tackling poverty in the land and reducing the high rate of unemployment has only received low attention by the successive government based on historical trends. With a national database in place, enactment of specific, and targeted policies to improve the lives of its citizens and its economy can be easily achieved.

Recall, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development in Nigeria, Ms Sadiya Farouq, expressed recently that her Ministry was tasked with the responsibility to address some of the underlying causes, drivers, and consequences of humanitarian crises and underdevelopment including COVID-19 impact management in the country.

She said this included the management of the relatively high level of poverty nearly half (90 million) of the country’s 200 million population.

Further to this, the President of the country, Rtd General Muhammadu Buhari, directed the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry to also develop a strategy to maintain the school feeding social program during the lockdown.

These tasks have been difficult to achieve in Nigeria, especially with identifying and reaching out to the very vulnerable citizens amongst the over 200m populace.

One of the significant reasons has been due to the high variety of datasets and the lack of a reliable, verifiable, harmonized, and efficient national database.

In Nigeria, many government institutions and agencies generate populace personal data daily. This includes: (i). Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), responsible for drivers’ license and vehicle number plates; (ii). Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), responsible for voters registration exercise; (iii). National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), responsible for the production of national official statistics; (iv). National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), which is responsible for the national identity database; (v). National Population Commission (NPC), in charge of national demographic data; (vi). Other organizations including the banks in the financial sector and telecommunication companies in the telecommunication sector such as MTN, 9mobile, Globacom, Airtel, etc.

Most of the data collected by these agencies are structured in nature but the big issue is that the data remain unharmonized with no centralized platform. Citizens are made to provide the same information at different times to different agencies causing lots of time wastages and duplications.

Though according to records, the existing Bank Verification Number (BVN) database in Nigeria has captured just about 25 per cent of the population, which are largely citizens with bank accounts, leaving a large chunk of the population who are unbanked.

Besides, only 42 million of the 200 million population are also captured in the country’s National Identity Database, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), according to the Director-General of NIMC, Aliyu Aziz.

The DG further asserts that the enrolment of people into the National identity Database, the commission was only able to successfully harmonize 14 million BVNs with National Identity Numbers (NIN) nationwide.

Consequently, a broader, consolidated, and harmonized national data management platform is necessary, which should be in line with the global best practice of data management devoid of any preference. Such a national database can also benefit from periodic reviews and research to guarantee relevance, reliability, and utility at any time.

Significant to note, most of the development and decisions in the world economies are data-driven, the pandemic has presented an opportunity to the public sectors in Africa and Nigeria, in particular, to embrace technology and data management system to aid national planning effectively.

With no enough infrastructures to manage the level of population growth in Africa, the infrastructures are likely to be overstretched without a reliable data-driven decision-making system, projections, and technological development.

The effect of the lack of this key decision-making tool is unimaginable, and the continued suffering of the majority of the population in Africa is likely to continue without it. Hence, with a good grasp of the relevant citizen data, demographics, and information, governments in Africa will be in an excellent position to drive a digital economy, achieve citizen engagements easily and also formulate enabling developmental policies that will improve e-govenance. They will also be able to measure the impact of these policies and also get aids when required from agencies like The World Bank (WB), The UK Department for International Development (DFID), The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), World Trade Organization (WTO), World Health Organization (WHO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nation(UN) and its agencies among others.

The  Nigerian government and other African governments need to consider the establishment of a specialized agency “Big Data Management Authority” saddled with the responsibility of implementing the framework discussed in this piece and much more. Good luck!

How may you obtain advice or further information on the article?

Dr Timi Olubiyi is an Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management expert with a PhD in Business Administration. He is a prolific investment coach, business engineer, Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI), and a financial literacy specialist. He can be reached on the Twitter handle @drtimiolubiyi and via email: [email protected], for any questions, reactions, and comments.

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Hidden Extra Tax ‘Tie’ for Parents Visiting Children Studying in the UK

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Julie Howard

By Julie Howard and Annabella King

There is a significant overhaul in UK tax legislation coming into effect come April of this year and going forwards exposure to UK tax will focus more closely on the length of an individual’s UK residence status. HNW Nigerians whose children are studying in the UK may not be aware that they could be UK resident on the basis of fewer days spent in the UK than expected. This will be dependent on their connections to the UK, including the time their children spend in the UK during school holidays and how much the parents see their children in the UK. It is vital that HNW Nigerians with connections to the UK clue up on this to avoid being caught out.

The new rules and UK residence

From 6 April 2025, the current “non-dom” regime will be replaced with a new residence-based regime.The concept of domicile will be abolished as a connecting factor for UK tax purposes and the remittance basis of taxation will be abolished from 6 April 2025.

Individuals moving to the UK from Africa, who have not been UK resident in any of the previous 10 years, will be eligible to claim a new favourable regime for those first 4 years whereby they will not pay UK tax on foreign income and foreign chargeable gains (known as FIG) even if these are brought into the UK. For individuals who have been UK tax resident for fewer than 4 tax years from 6 April 2025, they will be able to claim this favourable regime for the balance of their first 4 years of UK residence– assuming they meet the requirement of non-residence in the 10 years before they moved to the UK. The UK tax year runs from 6 April to the following 5 April.

For UK tax purposes, liability to inheritance tax has historically been based on the concept of domicile, which is essentially where someone regards their permanent home. From 6 April 2025, domicile will cease to be a connecting factor for inheritance tax purposes. Instead, it will be based on UK residence with an individual becoming subject to inheritance tax on their worldwide estate once they have been UK tax resident for 10 of the previous 20 tax years, known as a “long term resident”.

Whether or not an individual is UK resident will therefore be extremely important under the new rules.The UK has a statutory residence test (the SRT) to determine an individual’s residence status for UK tax purposes. The SRT breaks down into three tests which must be considered in order: firstly, the automatic non-residence test; secondly, the automatic UK residence test; and finallythe sufficient ties test. Whilst the SRT sets out a clear test to determine an individual’s residence, there are still some areas of uncertainty. For example, many of the definitions used, such as “work” and “home” are specific to the legislation and not straightforward and there are specific pitfalls to be aware of such as the hidden extra “tie” for parents visiting children who are studying in the UK.

Hidden extra tax “tie”

For individuals who are not automatically UK resident or automatically non-UK resident under the automatic tests of the SRT, whether they are UK resident will depend on the number of “ties” (i.e. links) that they have with the UK. There are five different ties:

  • Family tie – your spouse/civil partner or common law equivalent or minor child/children are UK resident
  • Work tie – you work in the UK for at least 40 days (and this applies if you work for more than three hours a day)
  • Accommodation tie – you have a place to live in the UK (i.e. a home, a holiday home or accommodation otherwise available to you) which is available for a continuous period of at least 91 days in the tax year and you spend at least one night there in that year. This can include accommodation owned by relatives if certain conditions are met and also rental properties
  • 90 day tie – you spent more than 90 days in the UK in either of the previous two tax years
  • Country tie – you spent more days in the UK in that tax year than in any other single country (this tie only applies to “leavers” – i.e. individuals who are ceasing UK residence).

African parents with minor children studying in the UK may have a “family tie” on top of other ties and this will reduce the number of days that they are able to spend in the UK without becoming UK resident under the SRT.

Parents witha child under the age of 18 who is in full-time education in the UK should be aware that they may acquire a “family tie” by reason of their childbeing educated in the UK. This will occur iftheir child spends 21 days or more in the UK outside of term time, for example,  during the main Christmas, Easter and Summer holidays (the half-term breaks are regarded as term-time); and they see their children on 61 days or more in the UK during the tax year.

If, for example, a child was to spend a week in the UK before term started in September and two weeks in the UK during the Christmas holidays (rather than returning to Africa or going on holiday somewhere outside the UK), this 21 day limit could easily be exceeded and then it would be important for the parent to keep below the 61 day limit to avoid a family tie.

If the parent did acquire a family tie as a result of the above limits being exceeded, they could end up being UK tax resident on the basis of a lower number of days spent in the UK than expected if, for example, they also have available accommodation in the UK and work for more than 3 hours a day on 40 days or more during the tax year– giving a total of 3 ties.

Nigerian parents with children studying in the UK should take advice on their UK residence position if they are unsure as to how much time they can spend in the UK without becoming UK resident.

Julie Howard is a Private Client and Tax Partner at Boodle Hatfield and Annabella King is an Associate

Annabella King

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The Economic Importance of Abraka-Oben Road Rebuilt by NDDC

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Abraka-Oben Road

By Jerome-Mario Utomi

For the good people of Delta and other adjoining states, Saturday, February 22, 2025, will remain an indelible date. The reason for this assertion is simple.  It was on that day that the Minister of Regional Development, Engr. Abubakar Momoh, has commissioned the 9.6- kilometre Abraka-Oben Road reconstructed by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, in Abraka, Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State. He also launched the reconstruction of the Abraka-Agbor Road.

Indeed, there are reasons why the people, particularly the road users, are happy with the latest feat achieved by the NDDC Governing Board and Management.

Aside from preventing accidents and loss of lives as a result of its formerly deplorable state, it is globally acknowledged that infrastructure enables development and also provides the services that underpin the ability of people to be economically productive, for example via transport. “The transport sector has a huge role in connecting populations to where the work is,”.

Also, Infrastructure investments help stem economic losses arising from problems such as traffic congestion. The World Bank estimates that in Sub-Saharan Africa closing the infrastructure quantity and quality gap relative to the world’s best performers could raise GDP growth per head by 2.6 per cent annually.

In addition to the highlighted importance of infrastructures to the nation’s economic development, a glance through the commentaries by dignitaries present at the commission further reveals that NDDC as a commission has done well.

Delta State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori commended the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC for the initiative to reconstruct the all-important access road from Abraka to Oben, saying that Mr President picked very good people in managing different ministries, departments and agencies for the good of Nigerians.

Governor Oborevwori, who made remarks at the inauguration of the reconstructed road, also thanked Mr President for picking very good people in managing different ministries departments and agencies for the good of Nigerians, Delta State Governor reiterated the state government’s willingness to partner with the Federal Government for the overall socio-economic development of the state.

Represented by the State Commissioner for Works (Highways and Urban Roads), Comrade Reuben Izeze, Governor Oborevwori said his administration remained irrevocably committed in its partnership with the President Bola Tinubu-led federal government for the transformation of the state.

He said the Oborevwori governance philosophy believes that if the Federal Government succeeds, it would dovetail in the success of the subnational governments.

He commended the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC for the initiative to reconstruct the all-important access road from Abraka to Oben and called for the completion of the road to Benin.

“I thank the board of the NDDC for the vision and for acknowledging the challenges and for giving the policy guideline for the execution of this laudable project. I am glad that the NDDC is giving special attention to reconstruction of failed portions on roads across the region. The Government of Delta State believes very strongly and firmly that we are partners in progress with the Federal Government led by President Bola Tinubu.

“We believe in the success of the Federal Government because of the nature of our Constitution and its operations, the success of the Federal Government will naturally translate to the success of the states as well.  Governor Oborevwori therefore wishes to commend President Bola Tinubu for his support for the board of the NDDC thus far and urging him to continue to do more for the people of the Niger Delta,” he added. “I thank Mr President for picking very good people in managing different ministries, departments and agencies for the good of Nigerians,” he concluded.

Similarly, speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Engr. Momoh, said that the road projects were further demonstrations of the determination of the Federal Government to develop the Niger Delta region. The Minister commended the NDDC Board and Management for responding appropriately to the directives of President Bola Tinubu’s charge to turn things around in the Niger Delta region positively.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the NDDC Governing Board, Mr Chiedu Ebie, said that the project was a reflection of the President Tinubu administration’s desire to transform the Niger Delta Region into a zone of peace and development. He said, “Since we assumed office, this is the first landmark project being commissioned in Delta State. I commend the management team for continuously implementing the board’s policies and following President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directives.

“Today, we are commissioning the re-constructed Abraka-Oben Road and flag-off the reconstruction of the Abraka-Agbor Road. These are landmark projects, and I am happy with the work being done. As a Delta State indigene, I am proud that my people are well represented.”

For his part, the NDDC Managing Director, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, affirmed that the NDDC was dedicated to advancing the implementation of the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda. “We are determined to make the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Federal Government a reality in the Niger Delta region, and we remain committed to the mandate given to the Commission to change the narrative in Nigeria’s oil-producing region.

“Today, there is peace in the NDDC and the region. The youths and other stakeholders are happy with our efforts. That is the success we have toiled so hard to achieve for our people. We thank our stakeholders for their support and encouragement, which has boosted our desire to ensure that we give them what they deserve. We appreciate the state governments for supporting us and partnering with us in several areas of development. We believe that in partnership with stakeholders, we will achieve more, and development in our region will be faster and more holistic. We are not competing with any state government; we only complement their efforts.”

The NDDC Executive Director of Projects, Sir Victor Antai, gave the project brief and explained that the scope included the construction of a 9.6 km asphalt pavement with an 8m carriage width.

He noted: “The restoration of this critical infrastructure required replacing over 80,000m3 of unsuitable material and the dilapidated sections of the Araka-Oben Alignment. Before now, the road was not motorable and became a hot spot for kidnapping and armed robbery activities.

“This important interstate road project connects various industrial and agricultural communities in Delta and Edo States, facilitating the transportation of goods and services”

Also speaking at the ceremony, the Chairman of the House Committee on NDDC, Erhiatake Ibori-Suenu, congratulated the NDDC management for significantly impacting her Federal Constituency.

Speaking earlier during a courtesy visit by the NDDC team led by the Minister of Regional Development, the traditional ruler of Oruarivie-Abraka Kingdom, King Akpomeyoma Majoroh, commended the Commission for its commitment to regional development. He emphasised the strategic importance of the road project, stating: “As a serious agricultural area, most of our people are farmers. This road has facilitated the easy movement of people and agricultural produce, fostering thriving commercial activities. It is important to us, and we are very grateful for it’.’

The royal father noted that the road served as a regional link, connecting Abraka to Benin, and expressed gratitude for connecting the community to their ancestral home.

Utomi, a media specialist, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. He can be reached via [email protected] or 08032725374

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Bybit Crypto Heist: Five Key Lessons to Prevent a Repeat

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Bybit crypto heist

Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Bybit was the victim of what is being widely reported as the single largest digital theft in history. Hackers extracted approximately $1.5bn (£1.2bn) from an Ethereum wallet and transferred the contents to a new, unlocatable address.

The platform has assured users of its liquidity—despite a significant increase in the volume of withdrawals in the wake of the breach—promising refunds to all affected users even if the stolen money is not recovered.

According to Osama Bari, Chief Technology Officer at D24 Fintech Group, exchanges that comply with a core set of rules will drastically reduce their chances of suffering a similar breach.

1. Multi-party approval systems

The Bybit security breach was primarily caused by vulnerabilities in multi-signature authorization and UI spoofing tactics, where attackers manipulated the interface to display different addresses. Bari said: “Even experienced professionals might overlook such discrepancies without a thorough investigation. Typically, such issues often go unnoticed during routine exchange operations.

“To mitigate such risks, exchanges should implement a threshold-based, multi-party approval system for all transactions.

“Additionally, secure platforms require real-time monitoring systems to analyze deposits and withdrawals, with automated cross-checks for unusual spikes. If required, large transactions must be manually verified with a comprehensive report. Each withdrawal should undergo a transaction audit score assessment before being processed.”

2. Ensure two-factor authentication is in place

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a security method that requires a second form of identification to access any account information or funds.

Bari: “2FA is no new phenomenon, but its importance as a tool for verifying users and ensuring only the right personnel can manage and withdraw balances or view confidential information cannot be understated.

“This is a basic form of protection that exchanges should absolutely be offering to their customers and can be a vital deterrent for hackers as it increases the difficulty of breaching gated accounts. All financial providers have a duty to protect their users and 2FA is a guaranteed way of raising the level of in-built security they provide.”

3. Custodians are valuable third parties

Custodians safeguard assets for fellow financial institutions to reduce the risk of loss, theft, or damage.

Bari continued: “Exchanges should not underestimate the level of responsibility that comes with holding considerable volumes of assets on behalf of customers. Failure to put the appropriate measures in place to protect these funds, as we’ve just seen with the Bybit hack, could result in disastrous consequences for both the company attacked and the users impacted.

“Turning to external organizations to bolster security is a viable option for exchanges that lack the infrastructure and liquidity to manage millions, or even billions, worth of currency. Partnering with a trusted custodian will ensure that customer investments stay safe, allowing exchanges to focus on other important activities such as enhancing user experience and increasing the financial literacy of their customers.”

4. Perform a liveness check

A liveness check verifies a user’s identity through a biometric measure, for example, their face or fingerprint. 40% of banks have implemented this precaution to tackle fraud, up from 26% five years ago.

Bari: “For crypto exchanges, and financial institutions more generally, a liveness check adds that final layer of protection to dissuade hackers from attempting an attack. Having access to passwords, secure keys, or even primary devices is no longer enough to successfully bypass security measures—customers are protected as their face, fingerprints, and even voices are all unique.”

5. Make security CEXy

Centralized cryptocurrency exchanges (CEXs) are regulated intermediaries that facilitate the trading of fiat and digital currencies.

Bari concluded: “A pivotal element of cryptocurrency’s appeal throughout its history has been its decentralized nature, with many early adopters drawn to this form of tender by its anonymity. However, as crypto has become increasingly mainstream and a viable investment for individuals globally, it’s important to reshape our thinking and start putting security at the top of the list of priorities.

“Due to Bybit’s centralized approach, the exchange was able to freeze $42.85 million in stolen assets within 48 hours through collaborations with other platforms. This highlights the increased resilience of CEXs and how trusted partnerships with other organizations in the crypto field can limit the damage inflicted in a hack.”

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