Why is Africa Slow on the Bitcoin Uptake?

[Kat_messy]

On the one hand, a lot of problems (household, education, medicine, lack of developed Internet and banking infrastructure, political disassembly). On the other hand, projects from Kenyans, South Africans began to appear more and more often in this forum, Africa has good technological universities, so we can't say that Africa doesn't participate, but it is possible to understand why it is so slow. And by the way, mining doesn't always need internet (cold access).
So I hope that soon the situation will change.

[Hamstead]

You must know that Africa is a very difficult country, and most people doesnt even have a computer or a smartphone to access to the internet, so it is pretty impossible for them to have bitcoins in their lifes, and you are expecting to have an advanced technology in there?
It is impossible, africa is quite outdated, only those countries that are rich in there can afford a good living, and access to the internet.

That's right, because of it's limited in resources(money/technology) could take bitcoin into slow movement. This are the most essential needs of bitcoin to run but sadly most African people can't provide this. And of course government can't push them to go through bitcoin because they have nothing. Even if they have money but probably their priorities are to feed and generate income daily.

[annbagira]

Sometime I feel very strange myself! When I read some info here about bitcoin in  poor countries it's sounds to me like  a slap in the face. Maybe somebody are not informed well or don't want look over around the world people but exist a lot of poor countries with no any future are they interested in digital currency? are you kidding me? Maybe all people here are sheikhs from rich dynasty or lords? Open your eyes amigo!

[Reatim]

They are not slow but most African countries doesn't have the infrastructure to support bitcoin uptake. Although there is internet on most of the countries, its not enough to reach most of them. And reason is that as much as the government wants to put up a good infrastructure program, with limited supply and other priorities, it can't be done right away.

[cryptomato]

That's a great question and shame on me that I didn't think about that matter before. I'd even be volunteer to speed up process there. Will check it out.

[jamesdean35]

they even cant buy a computer how can they create a awareness on bitcoin.Everybody says that but wrong in africa because of inflasion there too many bitcoin holders also a saw on the new a one village uses their own token on africa

[mast3rm1nd]

Africa is always slow. It never keeps up with the rest of the world and their answer usually is "because white men raided us, disturbed the peace, were exploring, digging out diamonds and stuff" In reality 2000 years ago when Romans were conquering Europe and building roads people in Africa were chasing monkeys and living in clay huts. 1000 years later it was still the same.

man this is so ignorant I don't even know where to begin...

[tosmartak]

Honestly, reading through this thread, it is just ridiculous how people can quickly jump into conclusions without a concrete info. Everyone is entitled to have their own opinion anyway and apparently most people are just here for the signature campaign, so I am not surprised.

However, if you want to find out if Africa is slow on the bitcoin uptake, you can take a quick vacation to Nigeria (it is part of Africa) and see for yourselves.

[Hexah]

Africa is slow on the bitcoin uptake because almost all of the country in Africa are not ready for the modernization especially when it comes to the world of crypto. They can't easily uptake such kind of thing since most of its country is poor when it comes to their internet connection, the only thing that could possibly want is to support first of what to satisfy their needs for everyday living. Hope that Africa would cope with those challenges and may be able to catch also just like the other countries in the world of cryptocurrency someday.

[nejibens]

Most African countries are very poor and the people there have real problems about even earning their living and getting food and clothes. Also the educational level is very low there, so many people havent also access to Internet or dont knwo how to navigate.

[Fulmand]

You must know that Africa is a very difficult country, and most people doesnt even have a computer or a smartphone to access to the internet, so it is pretty impossible for them to have bitcoins in their lifes, and you are expecting to have an advanced technology in there?
It is impossible, africa is quite outdated, only those countries that are rich in there can afford a good living, and access to the internet.

That's right, because of it's limited in resources(money/technology) could take bitcoin into slow movement. This are the most essential needs of bitcoin to run but sadly most African people can't provide this. And of course government can't push them to go through bitcoin because they have nothing. Even if they have money but probably their priorities are to feed and generate income daily.

I agree to that, Africa is not so rich when it comes to money. It is one of the reason why africa is one of the slowest country to improve their technology. And yes, if they have money they will just buy it for food and necessities rather than buy it for gadget or some sort of modern technology. Africa is one of the poorest country so we cant blame them because of their slow bitcoin uptake.

[bitbunnny]

It seams that the answer is pretty simple, lack of technology resources, interest connection and education. But on the other hand, Africa is one of the continents with the largest number of mobile phones per inhabitant so for that reason availability of Bitcoins shouldn't be the problem.
But we mustn't forget that Africa is part of third world countries with lot of poverty and lack of resources so Bitcoin is probably the last thing people there think about.

[Simple_Man]

There are masses of potential for Bitcoin in Africa. It’s a monetary system for the unbanked, it’s trustless and far less corruptible, and it can create a new monetary system where there’s no long legacy of banking and financials.

However, across the continent, in different countries, the uptake has been surprisingly slow. From South Africa and Nigeria, as the biggest players in Bitcoin, to smaller nations like Tanzania who are seeing big growth, but with small numbers.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/why-is-africa-slow-on-the-bitcoin-uptake

Africa holds a majority of the world's gold and diamond reserve naturally. But still due to pathetic infrastructure and political un-stability makes it a most financially weak continent. Also internal war and terrorism is a big issue with them. Due to all these situations, the growth of Africa is less compared to other continents in all sectors. Bitcoin is no exception. The basic requirements of a decent living are not fulfilled in many areas of Africa, leave alone the computer literacy. That is the major reason for the slow growth of bitcoin in Africa. To earn and handle bitcoin, you need to be a computer savy person which is a distant dream to many africans. Sad but true!

[cybersofts]

There are masses of potential for Bitcoin in Africa. It’s a monetary system for the unbanked, it’s trustless and far less corruptible, and it can create a new monetary system where there’s no long legacy of banking and financials.

However, across the continent, in different countries, the uptake has been surprisingly slow. From South Africa and Nigeria, as the biggest players in Bitcoin, to smaller nations like Tanzania who are seeing big growth, but with small numbers.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/why-is-africa-slow-on-the-bitcoin-uptake

African countries have a lot of financial problems. People are struggling for what they want to eat.
Even if  a person want to buy and use bitcoin in Africa there are not much cryptocurrency exchanges.
I was reading some article few days ago - I read some article saying, bitcoin sells for $7000 USD in Tanzania.
The cryptocurrency exchanges that operates in Africa are asking for more than what people are willing to buy.
So many things going on down there, you guys should leave Africa alone for now.

[robbietobby]

Basically you cannot thrive within their culture and how time changes their belief, anthropologically speaking. Anyone believes that Africa might be unreachable with internet connections to input bitoins on their daily living. As if people who are wealthy can afford communication without intermittent connection. And I guess is possible to become slower on the btc uptake yet produces high income rate.

[susila_bai]

There are masses of potential for Bitcoin in Africa. It’s a monetary system for the unbanked, it’s trustless and far less corruptible, and it can create a new monetary system where there’s no long legacy of banking and financials.

However, across the continent, in different countries, the uptake has been surprisingly slow. From South Africa and Nigeria, as the biggest players in Bitcoin, to smaller nations like Tanzania who are seeing big growth, but with small numbers.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/why-is-africa-slow-on-the-bitcoin-uptake

I think this is because of political problems in that continent as we can see that due to political politicians are fully corrupt and they dont want their continent public should know much about outside world so that if they get educated they can throw them out. So they know if Bitcoin is implemented they cannot corrupt the system and earn benefits.

[Allan Ramanda]

as we all know, it is not my intention to talk about the country of people, but Africa is a country that has a low enough insight to information and technology in the highly developed times of today. I think that's the main cause of all this.

[ivrynx]

If we consider the geography of africa it is slow to uptake Bitcoin since most countries don't even have access to Internet, and some countries who do have internet, would rather make time to earn a living instead of learning about Bitcoin and what it can give to them. Let's take Egypt and South Africa, bout countries have access to the internet, but it does not compensate with the whole of the continent. I think if Africa would be more like Asia, they could have a huge number of Bitcoin users as well. In the future we might see Africa to be advanced as well, considering the aide it is receiving from it's neighboring countries, I think time will tell, when Africa will have majority of it's people to have access with the internet and Bitcoin as well, we could never tell, there might be a Warren buffet in the making.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Many countries in Africa don't even have power

That's the first thing I thought of, though I have absolutely no first hand knowledge of what
life is like in a typical African country.  The whole continent isn't poor, I assume, but I profess
general ignorance of such matters.  I do strongly suspect that IF this is indeed the case, that they're
slow on the uptake, it's because of a general lack of technological progress.  Not that I think that
most Africans are still hunting wild game with spears for their dinner every night, but if you have a
problem with poverty, with obtaining money in general, bitcoin comes very low down on the list of
priorities.

But on the other hand, I do wonder if at least some of the scammers we see in bitcoin come from
there.  Nigeria in particular is notorious for their scams.  The whole African prince thing.  I think
that's probably the case.

[valucash]

Ok let me lay it straight.
Social Reasons
1. Lack of widespread awareness on the potentials of crypto-currency.
2. Few exchanges where you can actually purchase bitcoin. There are only a handful.
3. Past experience - Africans have been scammed by scam coins such as TBC etc and they have had their experience with MMM, so they have learnt to stay away from anything that looks too good to be true.
4. Level of literacy.
5. The exchange rate of local currency to a bitcoin, makes it a very expensive venture for most Africans

Infrastructural Reasons
1. Lack of Good Internet connection
2. Stable Electricity

Governmental Regulations
1. Some countries frown at Cryptocurrency
2. Banks have been warned not to trade in them
3. Exchanges have had their bank account frozen and later released

Ok add yours...