I imagine that AI used to generate text (e.g ChatGPT) might exacerbate this problem. As the article points out — Some researchers might care more about ‘remixing’ published papers in order to drown the competition, get jobs & other forms of leverage. Generative text makes it much easier
Yes, this is the case for Nigeria. Taxes mostly come from working individuals, which are deducted by the company before the net salary payment is sent. They also come from transactions. Companies are accountable to the government, but rarely individuals. Foreign companies with remote workers in Nigeria have to either pay to a USD account or pay via crypto. Crypto is untaxed because it is banned. USD in a bank account is subject to withdrawal limits & must be exchanged at the bank’s rate, which often 40-50% less than the parallel/black market rate. Crypto (USDC/USDT) is the only way to get the true Naira equivalent of the dollar. But it’s the most convenient way to receive payments & individuals get no tax-related penalties for it today.
By introducing a CBDC, the Nigerian government hopes to attract revenues that come from remittances, which have mostly shifted to crypto channels because of poor international trade policies. Today, getting USD liquidity as an importer/exporter is challenging, as there are two market rates - one for banks & few institutions, the other for individuals & the vast majority of the economy. To find competitive rates, people resort to P2P markets. Furthermore, the Nigerian government banned licensed money operators from transacting with any crypto entity - essentially shutting down revenues from fiat deposits. Restrictions like withdrawal limits on USD accounts ($10k per month) makes it highly unfavorable for such high-volume merchants to transact in USD via the banking system. A CBDC is a way of the Nigerian government looking at all that activity with the hopes to attract the revenues that flow within crypto, but they miss the fundamental step of favorable trade & monetary policies that increase USD liquidity and opens up crypto officially to capture remittance revenues.
Crypto transfers aren't subject to these issues because they aren't regulated. For instance, cards (Visa, Mastercard & Verve) can't be used to deposit on these exchanges because they'll have to be processed by a fiat operator, which usually requires a license. Because the government has banned the use of crypto, any entity caught wanting will have their accounts frozen. This also makes it really hard to deposit money into these entities by anyone. They can easily be blacklisted because they have accounts in their names. I used to work for one of such entities. I've also had my bank account frozen by the Central Bank of Nigeria for withdrawing naira that was sent from said 'blacklisted' entities.
Because these crypto exchanges are P2P based (e.g. Binance P2P), I can exchange my USDC for Naira that's deposited directly to my account. Because these are individuals, it's hard for the government to isolate bank transfers that are made for the purpose of crypto. For caution, people making such transfers tell each other not to add a description with a crypto-related word to these transactions.
Adoption for real day-to-day payments in low-volumes (like paying for groceries at a shop) is quite low, but high among high-volume merchants who import/export goods and are in dire need of USD liquidity and ease of payment across countries. Tough Central Bank policies give them an incentive to find the best rates & transact with lesser barriers. There are no official figures/solid data, because all that activity happens in informal channels (like P2P).
Wise used to be a great option to transact in, 2-3 years ago. The main challenge with Wise however was the exchange rate used to convert USD received to the local fiat currency. In Nigeria there are two exchange rates - the first at an official rate used by banks, & the second a parallel rate used by the black market (including Bureau de Change operators).
Today if you Google the ‘official’ exchange rate for the dollar to Naira, you’ll see a ~445 Naira to 1 USD. As an individual there isn’t anywhere I can buy dollar at this rate, because it is exclusive to banks, select licensed money operators & politically connected high-net worth individuals. However money services like Wise convert my dollar at this official rate. Considering that the parallel market rate today is 745 naira to 1USD, I will be losing a huge amount of money by receiving money with Wise. The only workaround will be to get a virtual account on Wise & send USD to a local money merchant, who then exchanged at this parallel rate. But such virtual accounts aren’t accessible to people in Nigeria, due to regulation. [1] For context, the Central bank of Nigeria released a circular a while back explicitly stating Wise as a non-licensed entity.
There are other options apart from Wise. But the trade off is loss of money, as compared to what’s available on the parallel/black market.
I am based in Nigeria, a ‘third-world country’, I work remotely for a company domiciled in the US and get paid in Stablecoins (USDC & USDT). Crypto has been a life saver for me. Before that, one alternative was to get a USD account in a local bank & get paid via Western Union. The challenges are numerous. To setup a USD account locally takes a long time & multiple requirements. Assuming that hurdle is crossed, the more challenging issue is how restrictive Central bank policies are. In an economy with high inflation & parallel market rates for USD, there’s an incentive for the government to retain as much USD in the economy due to poor trade policies preventing $ revenues from coming in. Withdrawal limits have been reduced over the last 2 years alone, & the flexibility to make $ payments is hindered by low transaction limits with a USD card ($15 per transaction). To navigate this, I tried creating a virtual USD bank account with a local Fintech, with which to receive salaries. However these virtual accounts can only receive payments from US accounts (via ACH transfers) so can be restrictive. The most seamless solution to my problem has been to setup a crypto wallet. In minutes I receive my salary and can spend any amount, whenever I like. Plus, it makes it easier to save in USD, avoiding the local currency devaluation (The Naira has fallen 52% in the last 7 years under the current regime). So speaking as a ‘third-country citizen’, crypto provide a far more effective banking system.
Being an African born & bred in Nigeria, I particularly find this appalling. Captcha usually asks users to identify fire hydrants, crosswalks & other objects with design patterns that are not common here, in everyday living. There's a big question on whether these approaches work well for onboarding the next billion users to the internet, especially since the demographics are much different from existing internet users.
Not to be a naysayer, but not all apps are stuff people _want_ because they aren't exactly solving their problems (or satisfying them). So IMO, the first step is having an honest conversation with yourself. Next would be to talk to your few users & friends, to try to find out if they like the app and if they would recommend it to a friend or two. As PG Says, "if you make something users love enough to tell their friends, you grow exponentially, and that will convince any investor"[1]. Note that, 'Convince any investor' here is proof of growth.
While looking for a job, don't forget to perform due diligence on the company's culture. I once accepted a job offer hastily, just to get into the company and discover the culture was 'filthy' (poor working conditions, sexual harassment, e.t.c). Glassdoor[0] does a good job at providing reviews, though I haven't seen a tool that helps you 'vet' a company's culture specifically. I think it's important to factor in company culture as you look for a team to join. Good luck with the job search!
Once upon a time I set out to just build a startup fueled by ambition. I designed and strategized, e.t.c basics of the product, but I always found it hard to find a (technical) cofounder despite talking to friends.
After learning to code and realizing how much work (& burnout) I'd have to put in before this takes off, I opted out knowing I wasn't trying to make a product users want. A proof of that was the difficulty in finding a cofounder despite having skilled enough friends.
I got into depression. As I opted out, started learning the process of creating products that actually have real users wanting. I read carefully all of PG's essays, used Headspace for meditating & focused on good diet.
The most important lesson was about fixing broken problems in your daily life. Now, I'm working on a new startup with 2 other cofounders who are actually passionate about what we're building. We have alot of feedback/subscribed users and safe to say, we're on the right track.
I guess the idea of 'think big' is just wrong. Young folks get pressured into 'making it' that they believe thinking big would solve your problems/make you great. That's what I experienced. Don't think big, focus on discovering the tiny little things - the ones broken, and fix them. That's joy enough for a Hacker.
This is brilliant and actually very useful, great work guys! In addition to GMail & the Chrome extension, I'd like to suggest a Meetingbird Slackbot, so teams can schedule meetings right from Slack. This would also help remote teams who use Slack, alot.