Blockchain Startups: Prevailing Challenges And The Afridex Solution Structure

AFRIDEX Techlabs Ltd
4 min readJun 7, 2022

Even the very course of nature abhorred the existence of a vacuum in any existing walk of life, hence the cliche — Nature Abhors a Vacuum.

As a pathway to sustainable relevance within the African blockchain space, Afridex has discovered that the unveiling of a solution by any venture will ordinarily push such an establishment to the limelight of sustainable relevance. Our solution will unveil a trend of new industry decisions that’ll plug in the gaps in the African crypto space.

However, what are the details of this new venture that will change the trajectory of African blockchain startups?

In the first quarter of 2022, the growth statistics of African blockchain startups have been thrilling. However, the inability of these startups to attain global relevance has been a point of concern. Coming to the realization that our solution does not lie in Asia, neither does it lie in Europe, will inform a new trend of industry decisions that Afridex will be a vanguard of. As such, African Blockchain projects must rise to be hotspots in the crypto-tech world.

Over time, why has this dream remained impossible even in the face of Africa’s raving crypto market?

In a report published by CV VC, titled “The African Blockchain Report 2021,” blockchain startups on the continent have raised $91 million in the first quarter of 2022, a staggering 1,668 percent increase in cash flow compared with Q1 2021’s growth of 149 percent.

Moreso, a total of $127 million was raised throughout 2021, representing a 0.5 percent share of total global blockchain funding. 96 percent of those venture dollars went to Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Seychelles. Of the money raised, Fintech businesses accounted for $67 million (53%) of all blockchain funding, and exchanges raked in $34 million (26%).

Yes, the figures are quite lofty. but how come they seem insignificant when it comes to weighing the potential relevance they’re to have on the African Market from a global perspective?

Well, there are a myriad of issues around this fact that we do not wish to downplay. For instance, some African blockchain startups have failed for reasons such as:

  1. Building a tech startup without technical know-how
  2. Managerial inexperience
  3. Running a startup without a template or mentorship
  4. Mismanagement of funds.

KuBitX, an African Startup, fell prey to the above factors that in turn limited its reach. However, these are more internalized factors that are without traits of biases posed by the international blockchain community.

Yes, you read right. A major reason why it seems like, despite the lofty numbers and high market potential, no African crypto or blockchain unicorns have appeared from the continent thus far is reasons connected to biases that have been reflected in exorbitant listing fees charged by major Exchanges in the space.

Multiple industry sources have shown that cryptocurrency exchanges are charging up to $1 million to list initial coin offerings on their platforms.

Around half a dozen market participants, from investors to CEOs of companies with their own coins, have revealed that some exchanges with the big names are charging anywhere between $50,000 to $1 million to get their tokens listed. These prices have been fixed without prior recourse to the challenges of startups such as inadequate funds.

At Afridex, we believe that these exorbitant listing costs reflect the current power imbalance between exchanges and crypto projects. We recognize that Exchanges wield huge power in the crypto market as access to larger ones can mean the difference between success and failure for many projects.

As such, Afridex will not leave the Challenges of African blockchain startups to the borders of ambiguity. We will make it plain. We will be the vanguard of this new blockchain assembly as our solution is the pathway to sustainable growth within the industry.

Just as the full potential of research work is realized and appreciated when it provides answers to leading questions in an area of inquiry, just as the relevance of research work is fully unveiled considering the prevalent concerns such theses proffer solutions to, the unveiling of the Afridex Solution is the unveiling of the full potential of the African Crypto Market.

We have launched an exchange that has affordability as the crux of its existence. Creating an assemble where African blockchain projects can list with highly affordable prices, alongside carefully crafted features such as high-security architecture, native language function, next of kin feature, and a P2P function, We will serve as a catalyst to the growth of African projects, leading the African Market to reach its highest potentials.

Our Exchange is live here

You can follow us on our social media platforms @afridexfinance for recent updates.

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AFRIDEX Techlabs Ltd

A Defi Blockchain Company, using decentralized solutions to revolutionize finance in Africa.