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25 Aug 2026
Bank of England holds rates

Bank of England Holds Rates at 3.75% in Hawkish Vote

Categories Business

The Bank of England has left borrowing costs unchanged for a fifth straight meeting, but the vote behind the decision was closer than the headline suggests. On July 30, 2026, the Bank of England holds rates decision kept Bank Rate at 3.75%, with the Monetary Policy Committee voting 6-3 rather than showing the broader consensus policymakers had signaled earlier in the year.

Why the Bank of England holds rates but the vote was hawkish

Bank of England holds rates

Three committee members, Huw Pill, Megan Greene and Catherine Mann, voted to raise rates to 4%, citing concern that higher energy prices could feed into more persistent inflation, according to Fortune. That marks a shift from earlier in the year, when only two members favored a hike. Analysts have described the outcome as a “hawkish hold” — rates stayed flat, but the internal debate moved toward tightening rather than away from it.

What’s driving the inflation concern

UK inflation ran at 2.6% in June 2026, comfortably above the Bank’s 2% target, according to US News. A bigger-than-expected drop in the prior month’s inflation reading gave the committee some breathing room, but policymakers are watching energy markets closely following renewed fighting involving Iran, which has pushed oil prices higher and threatens to filter through to UK household bills. The escalating US pressure campaign against Tehran, detailed in our coverage of the new Iran economic pressure campaign, adds another layer of uncertainty for energy-importing economies like the UK, since further disruption to Iranian exports could keep crude prices elevated well into the autumn.

Mortgage lenders and business groups have urged the Bank to avoid an abrupt policy reversal, warning that a rate increase now, on top of already-high borrowing costs, could tip parts of the UK economy into a sharper slowdown. Retailers in particular have flagged that a weaker consumer, squeezed by both higher prices and higher borrowing costs, would struggle to absorb a further tightening of monetary policy heading into the winter months.

How this compares with other central banks

The Bank of England’s cautious stance mirrors the US Federal Reserve, which also held its policy rate steady in July while leaving the door open to a move in September, as we covered in our report on the Fed’s rate hold. Both institutions are wrestling with the same problem: inflation that has proven stickier than expected even as growth slows, complicated further by geopolitical risk to energy supplies stemming from tensions in the Gulf.

What the Bank of England watches next

The Bank of England’s next rate decision is scheduled for September 17, 2026, and markets will be watching whether the hawkish tilt in July’s vote turns into an actual rate increase. Much depends on where oil prices settle and whether the UK’s inflation data continues to surprise to the downside. A move higher would raise borrowing costs for mortgage holders and businesses just as the UK economy is already showing signs of strain.

Money markets are currently pricing in only a modest probability of a September hike, but that could shift quickly if August inflation data, due in the weeks ahead, comes in hotter than expected. Economists at several major UK banks have already revised their year-end rate forecasts upward following the hawkish vote split, while housing market analysts warn that even a single quarter-point increase could meaningfully slow mortgage approvals heading into 2027.

Bank of England rate hold: frequently asked questions

What rate did the Bank of England set in July 2026?
The Bank of England holds rates at 3.75%, unchanged for a fifth consecutive meeting.

Why was the vote considered hawkish?
Three of nine committee members voted for a rate increase to 4%, up from two members at the previous meeting, signaling growing concern about inflation.

What is the UK’s current inflation rate?
UK CPI inflation stood at 2.6% in June 2026, above the Bank of England’s 2% target.

When is the next Bank of England rate decision?
The next scheduled decision is September 17, 2026.

Why are oil prices affecting the UK rate decision?
Renewed fighting involving Iran has pushed global oil prices higher, raising concerns that energy costs could keep UK inflation elevated.

How does this compare with the US Federal Reserve?
Both central banks held rates steady in July while signaling they could still move in September, reflecting similar concerns about sticky inflation.

25 Aug 2026
Evergrande founder life sentence

Evergrande Founder Hui Ka Yan Sentenced to Life in Prison

Categories Business, World

The founder of what was once the world’s most indebted property developer has been sentenced to life in prison. A court in Shenzhen convicted Hui Ka Yan, also known as Xu Jiayin, on eight charges tied to the collapse of China Evergrande Group, closing out one of the most dramatic corporate falls in modern Chinese history. The Evergrande founder life sentence also came with a lifetime deprivation of political rights and more than $2.3 billion in fines against the companies involved.

What led to the Evergrande founder life sentence

Evergrande founder life sentence

Hui, 67, was convicted of misuse of funds, fundraising fraud, illegally taking public deposits, illegally extending loans, fraudulently issuing securities and bribery, according to Bloomberg. Prosecutors said Evergrande inflated its assets and concealed liabilities that ultimately exceeded $300 billion, deceiving investors, homebuyers and creditors for years before the company defaulted in 2021.

Once ranked among Asia’s wealthiest people, Hui built Evergrande into a symbol of China’s decades-long property boom, only to watch it become the poster child for the sector’s unraveling, according to CNN. The court in Shenzhen handed down the verdict after a multi-year investigation that traced how Evergrande’s books were manipulated for years before regulators and creditors caught up with the scale of the shortfall, and the case has been closely watched as a test of how far Beijing is willing to go in punishing executives at politically connected, systemically important firms.

What the ruling signals about China’s property crackdown

Beijing has used the Evergrande case to signal that it will hold developer executives personally accountable for the debt crisis that has weighed on China’s economy since 2021. The life sentence is among the harshest handed to a business figure in China in recent years and follows a broader pattern of regulators tightening oversight of corporate financial disclosures, echoing themes we’ve covered in the rise of AI infrastructure debt in bond markets, where analysts are already asking whether today’s financing booms carry similar risks.

What it means for creditors and homebuyers

The criminal case does not resolve Evergrande’s sprawling restructuring, which still leaves creditors and buyers of unfinished homes seeking recovery. Analysts say the sentencing may add pressure on remaining Evergrande-linked entities to settle outstanding claims, but the more than $300 billion liability gap means most creditors are unlikely to be made whole. Global investors have watched the case closely as a bellwether for how China treats corporate accountability during economic slowdowns, a factor that also shapes sentiment around interest-rate decisions such as the Federal Reserve’s recent rate hold. Homebuyers who paid deposits on unfinished Evergrande developments, many of whom have waited years for delivery, remain among the most exposed group, with local governments in China continuing to manage stalled projects on a case-by-case basis.

What comes next for Evergrande’s creditors

Hui is expected to appeal, though legal experts say reversing a sentence of this severity in China’s court system is rare. Evergrande’s remaining assets continue to be liquidated under court supervision, and regulators are expected to keep scrutinizing other major developers still working through their own debt restructurings. The case is likely to remain a reference point in China’s broader effort to stabilize its property sector.

Property analysts expect Beijing to continue pairing high-profile prosecutions with quieter support measures aimed at completing stalled housing projects, since the political risk of leaving hundreds of thousands of prepaid homebuyers without delivered apartments outweighs the benefit of purely punitive action. International investors holding Evergrande-linked offshore debt, much of which has traded at steep discounts since the 2021 default, are unlikely to see meaningful recovery from the criminal proceedings themselves, though some hope the case closure could finally unlock movement on long-stalled asset sales.

Evergrande sentencing: frequently asked questions

Who is Hui Ka Yan?
Hui Ka Yan, also known as Xu Jiayin, founded China Evergrande Group and was once one of Asia’s richest people before the company’s 2021 default.

What was the Evergrande founder life sentence based on?
Hui was convicted on eight charges including fundraising fraud, illegally taking public deposits, illegally extending loans and bribery.

How much did Evergrande owe when it collapsed?
Evergrande’s liabilities exceeded $300 billion at the time of its 2021 default.

Were fines issued alongside the prison sentence?
Yes, the companies involved were fined more than $2.3 billion for financial crimes including inflating assets and concealing liabilities.

Can Hui appeal the sentence?
He is expected to appeal, though legal experts consider it unlikely a sentence of this severity would be overturned.

Does the sentencing resolve Evergrande’s debt restructuring?
No. The criminal case is separate from the company’s ongoing liquidation and restructuring process, which continues to affect creditors and homebuyers.

24 Aug 2026
Silicon wafer in semiconductor manufacturing, the capacity being financed by AI infrastructure debt

AI Infrastructure Debt Balloons as Chipmakers Turn to Bond Markets

Categories Business

AI infrastructure debt has become the default way to pay for the computing build-out, and August 2026 made the shift hard to miss. AMD priced the largest bond sale in its history. Broadcom entered talks for a financing package that people familiar with the discussions put at between 60 and 100 billion dollars. Nvidia announced arrangements with six of the world’s biggest banks and asset managers to mobilise more than 500 billion dollars of third-party capital. Taken together, the month marked the point at which chipmakers stopped funding AI capacity mainly out of retained earnings and started funding it in credit markets.

That change of funding source is not a technicality. It alters who bears the risk if demand for AI computing arrives later or smaller than the spending assumes.

How AI infrastructure debt became the default funding tool

For most of the past decade the largest technology companies were asset-light. Software and scalable cloud services required modest capital investment relative to the cash they generated, and buybacks rather than bond issues were the story investors followed.

Moody’s describes the current period as a transition from asset-light to asset-heavy models requiring unprecedented capital raising, and projects capital expenditure across the group reaching about 785 billion dollars in 2026 and approaching a trillion dollars in 2027.

Cash flow, however strong, does not stretch that far on that timetable, so the money is coming from bond markets. S&P Global counted 225 billion dollars of bonds issued by hyperscalers and related entities including Nvidia in the first half of 2026, a rise of roughly 974 percent, and put the group on pace for about 400 billion dollars across the full year.

S&P also flagged signs of indigestion: issuers are paying a wider premium over risk-free yields, and market participants are growing wary of quickly rising leverage from companies previously known for reliable cash flow.

The deals that reset the scale of borrowing

AMD priced 4.75 billion dollars of investment-grade notes on 13 August 2026, its largest dollar bond offering, across four tranches with maturities from three to ten years. It was more than triple the 1.5 billion dollars the company raised in March 2025. AMD has said the proceeds are for general corporate purposes, which may include repaying existing debt, rather than earmarking them for AI projects.

Broadcom’s financing is larger and less settled. Bloomberg reported on 20 August that the company was in talks with lenders to raise more than 60 billion dollars for an AI chip deal serving Anthropic and other customers, with Blackstone and Apollo among the asset managers involved. CNBC reported the next day that the package was expected to reach upwards of 70 billion dollars, with accounts of a junior tranche taking the total towards 100 billion. The figures come from people familiar with the talks; terms are not final.

Nvidia’s approach is different again. On 10 August the company announced memorandums of understanding with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR to establish compute financing platforms intended to mobilise more than 500 billion dollars of third-party capital over time. This is Nvidia’s own description of arrangements still subject to final agreements. If executed, they would channel institutional capital towards buyers of Nvidia hardware rather than onto Nvidia’s own balance sheet.

Foundry spending follows the same logic. TSMC issued 18.4 billion New Taiwan dollars of unsecured domestic bonds in May 2026, against board-approved capital appropriations of about 21 billion dollars for advanced machinery and capacity.

Financial market trading screens tracking the bond issuance behind AI infrastructure debt

Where the risk sits

Three features of this wave concern analysts more than the headline totals.

The first is what does not appear as debt. A study by Nikkei found that so-called hidden debt at five large US technology companies has grown roughly eightfold in four years to 1.65 trillion dollars, exceeding the 1.35 trillion dollars sitting on their balance sheets. These are long-term purchase commitments for chips and servers, and leases with data centre operators. They are legitimate under accounting rules and usually disclosed in the notes to financial statements, and much will convert into recognised obligations as facilities open. Moody’s separately put such arrangements at about 1.2 trillion dollars, more than 820 billion of it tied to data centres still under construction.

The second is circularity. Moody’s has pointed to a loop in which large technology firms invest billions in AI labs that then spend heavily on cloud computing from those same investors, so reported backlogs partly reflect capital the seller supplied. The Bank for International Settlements named opaque circular financing, alongside an AI capital spending bust and sovereign debt fragility, among the pressures identified in its 2026 annual economic report.

The third is crowding. Borrowing on this scale competes with government issuance at a moment when the US federal deficit is heading towards roughly two trillion dollars and the Federal Reserve is no longer a large buyer of Treasuries. RSM chief economist Joseph Brusuelas wrote in July that demand for both kinds of debt remains strong, “yet that will not endure indefinitely,” and that “at some point, the rivers of capital financing private and government debt issuance will flow less freely.”

None of this amounts to a distress call. Moody’s has been explicit that hyperscalers still hold some of the most robust balance sheets in the corporate world and that their investment-grade ratings face no imminent risk. The change is in the shape of the exposure, not its immediate severity.

What comes next for lenders and investors

The mechanical difference between funding capacity from earnings and funding it with borrowings is timing. Retained earnings absorb a disappointing year quietly: spending slows, and nothing is owed. Debt offers no such flexibility. Coupons and maturities fall due on fixed dates whether or not the servers financed are earning their keep.

Depreciation is a second pressure. The useful-life assumptions applied to AI accelerators are a live debate, and shorter lives mean higher charges against earnings just as interest costs rise.

Watch three things over the coming quarters. Spreads on new technology issuance show whether investor appetite is holding. Quarterly filings show how fast purchase commitments and leases convert into recognised liabilities. And the terms emerging from the Broadcom and Nvidia structures will decide whether compute-backed lending becomes a standing asset class.

Further down the chain, the shift is felt as pricing: financing costs embedded in compute contracts eventually reach the businesses renting capacity, a consideration for firms weighing where to base operations, a theme examined in our guide to UAE free zone and mainland business structures. The spread of AI tools into everyday operations, covered in our reporting on AI customer support for small businesses, is what the borrowing is ultimately meant to serve.

Key questions about the borrowing wave

How much have chipmakers and hyperscalers borrowed for AI in 2026?

S&P Global counted 225 billion dollars of bonds issued by hyperscalers and related entities including Nvidia in the first half of 2026, and put the sector on pace for about 400 billion dollars for the full year.

What was AMD’s August bond sale?

AMD priced 4.75 billion dollars of investment-grade notes on 13 August 2026 across four tranches, its largest dollar bond offering and more than triple the 1.5 billion dollars raised in March 2025. AMD said proceeds are for general corporate purposes.

What is meant by hidden or off-balance-sheet AI debt?

Obligations that do not appear as debt on a balance sheet, such as long-term purchase commitments for chips and servers or leases with data centre operators. A Nikkei study put these at 1.65 trillion dollars across five large US technology firms.

Are credit ratings at risk?

Moody’s has said hyperscalers still hold some of the strongest balance sheets in the corporate world and that their investment-grade ratings are not facing imminent risk, while warning that the shift to asset-heavy models requires unprecedented capital raising.

Why does funding AI with debt change the risk?

Retained earnings absorb a downturn quietly. Debt does not. Coupons and principal fall due on fixed dates regardless of whether the capacity being financed is generating revenue, and refinancing depends on markets staying open at tolerable spreads.

For more on how financial documentation requirements are tightening globally, read our analysis of proof of funds rules in the UK, Canada and Australia.

24 Aug 2026
The Federal Reserve building in Washington, where a Federal Reserve September rate hike will be decided

Fed Holds at 3.50%-3.75% as September Rate Hike Stays Live

Categories Business

A Federal Reserve September rate hike remains firmly in play after the Federal Open Market Committee left its benchmark rate unchanged at 3.50% to 3.75% on 29 July, the fifth consecutive meeting at which it has stood pat. The decision passed on a 9-3 vote. Three policymakers dissented, each preferring an immediate quarter-point increase, and the committee’s statement pointed directly at the war in the Middle East as a source of elevated uncertainty.

The July meeting was the second chaired by Kevin Warsh, who was sworn in on 22 May 2026. Note that there was no Federal Reserve policy meeting in August; the committee’s next scheduled decision is on 16 September.

The vote, the dissents and the statement

The FOMC statement was unusually short. “The Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3-1/2 to 3-3/4 percent, in support of the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate,” it read, adding that the Fed is continuing its policy of maintaining ample reserves in the banking system.

On the economy, the committee said activity “is expanding at a solid pace despite elevated uncertainty that owes, in part, to the conflict in the Middle East”, that productivity growth and capital investment are strong, that job gains have kept pace with the workforce and that the unemployment rate has changed little.

On prices, it was direct: “Inflation remains elevated relative to the Committee’s 2 percent goal, in part reflecting supply shocks that have driven price increases in certain sectors, including energy.” The statement closed with a single sentence that markets read as a signal of intent: “The Committee will deliver price stability.”

Voting against were Beth M. Hammack of Cleveland, Neel Kashkari of Minneapolis and Lorie K. Logan of Dallas, all of whom preferred to raise the target range by a quarter of a percentage point at that meeting. Three dissents in a single direction is rare, and it is the clearest available signal that the committee’s centre of gravity has shifted towards tightening.

Why a Federal Reserve September rate hike is still live

Trading screens showing market data ahead of a possible Federal Reserve September rate hike

J.P. Morgan Wealth Management changed its base case shortly after the meeting, moving from no rate changes in 2026 to a quarter-point increase in September. Its chief investment strategist, Phil Camporeale, put it this way: “The combination of a slower-than-expected normalization of supply chains around the Strait of Hormuz and market questioning of inflation-fighting credibility after the July FOMC meeting has lowered the bar for a rate hike in September.”

The firm said on 5 August that futures pricing implied a roughly 65% chance of a September hike. It also noted that Warsh again offered limited forward guidance at his press conference, leaving markets with little to work with, and that the bond market repriced accordingly: short-term yields eased slightly after the meeting while long-term yields rose sharply, with the 30-year Treasury reaching its highest level since 2007.

The framing matters. On this reading, a September move would not be a response to an overheating economy. It would be a credibility exercise designed to keep long-run inflation expectations anchored while an external supply shock works its way through the price data.

What the inflation data shows

The most recent reading, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on 12 August, gives both camps something. The consumer price index rose 0.1% in July on a seasonally adjusted basis after falling 0.4% in June, and 3.4% over the 12 months to July, easing from 3.5% in the year to June. Core inflation, excluding food and energy, rose 0.2% on the month and 2.5% over the year.

Energy is where the conflict shows up. The energy index fell 1.5% in July, its second consecutive monthly decline, but was still 14.7% higher than a year earlier. Petrol prices were up 24.6% over 12 months and fuel oil up 39.1%. Airline fares, which track jet fuel with a lag, were 25.5% higher over the year. Shelter, the largest single component, rose 3.2%. The full release is available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In other words, the headline rate is drifting down and core inflation is close to target, but the energy shock has not cleared. That is precisely the configuration that produces a split committee: one group sees disinflation in train, the other sees a supply shock that could re-accelerate if the Strait of Hormuz stays contested.

The data that lands before the decision

Two scheduled releases will shape the September meeting. The August consumer price index is due on Friday 11 September, four days before the committee convenes. Labour market data through August will also be in hand. J.P. Morgan Wealth Management has said that a string of cooler inflation prints, or a faster easing of energy-driven pressure, could remove the need for a credibility-focused hike altogether.

The larger variable is not economic but geopolitical. Shipping through the Gulf remains disrupted, and the pace at which supply chains around the strait normalise will do more to shape US energy prices over the autumn than anything the committee says. The firm’s strategists put crude at around $80 a barrel on 3 August and set out a scenario in which prices climb towards $120 if blockades persist and reserves cannot cushion supply, a level they described as manageable for the US economy but challenging for markets.

For households and savers, the practical effect of a single quarter-point move is modest, but the direction of travel matters for anyone borrowing, saving or moving money across borders. Documentation standards for cross-border transfers have already tightened this year, as our guides to proof-of-funds requirements in the UK, Canada and Australia and to the Noones shutdown and its effect on user funds both show.

Reader questions on the Fed decision

What did the Fed decide in July 2026?

The Federal Open Market Committee voted 9-3 on 29 July 2026 to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.50% to 3.75%, the fifth consecutive meeting at which the range was left unchanged.

Who dissented, and what did they want?

Beth M. Hammack, Neel Kashkari and Lorie K. Logan voted against the decision. All three preferred to raise the target range by a quarter of a percentage point at that meeting.

When is the next Federal Reserve meeting?

The FOMC next meets on 15 and 16 September 2026, with the rate decision due on Wednesday 16 September at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time.

What is the current US inflation rate?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the consumer price index rose 0.1% in July on a seasonally adjusted basis and 3.4% over the 12 months to July, down from 3.5% in the year to June. Core inflation, excluding food and energy, was 2.5% over the year.

How is the Middle East conflict affecting the decision?

The FOMC statement said economic activity is expanding at a solid pace despite elevated uncertainty that owes, in part, to the conflict in the Middle East, and attributed part of elevated inflation to supply shocks in certain sectors including energy. Energy prices were up 14.7% over the year to July.

Who is the current Fed chair?

Kevin Warsh, who took the oath of office as chairman of the Board of Governors on 22 May 2026 and was selected unanimously by the FOMC as its chairman. July was his second meeting in the chair.

Tamara News covers central bank decisions and their effect on prices, borrowing and cross-border money. See our related business and finance reporting linked in this article.

24 Aug 2026
NoOnes shutdown leaves P2P crypto traders checking balances on a mobile platform

NoOnes Shutdown: What Happens to 2.5 Million Users’ Crypto Now

Categories Business

The NoOnes shutdown is now complete, and for some of the platform’s 2.5 million users the timing could not be worse. The peer-to-peer marketplace closed permanently at 23:59 UTC on 21 August 2026, and the company’s own advice was to withdraw every balance no later than Sunday 23 August. That date has passed.

NoOnes was heavily used across Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana, where peer-to-peer platforms have long filled the gap left by limited access to conventional international banking. Its closure removes one of the larger remaining P2P venues serving those markets, and it follows the earlier retreat of LocalBitcoins and Paxful from the same space.

Here is what happened, what it means if your money is still inside, and how to think about the migration offers now competing for former NoOnes traders.

Why NoOnes closed

This was not a commercial wind-down. NoOnes said it was affected by an EU sanctions listing, which cost it banking access and liquidity partners, and led blockchain monitoring firms to reclassify transactions associated with the platform as high risk. Once compliance providers apply that label, ordinary operations become extremely difficult: partners withdraw, payment rails close, and counterparties stop accepting flows.

The context is the European Union’s 21st sanctions package against Russia, adopted on 23 July 2026. That package extended a transaction ban to 14 crypto-related service platforms based in Georgia, Panama, the UAE, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus, alongside asset freezes on 94 banks and financial institutions.

One point deserves care. As CoinDesk reported at the time, the EU did not publicly name those 14 platforms when the package was announced. The link between the sanctions and this closure rests on NoOnes’ own account of why it is winding down, reported across the crypto trade press. We have not independently verified that NoOnes appears by name on the EU consolidated list, and readers should treat the specific listing as the company’s stated explanation rather than as confirmed public record.

The timeline, and why the dates matter

DateWhat happened
23 July 2026EU adopts 21st sanctions package, extending transaction bans to 14 unnamed crypto platforms
17 August 2026NoOnes begins winding down services
21 August 2026, 23:59 UTCP2P marketplace closes permanently, along with Swap, the Visa card, fiat off-ramps, the gift card store and Lightning payments
23 August 2026Final date NoOnes advised users to complete withdrawals

The compressed schedule is the heart of the problem. Users had roughly six days between the first wind-down notice and the closure of trading, and two more days to move remaining balances. For anyone who was travelling, had an unverified account, held a currency outside the surviving withdrawal routes, or simply did not see the notice, that window was easy to miss.

What withdrawal routes remained

By the end, NoOnes supported withdrawals only through the Bitcoin (BTC) network and Tether (USDT) on TRON. Fiat withdrawal, swaps and the gift card store were switched off with the marketplace.

That restriction matters more than it first appears. A user holding a balance in another asset needed to convert before withdrawing, but Swap had already closed. Sending USDT on the wrong network — Ethereum or BNB Chain rather than TRON — risks loss. And users whose accounts were under review or verification hold had no route at all.

If your funds are still on the platform

There is no reassuring answer here, and it would be dishonest to offer one. Once a platform ceases operations, recovery depends entirely on whether the entity continues to process claims, and on whether its own banking and blockchain access permits it to. Nobody outside the company can promise an outcome.

What is worth doing:

Document everything now. Screenshot your balance, transaction history, account ID and any correspondence, with visible dates. If a claims process opens later, or if a regulator or liquidator becomes involved, contemporaneous records are what you will need. Do this before app access degrades further.

Use only official channels. Contact NoOnes through the addresses published on its own domain and its verified social accounts. Do not respond to anyone who approaches you first.

Treat every “recovery service” as fraudulent until proven otherwise. Platform collapses reliably attract recovery scams, and they intensify in the days immediately after a deadline passes. Nobody legitimate will ask for an upfront fee, your seed phrase, your private keys, or remote access to your device in order to retrieve funds. Anyone who does is stealing from you.

Report it locally. In Nigeria that means the EFCC and, where a bank account was involved, your bank’s fraud desk. In Kenya, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations. Reports may not recover money, but they build the record that regulators act on.

NoOnes had warning signs before this

Readers deciding where to move next deserve the full history rather than only the closure notice.

In January 2025, NoOnes confirmed an $8 million exploit — but only weeks after it occurred, and only after the on-chain investigator ZachXBT had publicly identified it. Users had also reported locked accounts and unresolved withdrawal delays over an extended period before the shutdown.

The platform was founded by Ray Youssef, previously chief executive of Paxful, who later ceased to be CEO of NoOnes. Paxful itself had publicly distanced itself from the venture in 2024.

None of this caused the sanctions problem. It is relevant for a different reason: delayed disclosure of a major loss is a governance signal, and governance is exactly what you are assessing when you choose the next place to keep your money.

Assessing the migration offers

Competing platforms moved quickly to court 2.5 million displaced users, and several are running incentive campaigns aimed specifically at former NoOnes traders. CoinCola has an active promotion for new Nigerian users and is among the platforms publishing migration guidance. Others serving the same corridors include Binance P2P, Bybit P2P, Yellow Card and Busha.

Tamara News is not affiliated with any of them, was not paid for this article, and does not endorse any platform. Two points are worth making plainly.

First, a sign-up bonus is not a safety assessment. The incentive tells you a platform wants market share. It tells you nothing about its licensing, reserves, governance or resilience. NoOnes ran promotions too.

Second, the lesson of this closure is concentration risk. Users lost access because a balance sat on a single third-party platform that failed suddenly for reasons entirely outside their control and impossible to predict. Moving the whole balance from one such platform to another reproduces the exact exposure. Holding only what you are actively trading, and withdrawing the rest to a wallet you control, is the structural response.

Moving from NoOnes to CoinCola: what to check first

CoinCola has published migration guidance aimed directly at NoOnes users, including a wind-down explainer and a NoOnes alternative page describing how to match an asset and network to a CoinCola deposit route. Those pages are CoinCola’s own marketing. Read them for the mechanics, not for a verdict on whether the platform suits you.

Before moving a balance anywhere, check four things yourself.

  • Network match. NoOnes withdrawals narrowed to Bitcoin and USDT on TRON. Confirm the destination accepts that exact network. A USDT transfer sent on the wrong chain is usually unrecoverable.
  • Corridor liquidity. A platform can look busy globally and still be thin in your currency pair. Check live order depth for your own corridor before you commit.
  • Withdrawal limits and verification. Find out what identity tier you need before depositing, not after. Funds you cannot withdraw are not funds you control.
  • Regulatory footing. Sanctions closed NoOnes, not insolvency. Ask which jurisdictions a platform operates under and what exposure that carries.

We covered CoinCola’s current promotion for new Nigerian users separately. Treat that as a marketing offer, and keep it out of the safety question entirely.

What happens next

NoOnes has given no public indication of a claims process for users who missed the deadline. Whether one emerges may depend on the entity’s own status under the sanctions regime, which remains unclear from public sources.

The broader trend is not reassuring for P2P users in Africa. More than 120 crypto projects shut down during 2026, according to RootData. With LocalBitcoins gone, Paxful diminished and NoOnes closed, the number of established venues serving Nigerian, Kenyan and Ghanaian traders continues to narrow — and each closure concentrates more users onto fewer platforms.

Frequently asked questions

Is NoOnes gone permanently?

The P2P marketplace closed permanently at 23:59 UTC on 21 August 2026, together with Swap, the Visa card, fiat off-ramps, the gift card store and Lightning payments. The company has described this as a wind-down rather than a temporary suspension.

Can I still withdraw from NoOnes after 23 August 2026?

NoOnes advised users to complete withdrawals no later than 23 August 2026 and has not publicly confirmed what access remains afterwards. If you still hold a balance, contact NoOnes through its official channels immediately and document your holdings with dated screenshots.

Why was NoOnes sanctioned?

NoOnes attributed its wind-down to an EU sanctions listing that severed banking access and liquidity partnerships and caused compliance firms to flag its transactions as high risk. The EU’s 21st package, adopted 23 July 2026, extended transaction bans to 14 crypto platforms which were not publicly named at announcement. NoOnes’ inclusion rests on the company’s own statement rather than confirmed public record.

Which withdrawal networks did NoOnes support at the end?

Only the Bitcoin (BTC) network and Tether (USDT) on the TRON network. Sending USDT on any other network risked loss.

Is it safe to move to another P2P platform?

Every custodial platform carries the risk that you lose access for reasons outside your control. Check licensing in your jurisdiction, the platform’s disclosure history, and its escrow and dispute processes. Treat sign-up bonuses as marketing rather than evidence of safety, and avoid holding more on any platform than you are actively trading.

How do I avoid recovery scams after an exchange closes?

Assume anyone who contacts you offering to recover funds is a fraudster. No legitimate party requires an upfront fee, your seed phrase, your private keys or remote access to your device. Initiate contact yourself through the platform’s official domain, and report approaches to your national authority.

Is CoinCola a good NoOnes alternative?

CoinCola is one of several platforms serving the same corridors, alongside Binance P2P, Bybit P2P, Yellow Card and Busha, and it has published migration guidance for NoOnes users. Tamara News does not endorse any of them. Judge a replacement on network support, liquidity in your own currency pair, withdrawal limits and regulatory footing, not on which one advertised hardest during the wind-down.

Tamara News is not affiliated with NoOnes, CoinCola or any platform named in this article, and was not paid to publish it. This is reporting, not financial advice. Cryptoasset trading is high risk, prices are volatile, and cryptoassets are largely unregulated in many markets, which may leave you without recourse. Verify current terms and platform status directly before acting.

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