honestly still amazed Binance folded. they're huge, they could've pushed back. instead they walked.

NBE isn't wrong to act. the heavy P2P volume is mostly laundering, that needs cleaning up. freelancers are a smaller piece, and once the legal framework lands they'll get folded in through taxation, fair enough.

the real issue is sequencing. don't shut the off-ramp before the on-ramp exists. open the legal channels first, then enforce.

What i think will happen:
- USDT in birr dips while everyone panic-dumps before the deadline
- then it spikes once liquidity dries up post-May 15
- people rotate to OKX and whatever else still takes ETB
- those get shut too eventually

what to watch: the "comprehensive regulatory framework" NBE promised in February. licensed local exchanges plus a real taxation plan. just capital controls, parallel market goes deeper underground.

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A2SV is shutting down today.

after 7 years bridging african talent to silicon valley, the funding ran out.

emre built this from zero. came to africa for a 3-month training trip and stayed 7 years. no profit motive, no salary, kept the lights on with his own savings when google cut funding. sold his pre-ipo stock at half price to push the mission another year.

i learned from emre. the energy this man carries transmits to anyone who talks to him. the mission was never about money, it was a belief that african talent just needed access. for ethiopians, this was the eye opener. as an a2svian, this one hurts.

it's not fully over. emre said if real funding shows up in the next few days, the mission continues. if you have money, donate. if you don't, get this in front of someone who does.

see the full video here: youtube.com/watch?v=qbN-6Ne1B2c

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A2SV by the numbers (from the video).

7 years. one founder. one mission. all the receipts from emre's closing call.

reach
- 1,380+ lives touched
- 22 african countries
- 8,500+ people through hackathons
- 600+ universities from 48 african countries in the a2sv ai hackathon (largest student tech competition on the continent)

outcomes
- 126 top tech offers, and counting
- 90+ engineers placed globally
- 21 companies actively hiring a2sv alumni
- 44 offers from google, 27 from bloomberg, 22 from amazon

products incubated (20+ total)
- afrochat: 3,000+ users
- adbar: 300+ executive mothers on the platform
- skillbridge: full curriculum for the rwandan national exam, 74-day learning paths
- rateit: 111 kigali restaurants, full menus, ai-powered search
- akil: job board, built by alumni for alumni
- escalad: a2sv talent placed in remote roles abroad

rwanda chapter (aug 2025 to may 2026)
- 2 partner universities: auca + university of rwanda
- 33 active students at auca
- 4,600+ problems solved
- 6-month operational budget, fully exhausted

the financials
- google pledged $4M, delivered $3M (cut short after the chatgpt squeeze inside google)
- emre started self-funding sep 2024 from his silicon valley savings
- sold pre-ipo unicorn stock at half price to keep operations alive in rwanda
- last reported bank balance: ~$4k · monthly rent: $15k · salaries: $30k

7 years. one belief: african talent doesn't need permission, just access.

> the talent was everywhere. the funding wasn't.

see the full video here: youtube.com/watch?v=qbN-6Ne1B2c

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Replit is free for 24 hours! Go build something!

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Claude finally works in Ethiopia

no VPN. no workarounds. Claude Code, desktop, and web - all of it.

If you aren't subscribed yet, the free plan includes:

> chat on web, iOS, Android, and desktop
> generate code and visualize data
> connect Slack and Google Workspace
> extended thinking for complex problems
> built-in web search

and see how good it is ...

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whatsapp just discovered usernames. in 2026.

global rollout in june. you pick a handle and hide your phone number behind it. theres also a 4-digit pin so randoms cant DM you cold.

reminder: telegram has had this since 2014. discord since forever. meta really took 12 years to ship a feature that was already old when the iphone 5 was new.

heads up for builders though: this breaks some lead-gen flows. if a user hides their number, businesses get a "business-scoped user id" instead of a real phone number. nothing to push into your CRM, no SMS follow-up, no whatsapp-to-call funnel. worth auditing your stack before june.

> source: WhatsApp, Twililo

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Ablaze Labs is hiring

hiring for several tech roles.

> pay is solid compared to most local companies, good reputation and real opportunity. highly recommend.

tech roles:
- Technical Lead
- Software Architect
- Frontend Engineer
- Backend Engineer
- Product Owner


apply via email: Rebka@ablazelabs.com or Genet@ablazelabs.com
telegram: @Ablaze_Labs

> source: Linkedin - rebka ephrem

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Make Claude Code Ping You When It Finishes

you keep tabbing back to claude code to check if it's done. set this up once and never do that again. helpful if you're juggling multiple projects or get distracted by other stuff on your pc.

paste the prompt below into any claude code session. it edits your global ~/.claude/settings.json so every project plays a sound and shows a native OS notification when claude finishes a turn or needs your input.

Add two global hooks to my ~/.claude/settings.json so I get a sound and a native OS notification when you finish a turn or need my attention.

First detect my OS, then pick the right commands:
- macOS: afplay for sound, osascript "display notification" for the banner.
- Linux: paplay (or aplay) for sound, notify-send for the banner.
- Windows/WSL: PowerShell for sound and a toast notification.

Read ~/.claude/settings.json, then merge two entries into the existing "hooks" block without overwriting anything else:

1. A "Stop" hook with matcher "*" that plays a "done" sound and shows a "Claude finished responding" notification.
2. A "Notification" hook with matcher "*" that plays a different sound and shows a "Claude needs your attention" notification.

Pick two distinct sounds so I can tell them apart by ear. Set timeout 5 on each. Validate the JSON after saving. Then run each command once so I can confirm sound and notification both work on my machine.

> Pick two different sounds. Within a day you'll tell them apart without looking at the screen.

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Safer YOLO mode for claude code

ask-permission and auto-accept modes are babysitting. you click "approve" too many times per session. so most devs switch to YOLO mode (`--dangerously-skip-permissions`). it's my go-to. but as the name suggests, it's dangerous.

so do this instead:

claude code evaluates every tool call in this order:

hooks → deny → mode → allow → canUseTool

bypassPermissions (`--dangerously-skip-permissions`) auto-approves at the mode step. but deny runs BEFORE that. so deny rules still block even in YOLO mode.

block dangerous commands like this:

- rm -rf and its variants
- find with -delete or -exec rm
- git reset --hard
- git clean -fd / -fx
- git push --force, -f, --force-with-lease
- git branch -D
- docker rm, rmi, system prune, volume rm/prune
- kubectl delete
- sudo

> to set it up, paste the prompt i left in the comments into any claude code session.

restart claude code, run /permissions, open the Deny tab. you should see 19 rules. test it by asking claude to run sudo ls.

use --dangerously-skip-permissions mode. safer now.

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Next.js had to patch the patch - May 2026

next.js had a 13-CVE security drop on may 6, then patched the patch on may 7.

the first turbopack fix didn't apply to middleware.ts`/`proxy.ts, so anyone who updated once and stopped is still vulnerable.

actual fixed versions: 15.5.18 and 16.2.6. not 15.5.16 / 16.2.5.

what's in the release:
- SSRF via websocket upgrades, CVSS 8.6
- middleware bypass via dynamic route params, CVSS 8.1
- pages router i18n middleware bypass, CVSS 7.5
- DoS in the react flight protocol itself, CVSS 7.5
- plus cache poisoning in RSC responses and XSS in CSP-nonce apps

spent yesterday patching my vps boxes. the ones on Vercel auto-patched both rounds.

been defending the concept of bringing the backend to the frontend. backend security guys are out here going "and this is why we don't let frontend devs touch the server."

putting all new clients on Vercel from now on.

> if you are running next.js on a vps, even old projects you don't touch anymore, update them.

Source: vercel.com/changelog/next-js-may-2026-security-release

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