👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Crypto winter at Luno

Standard Chartered Kenya is about to become a tenant in its own headquarters. Business Daily reported that the lender is working through bids to sell the Westlands property while leasing back the space it still needs, another sign that many banks are deciding they don’t need to own as much real estate as they once did.

Let’s look at the key events across African tech yesterday.

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There was a time when crypto exchanges were obsessed with getting everyone to buy Bitcoin. Luno is still very much in the retail trading business, but it is trying to build additional revenue streams beyond individual crypto traders; its staff is the price to pay for that restructuring.

What happened? Luno, the UK-headquartered crypto firm operating a regional base in South Africa, is cutting 20% of its global workforce as it reorganises the company. According to local publication TechCentral, part of Luno’s South African team was affected.

Why now? The company said it is restructuring after investing heavily in automation, and wants to build products and infrastructure for banks and other large businesses.

Explain like I’m five: Luno makes money every time people buy or sell crypto on its platform. When Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are rising, excitement pulls more people into the market and trading volumes climb, but when prices fall, most people fold their hands. So, no trading.

Luno pointed to that as its reason for the cuts. Bitcoin slipped below $59,000 in June, its lowest level since September 2024, while Ethereum, Solana, XRP and Dogecoin all posted steeper weekly declines. Those price drops tend to reduce trading activity, making it harder for exchanges that depend on transactions.

Not the first time: In 2023, after Bitcoin crashed from nearly $69,000 to below $17,000, the company cut 35% of its workforce during the crypto winter. This time might be different, though. The 2023 layoffs were about surviving a market crash, while the 2026 layoffs are about changing the business itself.

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Airtel Money Kenya, the mobile money challenger to Safaricom’s M-PESA, is undergoing an important leadership transition as the broader Airtel Money business, which operates in 14 African markets, prepares for its anticipated London public listing this year.

The mobile money operator, owned by the telco Airtel, has appointed Bonke Michael as its acting managing director, three days after former boss Anne Kinuthia-Otieno resigned from the role.

What happened? Airtel Money Kenya has promoted Michael to acting managing director after nearly a decade at the company. The appointment comes at the moment Airtel Money is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) later this year.

Between the lines: Under Anne Kinuthia-Otieno, the company’s total income rose to KES 1.68 billion ($12 million) in 2025 from KES 1.09 billion ($8.4 million) a year earlier, while profit after tax nearly doubled to KES 143 million ($1.1 million). Michael will now have to prove those gains weren’t a one-off and keep Airtel Money growing as it heads towards a London IPO.

The bigger picture: This appointment says as much about Airtel’s IPO strategy. When Kinuthia-Otieno took over in 2021, Airtel Money controlled just 3.1% of Kenya’s mobile money market. By March 2026, that figure grew to 10.9%, while market leader M-PESA’s share fell from 96.8% to 89.1%. Kenya now has 53.4 million active mobile money subscriptions.

Zoom out: Airtel Money Kenya likely also chose a veteran in the role because, with its upcoming IPO plans, it needs someone with institutional memory who can help steer the process in the near term. The mobile money operator is seeking a $10 billion valuation, hoping to convince global investors that it is building an investable business. Winning investor confidence will be Michael’s biggest test in the role.

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If you paid for a DStv subscription in the last ten months, congratulations, you’re a part of the company’s growth numbers. Ten months after taking over MultiChoice, Canal+, the French media giant, has posted numbers that suggest its turnaround is working. Subscriber acquisition across MultiChoice markets rose 40% year-on-year, while adjusted operating profit surged 160% to €143 million ($162 million). In South Africa, June just recorded the strongest month for new subscriber acquisitions in a decade.

What else? On content, the French owner is doubling down on live sport: MultiChoice’s one category that still commands reliable paying audiences. It has locked in long-term rights to South Africa’s Premier Soccer League and the 2027 Men’s and 2029 Women’s Rugby World Cups. In April, it discontinued Showmax as a standalone business, folding its streaming ambitions into a simpler portfolio.

Zoom out: Financially, the Canal+ acquisition is paying off. The company has achieved roughly half of its €250 million ($284 million) annual synergy target—the cost savings and revenue boosts expected from combining the two businesses, with MultiChoice operations contributing €120 million ($136 million) in profit improvements during the first half. For now, though, Canal+ isn’t trying to reinvent pay-TV as a streaming clone. It’s making satellite cheaper to access, offering a no-hardware streaming option for those who want it, and betting that live sport will keep both audiences paying.

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Kenya has published a draft national AI policy, open for public consultation until August 4, that proposes formal labour protections for the people behind the algorithms, content moderators, data annotators and AI quality evaluators.

What happened? The draft policy, released on July 21, comes after years of documented exploitation in the sector, including the long-running controversies around content moderation work in Kenya, where companies such as Sama have faced allegations and legal challenges related to working conditions, psychological harm, and labour practices.