Business
Market Closure: Traders Adopt Survival Strategy
As markets in Rivers State remain closed due to lockdown occasioned by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, traders in the state have devised another strategy for survival.
The Tide learnt that many traders now transact their businesses in the early hours of the day to avoid being tracked by security agents.
The Tide’s investigation revealed that trading and business transactions in many parts of the state such as Rumuokoro and Rumuosi commence as early as 4.00am, and terminate before 6.00am everyday.
A petty trader who operates in Rumuosi, but patronises the Rumuokoro market, told The Tide under condition of anonymity that she used to wake up from bed every 3.00am to prepare for market who she said usually begins by 4am.
According to her, any day she got late to the market, she would not find things easy to buy, as a lot of transactions may have been carried out before her arrival.
Also speaking to our correspondent on the issue, Mr Chidi Obasi who trades on wears at Rumuokoro, said the early morning market favours those that trade on foodstuff, as people’s attention are now more on what they will eat.
“At 4.30 am, the market is already full of transactions, and before the day breaks, people have finished their business transactions, and that is why it is early morning market “, he said.
It was learnt that many petty traders within Rumuokoro and Obio Akpor area patronize the Rumuokoro morning market to refill their foodstuffs shops.
Many of these traders are always seen on daily basis at bus stops between 6.00 and 7.00am returning from market with their goods for resale to their customers within their areas.
By: Corlins Walter
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
