MARA, a Pan-African crypto exchange has announced $23 million in funding from Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research (FTX), Distributed Global, TQ Ventures, DIGITAL, Nexo, Huobi Ventures, Day One Ventures, Infinite Capital, DAO Jones, and nearly 100 other crypto investors, and angels including Amit Bhatia and Hamad Alhoimaizi.
It also announced a partnership with the Central African Republic, which just passed a bill legalizing Bitcoin as legal tender. With this partnership, MARA will become the official crypto partner of the Central African Republic and an advisor to the President on crypto strategy and planning.
MARA’s mission is to become the portal to the crypto economy for the African population.
The MARA suite of products which addresses a variety of essential crypto-finance needs while complying with extant local regulations include:
MARA Wallet – a brokerage app to enable users without prior crypto knowledge to buy, send, sell and withdraw both fiat and crypto-assets instantly.
Pro-Exchange – a full-featured cryptocurrency platform for experienced users.
MARA Chain – a layer-1 blockchain, powered by the native MARA token, that gives savvy developers a place to build decentralized applications.
The MARA executive team is led by Chi Nnadi, Lucas Llinás Múnera, Dearg OBartuin, and Kate Kallot, and is joined by board advisors Kojo Annan and Tatiana Koffman.
According to Chi Nnadi, Co-founder/CEO of MARA, “Our goal is to close the gap in opportunities for Sub-Saharan individuals and establish a financial infrastructure that they can build their lives upon.”
