Cryptocurrency is currently enjoying a meteoric rise all across the world, with over 20% of crypto assets worldwide being held in China, more Americans than ever trading thanks to Super Bowl commercials and celebrity endorsements, and Vietnam having the highest per capita trade volume of Bitcoin in the world. With the other continents experiencing massive crypto growth over the past few years, is crypto set to soar in Africa in 2022? The answer may surprise you.
In September of 2021, African crypto users living below the Sahara Desert held over $80 million in crypto, which represented a 20% increase over the previous month. Shockingly enough, that number was actually higher than the corresponding number in the United States. It may be hard to believe, but it is true.
The Chain Analysis data platform stated, “Not only has Africa’s cryptocurrency market grown over 1,200% by value received in the past year, but the region also has some of the highest grassroots adoptions in the world, with Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Tanzania all ranking in the top 20 of our Global Crypto Adoption Index.”
With over 50 countries on the African mainland and over 40 currencies being used, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies allow users to send money and conduct transactions in a shared currency, which eliminates the need for expensive bank transfers that can be difficult to obtain in more remote regions.
African governments have had a mixed response to the increasing growth of crypto. Kenya, in line with longstanding monetary policy in the country, has taken a strict hands-off approach and does not appear to be interested in regulating crypto at all at the current time. Nigeria, on the other hand, has taken the opposite approach and issued a strict ban in February 2021, as was expected under President Buhari’s regime.
Despite that ban, however, organizers of the #EndSARS campaign against police brutality reportedly used cryptocurrency to coordinate the campaign. Despite the public ban, it is theorized that many Nigerians maintain at least a casual investment in Bitcoin, as a potential hedge against the failing Naira, whose value against the United States Dollar has fallen in half over the past few years, in contrast to rising crypto. For the current prices of Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Algo, and other cryptocurrencies, please visit okx.com.
Perhaps one of the biggest crypto hubs on the continent is South Africa, whose government and people have fully embraced the blockchain-based technology.
In some months, over $100 million in crypto transactions took place every day in the country, where it is recognized by the government as an excellent investment vehicle and is taxed, just as any other investment would be.
With all of this information, it is relatively safe to conclude that cryptocurrency will continue its meteoric rise in Africa as well as other countries around the world.
The ease of peer-to-peer money transfers between citizens of countries with different monetary units and more countries begin accepting cryptocurrency as the wave of the future can only mean that cryptocurrencies will be a huge part of African culture for years to come.
By Staff Writer.
