Technology
Umi Blockchain Ecosystem: Instant Transfers, Smart Contracts And Profitable Staking
Thus far, the number of issued cryptocurrencies and digital tokens has exceeded 7,000 and in this ocean of crypto projects, it is difficult for investors to recognize promising services at an early stage of development, however, at the same time, investments at this stage maximize the profits.
UMI is one of the young projects created at the crossroad of DeFi and digital assets trends, which draws attention not only by its unique functionality but also by its future plans.
UMI is a universal monetary instrument that allows users to make instant, secure and free financial transfers, as well as earn crypto through profitable staking.
In addition, UMI is a full-fledged blockchain platform capable of executing smart contracts of any complexity. Let’s take a closer look at UMI capabilities.
Watch a video about UMI below:
Transactions
The UMI network can execute approximately 4500 transactions per second. This significantly exceeds the capacity of most other blockchains, including fundamental ones like Bitcoin or Ethereum.
The UMI Mainnet was launched in the summer of 2020 and it’s continuously improving. In the future, the UMI team will roll out an update that will increase enough high capacity to execute 10,000 transactions per second. This brings the UMI platform closer to the transactional conductance of major payment systems such as VISA and MasterCard.
The UMI developers also have a long-term goal – to achieve the capacity of 1 million transactions per second. Although this sounds too ambitious, there is a chance to reach it in the long run, and here is why.
First, the UMI network operates on an improved version of the Proof-of-Authority consensus (PoA consensus characteristics will be discussed in detail later in the article).
Secondly, such scaling can be achieved through the optimization of programming languages and smart contracts, as well as with such tools as Kubernetes.
Finally, upgrades of the UMI network can be carried out faster and with less effort with the planned changes in the internal architecture of the ecosystem.
Another planned function of the UMI ecosystem payment service also appears to be very promising – offline transactions.
Other blockchain systems focus on transactions exclusively via the Internet, while in the UMI ecosystem, the procedure of sending transactions can be carried out without access to the World Wide Web using ordinary SMS or other communication methods.
For example, the length of a UMI transaction is 150 bytes. That’s 1200 bits of information. The standard length of an SMS is 1120 bits (140 bytes), which means that only 2 SMS are required to send a transfer through the UMI blockchain. This is convenient if the transfer needs to be sent urgently, and the Internet is temporarily not accessible.
Technically, the UMI ecosystem is already capable of sending offline transactions without the Internet connection, but the service for initiating transfers has not been launched yet. The UMI team is currently developing it.
Although, the main feature of the UMI blockchain is not the network’s capacity, the absence of any fees. This has been achieved by the unique technology on which the ecosystem is built, as well as a different economic model in comparison to other popular cryptocurrencies.
Technology
The UMI blockchain is based on Proof-of-Authority technology, a concept created by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood.
The difference between PoA and the popular Proof-of-Work algorithms (which Bitcoin runs on) or Proof-of-Stake (Ethereum plans to switch to PoS) is that in the PoA network there is no place for the contest between the miners and forgers for the right to generate a block and get a reward.
The generation of blocks, and most importantly, their integration into the blockchain, is handled by trusted nodes – ‘master nodes’. In the UMI network, master nodes are large authorized nodes that meet stringent speed requirements. This feature significantly increases the network’s capacity.
However, the original concept of PoA also has its drawbacks. The original PoA model assumes that ordinary users cannot influence the operating mechanics of the system, and only trusted nodes have the right to confirm transactions and record them in the blockchain, and those usually belong to one organization or affiliated companies. These factors increase the risks of network centralization, which deprives the cryptocurrency of its main value – decentralization – and make it little different from other already existing traditional payment systems.
In order to avoid the risk of network centralization, the nodes in the UMI blockchain are divided into two types – ‘master nodes’, that integrate blocks into the blockchain, and ‘validator nodes’ that validate the blocks. Only certain types of nodes can become master nodes – they include nodes launched both by the UMI team and their numerous partners from different countries, while any user can launch a validator node. Validator nodes monitor the work of the master nodes, and if the suspicious actions are detected, the unscrupulous masters are automatically disconnected from the system.
Along with the distribution of power among master nodes and validator nodes, another mechanism which is designed to prevent centralization is planned to be implemented in the UMI system in the future – integration with Proof-of-Stake consensus.
The UMI blockchain will continue to operate on the PoA algorithm, but if any problems with the master nodes arise, the system will automatically switch to the reserve PoS consensus.
Even if all of the masternodes suddenly stop functioning, the performance of the UMI network and its ability to conduct transactions will not be affected. PoS nodes do not need computing equipment to work, a regular laptop is enough. Any UMI user who has installed a desktop wallet with a validator node will be able to launch a backup PoS node.
Moreover, staking works on a smart contract in the UMI system, which means that the staker does not need to keep the computer on all the time. Thanks to staking on a smart contract, you can generate new UMI coins: up to 40% per month in 24h mode. With such a profitable economic model, UMI encourages users to actively join the system. This model is one of the features that allows UMI to avoid commissions for transfers – staking participants are interested in developing the ecosystem without additional incentives, such as commissions.
Smart contracts
The UMI blockchain allows you to create many specialized multifunctional smart contracts, including those suitable for integration into e-commerce services or for launching decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). These include various decentralized finance (DeFi) services.
Areas of application for the UMI blockchain smart contracts:
- Decentralized exchanges and applications;
- DeFi protocols, including Yield Farming and lending;
- Online stores;
- Crowdfunding platforms;
- Gambling sites;
- Gaming platforms;
- Cashback and bonus programs;
- and many other services.
Thanks to its high capacity, the UMI network will ensure the smooth operation of large DeFi projects, decentralized exchanges (DEX) or decentralized applications (DApps), and users will not face unprecedented high transaction fees, as it happened before with the Ethereum network.
Thus, the launch of UMI-based DeFi services will not have a negative impact on those who use the system exclusively for money transfers.
Staking in detail
Currently, UMI coins can be mined in two staking structures (pools) – ROY Club and ISP Club. In order to start mining, you need to create a personal wallet in the UMI blockchain and transfer a certain amount of UMI coins to your address.
After replenishing the wallet address, you can place your coins for staking in two pools. Unlike other staking systems, coins in the UMI system do not get frozen after joining a pool. They remain in the user’s wallet and no one can access them except the owner. Staking rewards accrue 24/7. The user can withdraw and sell them at any time.
You can buy UMI coins via the SIGEN.pro trading platform, which includes an exchange, an automatic exchanger and a p2p platform. According to the statistics, the daily trading volume of UMI ranges from $ 250,000 to $ 300,000, and the liquidity of the order book for buying coins has already exceeded $ 3.2 million, taking into account the p2p-platform. For the project that was launched only four months ago, the numbers look very promising. The interest in UMI on the market is indirectly evidenced by the rapidly growing number of active users: their number exceeded 47,000.
Mobile apps
Thanks to high-quality and fast mobile apps, users can perform all key operations using a smartphone or tablet. The applications for Android or iOS can be downloaded from Google Play and App Store, respectively.
UMI mobile apps offer a wide list of functions. One can create and manage one or several UMI wallets, receive and send coins, connect to staking structures, view the history of transactions and get in touch with technical support.
The applications provide the ability to authorize using Face ID, fingerprint or PIN-code.
You can find all the latest information about the UMI project in the blog.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerian tech firms attracted just $100 million in funding in the first quarter of 2025, raising worries about investment crunch into Africa.
This is part of a wider slowdown in funding on the continent as funding into the African tech ecosystem dropped 5 per cent to $460 million in the first quarter of 2025, according to data by Africa: The Big Deal.
The decline shows the consistent drop in venture capital funding on the continent, which fell from $486 million raised in the same period of 2024,
The data insight firm, which tracks funding rounds of $100,000 and above, revealed that nearly $300 million was raised by start-ups in January, and fell to $119 million in February.
March saw one of the lowest monthly totals since late 2020, with just $50 million in funding announced.
The Big Deal noted that despite a steady number of start-ups securing funding, the lack of deals exceeding $10 million significantly impacted overall investment figures.
“Q1 2025 is the second-lowest quarter in terms of start-up funding since late 2020,” the insight company noted.
“However, things are looking more positive if we focus on the number of start-ups that announced at least $1 million in funding during the quarter, with 52 such deals aligning with the 2023-2024 average,” a post seen by Business Post showed.
Nigeria alongside Kenya, South Africa, and Egypt – referred to as the Big Four – got 83 per cent of funding during the period under review.
Nigeria attracted roughly over $100 million in funding (24 per cent), same as Kenya (24 per cent) and followed closely by South Africa with $100 million (22 per cent).
Egypt secured $61 million (14 per cent), while Togo emerged as a surprise entry in the top five, buoyed by Gozem’s $30 million Series B funding round.
Fintech remained the dominant sector, accounting for nearly half (46 per cent) of total investment, the report disclosed with deals including LemFi’s $53 million raise and Naked’s $38 million.
The energy sector followed with an 18 per cent share of the total funding, while logistics and transportation startups secured 10 per cent.
It raised eye brows over the disparity in gender based funding with just over 2 per cent ($10 million) of Q1 funding went to female CEOs.
The largest such deal being a $6.2 million grant awarded to South African biotech firm, African Biologics.
Excluding grant funding, female-led start-ups accounted for a mere 0.7 per cent of all investments while in contrast, Big Deal added that 79 per cent of total funding went to either solo male founders (11 per cent) or all-male founding teams (67 per cent).
It revealed that diverse founding teams attracted 20 per cent of the investment, this remains a modest improvement compared to previous quarters.
“A mere 1% was invested in solo female founders or female-only teams,” the report said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Digital infrastructure company, Equinix Incorporated, has officially opened its latest data center expansion in Lagos as part of efforts to advancing Nigeria’s position in the global digital economy.
Called LG2.3, the facility will support Nigeria’s growing digital transformation efforts, providing state-of-the-art colocation and secure interconnection solutions which will empower businesses across the region.
Nigeria is targeting 200MW data capacity but it so far generates less than 70 MW and with more data center springing up in the country, this will bring further the target to fruition.
Equinix, which is one of these firms, said it is steadfast in its mission to enable secure, scalable, and sustainable digital growth for economies across the world.
Speaking at the inauguration, Mr Bruce Owen, President of EMEA at Equinix, said Nigeria is a crucial market for Equinix, adding that it symbolises Equinix’s continued investment in sustainable initiatives across the globe and highlighting the company’s broader goal of reducing its carbon footprint while supporting greener practices across its operations worldwide.
“Today’s opening is a clear demonstration of our continued commitments to invest and grow digital infrastructure that will benefit the many thousands of businesses in Nigeria and on the continent as a whole. I am deeply encouraged by the enthusiastic partnerships and innovations emerging from this dynamic region, which continue to inspire our commitment to Nigeria’s digital and sustainable future.”
On his part, Mr Wole Abu, Managing Director of Equinix West Africa, highlighted the critical role of data centers in driving economic growth.
“Data centers continue to play a pivotal role in driving economic development in Nigeria, serving as critical infrastructure that supports digital transformation and economic growth. As governments and enterprises increasingly acknowledge their significance, global demand for data center capacity is poised to rise.
“While Africa’s demand for data solutions is still evolving compared to more mature markets, the continent is demonstrating strong potential for digital adoption and innovation. To meet this growing need, Equinix is actively advancing three major data center projects in Nigeria, with future expansion plans for Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and South Africa.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
Artificial Intelligence (AI) company, OpenAI, on Monday announced that it closed one of the largest private funding rounds in history to boost AI research.
According to a blog post on the company’s website, OpenAI raised $40 billion in a round that values the company at $300 billion.
Japan’s SoftBank led the round, with other participants including Microsoft, Coatue, Altimeter, and Thrive, all of which are earlier backers in the outfit.
OpenAI said it plans to use the fresh capital to “push the frontiers of AI research even further” and scale its compute infrastructure, according to the blog post.
“[This new capital] enables us to push the frontiers of AI research even further, scale our compute infrastructure, and deliver increasingly powerful tools for the 500 million people who use ChatGPT every week,” OpenAI wrote in the blog post.
“We’re excited to be working in partnership with SoftBank Group — few companies understand how to scale transformative technology like they do.”
About $18 billion of the funding is expected to be used for OpenAI’s commitment to Stargate.
Recall that the joint venture between SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle was announced by President Donald Trump in January.
The initial funding will be $10 billion, followed by the remaining $30 billion by the end of 2025, the person said. But the round comes with a caveat.
SoftBank said in an updated disclosure that its total investment could be slashed to as low as $20 billion if OpenAI doesn’t restructure into a for-profit entity by December 31.
This come amid pressure on OpenAI to pull off the for-profit conversion, a plan that will need the blessing of Microsoft and the California Attorney General, and has been challenged in court by Mr Elon Musk, who was one of the co-founders of OpenAI in 2015, when it was started as a non-profit research lab.
The company’s current and unusual hybrid structure includes a capped-profit limited partnership created in 2019. The original nonprofit is the controlling shareholder and would be spun out as an independent entity if the company can restructure.
OpenAI’s venture backers have received convertible notes that would turn into equity.
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