👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – CinetPay’s $1.2M problem

CinetPay, an Ivorian fintech which claims to have over 25,000 businesses using its online payment collection product, owes its customers over $1.2 million since September 2025. Its CEO, Daniel Dindji, signed several documents, seen by TechCabal, that blame the cyberattack for this problem. 

How did the cyberattack happen? In September 2025, CinetPay was attacked simultaneously in Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, and Burkina Faso. Within minutes, fraudsters began withdrawing funds and transferring them to mobile money accounts in these countries, according to Dindji’s letter, which cites police reports. CinetPay only detected the breach after large sums across four countries had vanished. 

Why does this matter? CinetPay received a licence from the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), the same month it reported the cyberattack. The highly coveted licence was granted to only 30 fintechs and allows holders to process payments across member countries, including Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, and Togo. 

The licence also requires a minimum capital of 100 million CFA ($180,720), robust governance, strong anti-fraud and AML controls, and resilient technical infrastructure—all standards designed to prevent operational and security lapses. Given the recency of CinetPay’s licence, the cyberattack tested how effectively these standards were implemented in practice.

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Koko Networks, the Kenyan startup that sells bioethanol and cooking stoves, has laid off its entire 700-person workforce and shut operations after the government blocked its sale of carbon credits. 

What are carbon credits? Every household that switched from charcoal or kerosene to Koko’s bioethanol stoves avoided emitting a certain amount of carbon. That “avoided pollution” could be converted into carbon credits, which serve as proof of environmental impact. These credits could be sold to companies abroad that need the numbers to meet their greenhouse gas emissions targets.

Koko sold bioethanol at a 50% subsidised rate on the market price and cooking stoves at a 90% subsidised rate on the market price. It made its margins by selling carbon credits abroad. However, the Kenyan government rejected its letter of authorisation (LOA) authorising the sale. Once that approval fell through, management concluded the business was no longer viable, and within days, staff were told to stop reporting to work.

The uncomfortable truth: Koko’s story is a reminder that some businesses live entirely at the mercy of regulators. Just like fintechs can’t operate without licences, climate startups tied to policy must live or die by government approval. One decision can erase years of capital, thousands of jobs, progress made with users, and an entire business model.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has launched a contactless electronic payment service that enables merchants to turn smartphones and tablets into full-fledged point-of-sale terminals. The rollout is part of Egypt’s push to modernise payments, reduce cash dependence, and make transactions smoother for sellers and buyers.

How will it work? Merchants download a Soft POS app on their smart device. Customers tap their contactless card, enter a PIN on the phone, and like that, the payment is accepted. The system works under secure international protocols, so users can rest assured.

Why did CBE do this? The CBE’s goal is financial inclusion and a leaner, cash-light economy under Egypt’s Vision 2030; cashless transactions in Egypt are expected to rise to $27.63 billion by 2027. In June 2025, the CBE reported that the financial inclusion rate rose to 76.3%4. Fewer expensive POS terminals mean smaller businesses can join the digital payments wave, and more people can pay electronically. 

Soft POS apps only work if the provider is licenced by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). The announcement follows an earlier pilot of the SoftPOS solution by the Egyptian arm of Arab Financial Services (AFS), a fintech solutions provider, after receiving the licence from the CBE.

What this rollout means: Buying, maintaining, or replacing PoS machines might be expensive for merchants, but Soft POS kills that cost entirely. Lowering entry barriers could drive adoption and make digital payments the default.

The Nigerian government has begun the search for a financial advisory firm to manage the Building Resilient Digital Infrastructure for Growth (BRIDGE) Project, a $2 billion initiative backed by the World Bank to deploy 90,000 kilometres of fibre-optic cable across all 774 local governments.

This isn’t just a government project. A new private company is being formed to run the program. Under a fresh financing agreement signed on December 30, 2025, the Nigerian government will hold a minority 49% stake, while private investors take the steering wheel with 51% operational control. The World Bank has already cleared the first $500 million in concessional credit, with the first $150 million earmarked to get the “Project Company” off the ground.

The money doesn’t come all at once. The World Bank is releasing the funds in tranches. To receive the next payment, the project must demonstrate it has laid the cable, reaching targets such as 5,000km and 20,000km before unlocking additional cash, ensuring the project doesn’t just stall after the first cheque is signed.

An estimated 33 million Nigerians are offline because it’s too expensive for telecommunications companies to lay cables in remote villages. By building this wholesale network, the government is creating a digital highway that any company can rent. If Nigeria successfully builds this fibre project, it will address the internet speed and cost challenges that have hindered the country’s tech growth for years.