Bitcoin Craze in Africa

[Troysen]

Bitcoin seems to be taking over Africa in a slow but steady manner, major economic hubs in Africa such as Nairobi, Lagos and Johannesburg are adopting BTC as a number of people are finding out that crypto offers a cheaper option to extensive problems. well they maybe late adopters but still have joined the course to spread BTC awareness and usage

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42582343

[dado7]

Since money distribution problem is nowhere that evident as in Africa (you know that there is enough food for everybody in each of the countries infamous for mass starvation?), I think that blockchain can really help them, and we, the community, must really work on the adoption there, it could mean literally saving lives.
The problem is not fast solvable though - not just because cryptos are still far from being able to solve anything (scalability, whales (centralization), fees, security.....), but because lots of people in Africa don't have the access to modern technologies.

However, back to the news, we are still talking about rich parts of Africa - they don't need it that much, but it has to start somewhere.

[jjacob]

Bitcoin seems to be taking over Africa in a slow but steady manner, major economic hubs in Africa such as Nairobi, Lagos and Johannesburg are adopting BTC as a number of people are finding out that crypto offers a cheaper option to extensive problems. well they maybe late adopters but still have joined the course to spread BTC awareness and usage

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42582343

The article is dated (a couple of months old) but it makes a few good points. In Africa, because of the underdeveloped banking network, people can leap-frog the traditional financial system and get into crypto. Mobile penetration is also increasing rapidly and the infrastructure is also improving. So the traditional bottlenecks are slowly disappearing.

[Patatas]

Bitcoin seems to be taking over Africa in a slow but steady manner, major economic hubs in Africa such as Nairobi, Lagos and Johannesburg are adopting BTC as a number of people are finding out that crypto offers a cheaper option to extensive problems. well they maybe late adopters but still have joined the course to spread BTC awareness and usage

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42582343

I don't those places/cities constitute or represent Africa.They might have started adopting  a bit due to availability of technical advancements but the whole bunch of villages in other parts of the continent are yet to receive electricity.Money transfers is least of their problems if you look at it.Mass adoption is only accountable when the proportion of people having resources is more than the people not having them.Anyway,it's good thing to know cities have started to know about cryptos.

 

Since money distribution problem is nowhere that evident as in Africa (you know that there is enough food for everybody in each of the countries infamous for mass starvation?), I think that blockchain can really help them, and we, the community, must really work on the adoption there, it could mean literally saving lives.
The problem is not fast solvable though - not just because cryptos are still far from being able to solve anything (scalability, whales (centralization), fees, security.....), but because lots of people in Africa don't have the access to modern technologies.

However, back to the news, we are still talking about rich parts of Africa - they don't need it that much, but it has to start somewhere.

I concur.  

[Kemarit]

Bitcoin seems to be taking over Africa in a slow but steady manner, major economic hubs in Africa such as Nairobi, Lagos and Johannesburg are adopting BTC as a number of people are finding out that crypto offers a cheaper option to extensive problems. well they maybe late adopters but still have joined the course to spread BTC awareness and usage

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42582343

Well Zimbabwe has been using bitcoin to store their wealth and its supplants their local currency in times of economic crisis. And relatives outside can send bitcoin as remittances to help their families inside Zimbabwe. Yes, its a slow progress, but I do think that switching to crypto's will help a lot of struggling economies around South Africa. Although 3/4 of Africa doesn't even have infrastructure to support to have at least a decent internet connections. It could be the next step to further develop most countries on that continent.

[heisenberg0000]

Bitcoin seems to be taking over Africa in a slow but steady manner, major economic hubs in Africa such as Nairobi, Lagos and Johannesburg are adopting BTC as a number of people are finding out that crypto offers a cheaper option to extensive problems. well they maybe late adopters but still have joined the course to spread BTC awareness and usage

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42582343

This is a great news, many people has a misconception that Africa is a struggling nation(not to be racy here) but the reality the business opportunity in this country is as equal to others. So its good to see that they are starting to adopt not just bitcoin but currencies as a whole.  This gives more business opportunity towards africa. Hope fully their government will support this.

[Inn0vative1]

This is a great news, many people has a misconception that Africa is a struggling nation(not to be racy here) but the reality the business opportunity in this country is as equal to others. So its good to see that they are starting to adopt not just bitcoin but currencies as a whole.  This gives more business opportunity towards africa. Hope fully their government will support this.

Africa is not a country but a continent made up of 53 independent countries. Calling Africa a country is like calling Europe a country.

Africa is really a sleeping giant when it comes to economic opportunity. The continent is way more advanced than most people in the west think. Cellphone usage is on par or even higher than many European countries and internet is accessible in most of the big cities. However, the economies and financial services being less developed than in more advanced parts of the world, this gives great opportunity to technologies such as cryptocurrency, as they level the playing field and they can help solve problems that people in the west take for granted.

[pikaqiu]

In war-torn regions, where there is no stable legal currency, most of their legal currency will be affected by those in power, so bitcoin can be used as a stable circulation currency in these areas, at least compared with their legal currency.

[teejayrichard2]

you are right, africans dont want to be left out in the cryptocurrency story and as such are beginning to adopt use of bitcoin gradually. i believe with time a large part of africa countries will fully accept and adopt use of bitcoin