Nigeria leads sub-Saharan Africa’s P2P bitcoin trade

[Emitdama]

It is evident with the speed of Nigeria youths getting more attracted on online businesses, bitcoin trading is one sure angle to look into for investment with the rate of volatility. Nigeria is therefore increasing in bitcoin popularity which P2P is relied on heavily for transaction because of the CBN on accounts connected to banks and cryptocurrency exchanges. This is having more positive outlook for the bitcoin crypto economy.

In a case like this the government are the ones that are losing and not the people. They might think that they have won, but now they will be surprised how everything has turned out. Their intention was to stop the people from making use of cryptocurrency, and they ended being the foolish ones in this case.

I have seen this news before, and this happened immediately they banned cryptocurrency, people started rushing into P2P platforms, such as Paxful which recorded high number of traders coming from Nigeria to trade on their platform. This is the same thing that will happen in other countries where the government decides to ban cryptocurrencies, people will switch immediately to P2P.

[fiulpro]

This is a clear example of what we usually say about authoritarian Governments trying to ban cryptocurrencies: that it ends up useless to try to stem the tide.

BTW, does anybody know which African country has more P2P bitcoin trade than Nigeria? as title says sub-Saharan, it implies that there may be some other countries from other regions in Africa where this kind of trade is even more common?

The funny thing is that the government made it harder for them to even try and track the people, with p2p it's always too hard to get locations and at the same time they can also do it internationally with the Nigerians living outside the country, which I have seen personally. So the government indirectly made sure that people use Bitcoins independently and don't rely on any third party apps too. So therefore I do think in few years the government might have to try and reincorporate the bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies because banning is clearly not working out for them in a healthy way. Let's see how long they might have to wait for something like that to happen.

[paxmao]

In other circumstances, I would congratulate all Nigerian nationals and residents for achieving that marvellous record. The reason why I cannot do that is that usually bitcoin is mostly used and traded outstandingly or in a larger proportion compared to the economy of the country, in countries where the governments are acting so irresponsibly in monetary and fiscal terms that people just choose to accept the volatility of bitcoin rather than just experience the volatility of their own currencies.

[bryant.coleman]

The funny thing is that the government made it harder for them to even try and track the people, with p2p it's always too hard to get locations and at the same time they can also do it internationally with the Nigerians living outside the country, which I have seen personally. So the government indirectly made sure that people use Bitcoins independently and don't rely on any third party apps too. So therefore I do think in few years the government might have to try and reincorporate the bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies because banning is clearly not working out for them in a healthy way. Let's see how long they might have to wait for something like that to happen.

A number of countries tried to ban Bitcoin previously. Some of them still have the ban in place, such as Bangladesh. But how effective have been these bans? I have heard about a few traders getting arrested in Bangladesh. But that didn't forced the Bitcoiners to stop their activity. The trading simply moved underground, using various P2P platforms and DEX sites. In most of the third world countries, it is the same story. On the other hand, the Western nations tried to regulate the market, and were successful to some extent.

[ljubomir821]

Nigeria can serve as an excellent example for the rest of Africa. If they choose the right path of development, of course.

[Kittygalore]

Nigeria can serve as an excellent example for the rest of Africa. If they choose the right path of development, of course.

It seems that they're not on the right path because they're central bank is the current antagonist of cryptocurrency in that country and you know that when it's the central bank then they also have the government as a backer for their decisions.

[stompix]

LOL.. people are free to claim whatever they like. Who in their right mind will claim that the trade volumes in Nigeria can be compared to those in the United States?

You would be amazed how many come with random stupid ideas!

Also, seems like I made a mess of the previous post and I don't understand why I missed and not posted a paragraph in my previous answer, so here it goes:

If you compare that percentage with the population of other sub saharan countries and relate it to their percentage of active participant in bitcoin trading, then you see that the number is high in Nigeria.

Yeah, let's do that:

Nigeria led sub-Saharan charge with $8,761,051 in BTC traded volume. Kenya and Ghana were distant second and third with $3,613,004 and $2,882,710 in traded BTC volume for the period

So,
Nigeria $8,761,051 , 211,400,708 population , 4.1 cents per citizen per week.
Kenya $3,613,004, 54,985,698 population, 6.5 cents per citizen per week.
Ghana $2,882,710, 31,072,940 population, 9.2 cents per citizen per week.

How does this look percentage-wise?

[bryant.coleman]

Nigeria can serve as an excellent example for the rest of Africa. If they choose the right path of development, of course.

It seems that they're not on the right path because they're central bank is the current antagonist of cryptocurrency in that country and you know that when it's the central bank then they also have the government as a backer for their decisions.

Correct. The central bank had a banking ban in place until very recently and even now Bitcoin is in the grey sector and not 100% legal in Nigeria. And I am not surprised by the hostility shown by the Nigerian central bank. In most of the third world countries, it is like that. In fact in countries such as Bangladesh, the situation is even worse. If the El Salvador experiment succeeds, then we can expect a profound change in the attitudes of the central banks in the next 1-2 years. But if it fails, then the future prospects will get more difficult for the users.

[Kittygalore]

~

Correct. The central bank had a banking ban in place until very recently and even now Bitcoin is in the grey sector and not 100% legal in Nigeria. And I am not surprised by the hostility shown by the Nigerian central bank. In most of the third world countries, it is like that. In fact in countries such as Bangladesh, the situation is even worse. If the El Salvador experiment succeeds, then we can expect a profound change in the attitudes of the central banks in the next 1-2 years. But if it fails, then the future prospects will get more difficult for the users.

I do agree with you, third world countries have a hard time accepting bitcoin and cryptocurrencies because they know it's power and that they will lose it if they let it go free, to be honest third world countries have the most corrupt government there is. I do hope that the El Salvador experiment succeeds but the problem is that we mostly see negative news in some threads in this forum regarding bitcoin in El Salvador.

[mu_enrico]

It seems P2P is the only way of trading BTC there at the moment because of bans. IMO it doesn't show a surge in use/activity etc., it just a consequence of the ban. Anyway, I hope there won't be further law that makes ownership of BTC or P2P trading illegal (or the law already exist?). People should be free to own/buy/trade BTC though, but you know authoritarian government can do whatever they want.

[tippytoes]

~

Correct. The central bank had a banking ban in place until very recently and even now Bitcoin is in the grey sector and not 100% legal in Nigeria. And I am not surprised by the hostility shown by the Nigerian central bank. In most of the third world countries, it is like that. In fact in countries such as Bangladesh, the situation is even worse. If the El Salvador experiment succeeds, then we can expect a profound change in the attitudes of the central banks in the next 1-2 years. But if it fails, then the future prospects will get more difficult for the users.

I do agree with you, third world countries have a hard time accepting bitcoin and cryptocurrencies because they know it's power and that they will lose it if they let it go free, to be honest third world countries have the most corrupt government there is. I do hope that the El Salvador experiment succeeds but the problem is that we mostly see negative news in some threads in this forum regarding bitcoin in El Salvador.

Third world countries in the Asian region are more acceptable in crypto. But anyway, the introduction of bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador will for sure be contradicted by some people  in their country. There will always somebody that will find it negative. And most of them are usually have no idea how to deal with crypto, they just blindly contradict the concept of it. And in terms of increasing p2p in the African region, I guess, sooner or later, their governments will finally regulate the use of crypto, so they can also get the share from this business. Because if not, this p2p trading will still exist.

[SirLancelot]

It is evident with the speed of Nigeria youths getting more attracted on online businesses, bitcoin trading is one sure angle to look into for investment with the rate of volatility. Nigeria is therefore increasing in bitcoin popularity which P2P is relied on heavily for transaction because of the CBN on accounts connected to banks and cryptocurrency exchanges. This is having more positive outlook for the bitcoin crypto economy.

It makes sense because even though it is not perfectly banned just yet, there are still a bit of a question marks over it and that is why companies are having hard time starting a crypto exchange there with the fiat currency integrated, you could have some crypto to crypto exchange if you want to there but when the banks get involved then it becomes a bit of a problem and nobody wants to deal with banks who do not want to work with crypto and start an exchange based on that bank. This is why we are talking about a lot of trouble for Nigerians who end up using p2p trading in the end. They just do not have any other option, that is the core problem about this.

[Gases]

Because Nigeria has a large number of young people, quick acceptance, and faster digital currency promotion.
There are many people in Nigeria doing business abroad, and the cost of remittance to domestic banks is very high. And the transfer speed is slow.
Government supervision is only to prevent illegal activities such as money laundering through digital currency transactions from causing losses to the country.

[Sithara007]

I do agree with you, third world countries have a hard time accepting bitcoin and cryptocurrencies because they know it's power and that they will lose it if they let it go free, to be honest third world countries have the most corrupt government there is. I do hope that the El Salvador experiment succeeds but the problem is that we mostly see negative news in some threads in this forum regarding bitcoin in El Salvador.

This is why Nayib Bukele stands out. El Slavador is just another third world country with corrupt officials. But the new president has been able to implement a lot of radical changes ever since he took office in 2019. He even ordered the arrests of corrupt judges in the supreme court and this was a step which was unimaginable earlier. And naturally, he has created a lot of powerful enemies in the last two years and they will use any of his mistakes to attack him. That's why his announcement to make Bitcoin as the legal tender is very significant. One small mistake and it is all over for him. But can the same be repeated in countries such as Nigeria? I am doubtful.

[CaptainCrapper]

Since the Central Bank of Nigeria banned cryptocurrency in Nigeria in February, P2P trading has surged in the country.

It is evident with the speed of Nigeria youths getting more attracted on online businesses, bitcoin trading is one sure angle to look into for investment with the rate of volatility. Nigeria is therefore increasing in bitcoin popularity which P2P is relied on heavily for transaction because of the CBN on accounts connected to banks and cryptocurrency exchanges. This is having more positive outlook for the bitcoin crypto economy.

Link here

Naziraia is the maddest county in the world lots of poor people is leave them but they can hard work lots of people can hard work so everybody can try to make new digitalization for the new world.p2p BTC trade will very helpful for their county.

[jaberwock]

El Slavador is just another third world country with corrupt officials. But the new president has been able to implement a lot of radical changes ever since he took office in 2019. He even ordered the arrests of corrupt judges in the supreme court and this was a step which was unimaginable earlier. And naturally, he has created a lot of powerful enemies in the last two years and they will use any of his mistakes to attack him. That's why his announcement to make Bitcoin as the legal tender is very significant. One small mistake and it is all over for him. But can the same be repeated in countries such as Nigeria? I am doubtful.

When you are a very very corrupted nation, nobody "good" at heart could become a big name let alone be president right away. It would require another corrupt person to get high level at any office, otherwise other corrupt people would get ahead of you if you are just a good person. Look at Bernie Sanders, dude has been fighting the good fight for 50 years, and only recently he has been getting love for maybe just 10 years, probably less, still not enough to be president but at least came in second twice in a row now, 50 years ago he was seen as a radical crazy commie.

El Salvador president is not the nicest guy ever, you can't be nicest guy ever and get to be president in a corrupt nation, but at least he did something nice for crypto community, and he paved the way for future good people as well, less corruption each decade means eventually there could be a very nice person that becomes president.