Kenyan High Court Hears BitPesa Case Against Safaricom
A lawsuit filed by bitcoin payments startup BitPesa and its partner against mobile money giant Safaricom was heard in the Kenyan High Court on Tuesday. The startup says Safaricom "intimidated" its gateway partner, Lipisha, forcing it to suspend its services without prior notice, according to Kenyan newspaper the Daily Nation. The stoppage came into effect on 12th November. As a result, BitPesa and Lipisha are facing significant challenges to maintaining their business. A lawyer for the two firms told the Daily Nation that BitPesa is "at risk of collapse" because it's now unable to conduct....
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A Kenyan High Court judge has ruled that M-Pesa operator Safaricom will not be required to grant access to bitcoin startup BitPesa amid an ongoing legal dispute. The move comes after the mobile payments firm Lipisha, along with BitPesa, asked the High Court of Kenya for a preliminary order that would enable access while their petition against Safaricom is being considered. As reported last month, BitPesa lost access to M-Pesa in mid-November when its payments gateway partner Lipisha had its account suspended by Safaricom. BitPesa had used Lipisha as a way to offer M-Pesa as a payment....
As mobile payments and cryptocurrency have made strides providing an alternative to traditional banking in Kenya, legal conflicts have emerged among mobile currency providers and Safaricom, the nation's dominant telecom service. Kenyan legal authorities may need to clarify how anti-money laundering/know your customer (AML/KYC) and other regulations will be enforced and who will enforce them. BitPesa, a bitcoin payments and remittance service which uses the Safaricom telecom, and Lipisha, the payment gateway for both BitPesa and M-Pesa, are suing Safaricom in Kenya, according to....
“M-Pesa operator Safaricom will not be required to grant access to bitcoin startup BitPesa amid an ongoing legal dispute.” This was the ruling on the 14th of December 2015, by a Kenyan High Court judge. What does this imply for Bitpesa as a company? How does this affect the Bitcoin environment in the sub-region? Is Bitpesa rattled by this development? It has been a series of speculations since the news broke of the joint suit by Lipisha and Bitpesa against Safaricom for the abrupt cut-off from M-Pesa, a platform of Safaricom which served Bitpesa until the 12th of November 2015. The dust....
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has warned that virtual currency is insecure and could fund terrorism, according to the Daily Nation. This comes a day after a court ruled that Safaricom, the nation's largest cell phone provider, will not have to reinstate access for BitPesa, Africa's largest bitcoin trading platform, to M-Pesa, the mobile payment service. BitPesa, a bitcoin payments and remittance service which uses the Safaricom telecom, and Lipisha, the payment gateway for both BitPesa and M-Pesa, are suing Safaricom in Kenya, CCN recently reported. Safaricom stopped Lipisha from....
Safaricom, a leading Kenyan mobile network operator with a multi-billion dollar revenue, tried to shut down a promising Bitcoin startup called BitPesa back in November 2015. The fact that the largest telecom corporation in the country abused its power and monopoly over the Kenyan financial industry in an attempt to eliminate a Bitcoin startup represents the significance and importance of the digital currency in the Kenyan financial market. How it all started. BitPesa was the most highly regarded Bitcoin startup in all of Africa. Both international and local investors and venture capital....