E-Business
FbStart Accelerator Opens Applications for Season 2, Extends to Ghana

Facebook and Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB) have started accepting applications for Season 2 of the FbStart Accelerator and have opened the program to Ghanian innovators as well. If you’re building a solution that leverages advanced technologies (AI, IoT, Data Science & Extended Reality) in Nigeria and Ghana, the accelerator is designed to help you grow.
As a renewal of its commitment in supporting young innovators and entrepreneurs across Africa, Facebook announced Season 2 following the successful launch of the programme in 2018, which saw 15 startup and student teams graduate on April 12th 2019. As at April 2019, the graduating teams had cumulatively raised $400,000+ in investments and grants.
FbStart Accelerator Season 2 will be made up of 12 student and startup teams receiving up to $20,000 in equity-funding, one-on-one mentorship from Facebook & CcHUB, access to corporates, industry experts, $16,000 in product credits and more. Interested teams can apply via www.cchubnigeria.com/fbstart, with applications open until 30th of June, 2019.
Kendra Nnachi, Startups and Developer Programs Manager at Facebook, sadi: “We’re delighted to be bringing back the FbStart Accelerator programme to Nigeria for the second year, and now expanding this to applicants from Ghana.
Given our passion for connecting people and helping developers and entrepreneurs to thrive, we can’t wait to see how this year’s cohort develop and build solutions and technology to engage and empower people across Nigeria, Ghana and potentially the continent.”
Commenting on the impact of the program, one of the founders in the 2018 cohort, Moses Olafenwa, CEO of DeepQuestAI said “The FbStart Accelerator program has incredibly transformed our team from aspiring innovators to world-class solution creators. Our team had the best possible support from some of the most diligent tech facilitators in addition to the immense financial and infrastructural support we got.”
Also speaking, Bosun Tijani, Chief Executive Officer, CcHUB said: “We are thrilled to be renewing our support to innovators who are building the future of Africa today. By renewing our partnership with Facebook, we would continue to deepen adoption of advanced technologies across Africa and inspire the next generation of innovators to compete globally.”
Like in 2018, Facebook, CcHUB and partner hubs will also hold roadshow events in 10 states across the country, aimed at enlightening students and entrepreneurs about deep-tech, whilst encouraging them to build solutions with advanced technologies and promote the program.
E-Business
Global Crypto Heists Surge to $2.1Bn in H1 2025 as Digital Assets is Weaponised

In a sobering revelation of the evolving threat landscape facing the digital asset ecosystem, blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs has disclosed that over $2.1 billion worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in the first half of 2025 alone, spanning at least 75 high-profile hacks and exploits.
This staggering figure marks a 10 per cent surge over the previous first-half record set in 2022 and nearly eclipses the total stolen in all of 2024.
But beyond the monetary scale, the report reveals a deeper concern: a growing trend of state-sponsored cyber aggression weaponising crypto assets for strategic and geopolitical purposes.
The most devastating breach to date occurred in February when Dubai-based exchange Bybit lost $1.5 billion—the largest crypto heist in history.
TRM Labs attributes the attack to North Korean state actors, noting that the incident alone accounted for nearly 70 percent of total losses during the period and doubled the average hack size to $30 million.
“The Bybit hack redefined the threat landscape,” the report stated.
“It exemplifies how digital asset theft has transcended criminal opportunism and morphed into a tool of statecraft.”
Indeed, North Korea-linked entities were responsible for an estimated $1.6 billion of the total stolen, further entrenching Pyongyang’s status as the most prolific nation-state threat actor in the crypto sphere.
Yet the menace is diversifying. On June 18, Iranian crypto exchange Nobitex was breached for over $90 million by a group reportedly linked to Israel, Gonjeshke Darande (Predatory Sparrow).
Unusually, the stolen funds were routed to unusable vanity addresses, underscoring symbolic and political motives rather than financial gain.
TRM Labs flagged this as a “disturbing shift,” with digital asset theft increasingly deployed as a weapon in asymmetric geopolitical conflict.
The report also found that more than 80 percent of losses stemmed from infrastructure breaches, including private key theft, seed phrase leaks, and front-end compromises— attacks typically ten times costlier than other vectors.
Meanwhile, DeFi exploits such as flash loan manipulations accounted for 12 percent of losses, reflecting persistent smart contract vulnerabilities despite years of scrutiny.
As digital currencies become enmeshed in global rivalries, TRM Labs warns that conventional cybersecurity approaches are now inadequate.
“Massive breaches, often tied to nation-state operations, require a new defence paradigm,” the firm asserted, urging industrywide adoption of advanced safeguards and cross-border collaboration among regulators and law enforcement.
E-Business
CAC Launches AI-powered Business Registration Portal

Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has inaugurated the pilot take-off of its new Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered registration portal.
A statement issued by the commission explained that Malam Hussaini Magaji, registrar-general of the CAC, made the announcement during the 2025 Stakeholders Forum in Port Harcourt.
According to him, “the initiative is a major milestone in Nigeria’s business facilitation drive.”
The Registrar further explained that the upgraded portal marks a complete overhaul of the Company Registration Portal (CRP), saying that it comes with advanced features designed to simplify and speed up business registration.
The new system, according to him, allows for instant name reservation approvals, likening the ease to creating an email account, and stressing that the AI-powered platform could suggest available alternatives to business names and approve them immediately.
Another innovation, he stated, is the ability to register a business using only the National Identification Number (NIN) of a director or proprietor, pointing out that there is an ambitious target of completing business registration and certificate generation within 30 minutes, subject to real-time NIN validation.
E-Business
Bitget Launches Institutional Services to Empower Fintech Innovation

Bitget has launched its institutional services in Nigeria, offering fintech companies a robust platform to build innovative solutions on top of Bitget’s suite of institutional-grade offerings.
Gracy Chen, CEO, Bitget, in a statement said, “Our goal is to empower Nigerian businesses to innovate and leverage blockchain for wealth creation opportunities, hence, the institutional services empower fintech leaders with tailored solutions, as the offerings designed to cater for the unique operational needs of institutional clients, enabling businesses to embed trading functionalities like spot and futures markets, wallet management, and more, directly into their platforms.
“The Key services include White-label Broker Services which enabled Fintech companies to deploy customized crypto exchanges using Bitget’s infrastructure while managing branding and users independently. There is also API Solutions that can make the Developers to integrate trading functionality via APIs for spot, margin, and derivatives markets, ensuring fast execution and seamless experiences for end users.”
Chen added, “The ND Broker Model provides clients with complete autonomy over user-facing platforms, offering exclusive front-end flexibility while relying on Bitget for back-end market liquidity. Clients are able to employ Protection Fund and Proof of Reserves of over $600million secured in the Bitget Protection Fund and real-time Proof of Reserves, which gives clients assurance of maximum transparency and security.”
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