where does Africa stand in the cryptocurrency revolution?

[sunnex100]

Cryptocurrencies are gradually rising in prominence in Africa. It's being discovered with lots of Africans now becoming merchants. South Africa, Kenya, nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe etc have all keyed into the Bitcoin revolution. The fundamental question however, is, does cryptocurrencies have the power to haul africa on par with the rest of the developed world?

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[FrueGreads]

Well I don't think crypto alone will have the power to drag these countries to the same level of the more developed ones, but I think they will have a very important role in their economic evolution. I would not be surprised if the first places where we will see bitcoin mass adoption, will be in these poor and undeveloped countries. Most of their population don't have access to bank accounts, and bitcoin can help here. Their coins are usually poor, and have no economic power, and again, bitcoin will help them here as well. These countries will be the perfect test environment for crypto, and I'm sure their economy will have a lot to gain with this process.

[pugman]

Most of their population don't have access to bank accounts, and bitcoin can help here. Their coins are usually poor, and have no economic power

They don't have access to bank accounts, how do you expect these people to use bitcoin when they get to know on how banks work,crypto will be too much for them, for, one at least 25% of the population in Africa are illiterate ; two, they don't have adequate facilities (some don't even have basic needs and necessities); three, the markets of crypto are too volatile for them to handle and all these will affect the people tremendously.

[nl247]

Well I don't think crypto alone will have the power to drag these countries to the same level of the more developed ones, but I think they will have a very important role in their economic evolution. I would not be surprised if the first places where we will see bitcoin mass adoption, will be in these poor and undeveloped countries. Most of their population don't have access to bank accounts, and bitcoin can help here. Their coins are usually poor, and have no economic power, and again, bitcoin will help them here as well. These countries will be the perfect test environment for crypto, and I'm sure their economy will have a lot to gain with this process.

What you have said is right and a perfect example is Zimbabwe. This is a country that the government has totally ridiculed its currency, that now they just had to abandon it and concentrate on making use of USD which we both know that balls down to exporting USD for usage.
However, with the low supply of USD in circulation, the government banned any form of international transactions which left some traders unable to pay merchants outside the country, banks are not allowed to make any international transfers except locally, students abroad find it hard to get their school fees paid and so on. All these made crypto the saving grace and which is why the demand is extremely high and presently trading above $13000. https://golix.com
This shows that cryptocurrency would make them gain a lot in the long run and hopefully help the economy in a way.

[Lampaster]

Some poor countries of South America have long used their electronic money. It seems to me that African countries are no exception and will use this experience. For the state is more profitable to use their e-currency than to legalize the circulation of bitcoins. As you make small purchases at the current price of the transaction?

[googs84]

African countries are not behind in bitcoin revolution which started in 2009. In Africa, there are currently four exchanges offering trade in bitcoin and othercryptocurrencies Luno, BitcoinFundi, ice3x, NairaEx. The main business for bitcoin in Africa are Accra (Ghana), Lagos (Nigeria), Nairobi (Kenya) and Cape Town (South Africa). M-Pesa in Kenya a money transfer service based on mobile phones is making record volume business. In East Africa, local innovators have introduced cryptocurrency systems to support cross-border transactions they believe this new money presents an opportunity to democratize the economy.

[krishnapramod]

The major industry that is going to benefit from Bitcoin revolution in Africa would be remittances. According to Wikipedia, about  20 to 30 million immigrants from Africa send around $40 billion USD annually to their families and local communities back home. In several fragile states, remittances are estimated to exceed 50 percent of GDP.

Most African countries restrict the payment of remittances to banks, which in turn, typically enter into exclusive arrangements with large money transfer companies, like Western Union or Money Gram, to operate on their behalf. This results in limited competition and limited access for consumers, which allows these Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) to charge the highest fees for remittances in the world.

Bitcoin remittance startups like BitPesa, Abra, Remitano, Bitspark, and GeoPay are taking the power away from large MTOs by offering low fee for remittances.

The next is payments industry, especially mobile/smartphone based money transfer. Right now it is dominated by M-Pesa. Right now there isn't something like M-Pesa for Bitcoin, but maybe in future. Most important is to target the unbanked, many startups are working on it.

Don't know whether cryptocurrencies would haul Africa on par with the rest of the world, but there could be drastic changes in the socio-economic conditions of African nations.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remittance

[hase0278]

Cryptocurrencies are gradually rising in prominence in Africa. It's being discovered with lots of Africans now becoming merchants. South Africa, Kenya, nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe etc have all keyed into the Bitcoin revolution. The fundamental question however, is, does cryptocurrencies have the power to haul africa on par with the rest of the developed world?

I think cryptocurrencies does not have the power to haul Africa on par with the rest of the developed world but rather it is up to it's citizens whether their country will be on par with the rest of the developed country or not. Bitcoin itself will not aid them to achieve that goal but it will surely bring fort benefits to them like how other people from other countries benefit from using bitcoin itself.  It will just somehow help them improve their way of sending money to their beloved ones because as said by someone who posted above, lots of Africans use remittances.

[shield132]

Most of their population don't have access to bank accounts, and bitcoin can help here. Their coins are usually poor, and have no economic power

They don't have access to bank accounts, how do you expect these people to use bitcoin when they get to know on how banks work,crypto will be too much for them, for, one at least 25% of the population in Africa are illiterate ; two, they don't have adequate facilities (some don't even have basic needs and necessities); three, the markets of crypto are too volatile for them to handle and all these will affect the people tremendously.

They don.t have access on bank accounts and you say they will download/install bitcoin core, save keys, buy trezor and etc..... They don't have computers and how will they have bank accounts? And who needs this accounts if they are very poor, don't have normal schools, don't learn and don't have ability to go in University, most of them even don't have basic things, it's easy to say for you because you don't know their poverty. No one cares about them and that's sad fact.

[djaliel]

Most of their population don't have access to bank accounts, and bitcoin can help here. Their coins are usually poor, and have no economic power

They don't have access to bank accounts, how do you expect these people to use bitcoin when they get to know on how banks work,crypto will be too much for them, for, one at least 25% of the population in Africa are illiterate ; two, they don't have adequate facilities (some don't even have basic needs and necessities); three, the markets of crypto are too volatile for them to handle and all these will affect the people tremendously.

They don.t have access on bank accounts and you say they will download/install bitcoin core, save keys, buy trezor and etc..... They don't have computers and how will they have bank accounts? And who needs this accounts if they are very poor, don't have normal schools, don't learn and don't have ability to go in University, most of them even don't have basic things, it's easy to say for you because you don't know their poverty. No one cares about them and that's sad fact.

yes, but at least it makes it easy for those who can read the alphabet, I think everyone knows the money, because now all people need money and very few of them still live in the forest and do not understand money, because now every country obliges children to study at school,
I think bitcoin can be a global currency, and it can boost the economy in a country even in a deficient country like Africa, and all countries can be fair and equitable with other countries, I think it's very good,

[Biglistener]

I do not think it stands here at all because i have never known an african guy talking about bitcoin or even if thye know what it is i always need to explain to them how much is what and how it works and what it actually is.

[frowsiter]

When there is nothing, there is great scope of everything. What I mean with this statement is that, if the Africa is not having proper infra for the internet, electricity, or IT regulation then new one can be created with all the new sets of rules which can change the face of crypto currency in that particular area. There could be fresh start of everything with new speed and techs. I mean a desert can be converted into city like Dubai then why not into crypto land when we have so much potential to do there.


Crypto is world which feeds only on electricity and the internet and this can be made available everywhere with ease and with greater confidence. So I think that there is complete freedom for the bitcoin to boom in the industry that is yet to set up in the country like Africa. I mean first one to go there would be like crypto king of Africa. :-)

[naidray]

Cryptocurrencies are gradually rising in prominence in Africa. It's being discovered with lots of Africans now becoming merchants. South Africa, Kenya, nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe etc have all keyed into the Bitcoin revolution. The fundamental question however, is, does cryptocurrencies have the power to haul africa on par with the rest of the developed world?

We cannot say if it has power to put Africa on the same level with the rest of the world, but in most of the places you have mentioned, it is really making a lot of impact.

Most of these parts of Africa that you have mentioned have enlightened people who have access to technology and information, which is really helping them to make the best use of cryptocurrency to answer all their needs.

Take a look at what is going on with Zimbabwe now as the only solution for international transaction is bitcoin which has seriously made the demand high and the value higher than the rest of the world. How this can help them eventually is unknown yet, but it all balls down to the government at a point.

[Perunex]

Africa can see the potential in cryptos as an alternative to their "governmental" currencies as they are unstable, because they are depended of their economy. In their hyperinflation crpytos are good value holders (or even raisers ).

The other great function of cryptos for Africa and other poorer countries is sending back money to families. As the immigrants from poor countries are working abroad (for example Dubai) and are sending back money to their families. Nowadays everybody has a smart phone and sending money with crypto via blockchain is much quicker and specially cheaper than Western Union for example (which is really expensive).

[FrueGreads]

Most of their population don't have access to bank accounts, and bitcoin can help here. Their coins are usually poor, and have no economic power

They don't have access to bank accounts, how do you expect these people to use bitcoin when they get to know on how banks work,crypto will be too much for them, for, one at least 25% of the population in Africa are illiterate ; two, they don't have adequate facilities (some don't even have basic needs and necessities); three, the markets of crypto are too volatile for them to handle and all these will affect the people tremendously.

They don.t have access on bank accounts and you say they will download/install bitcoin core, save keys, buy trezor and etc..... They don't have computers and how will they have bank accounts? And who needs this accounts if they are very poor, don't have normal schools, don't learn and don't have ability to go in University, most of them even don't have basic things, it's easy to say for you because you don't know their poverty. No one cares about them and that's sad fact.

I think you are missing the point. I "know" what kind of poverty you are talking about. Not by experience, but from the information we can get from the social media. Of course that if basic needs like water, food, and a place to live are lacking, those need to be addressed first. You can only start to build an economy once basic needs are addressed. But there are some countries where those needs are "functional", and there is room to try to develop education, economy and commerce.

It's also very common in those places, for people to leave their countries in order to find work and a way to support their family that stays behind. They usually face huge problems when it comes to send money back to their families. Specially when there are no banks around. As you may agree, it's a lot easier and cheaper to develop a telecom network, than it is to develop a bank network (banks actually need that first, so they can work properly). And this is where crypto may help. This is the kind of still very poor countries, where cryptocurrencies can help boost their economy, an Africa has a lot of these countries.

[Best Dreams]

Cryptocurrencies are gradually rising in prominence in Africa. It's being discovered with lots of Africans now becoming merchants. South Africa, Kenya, nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe etc have all keyed into the Bitcoin revolution. The fundamental question however, is, does cryptocurrencies have the power to haul africa on par with the rest of the developed world?

Well I think bitcoin is very use full in poor countries and bitcoin reached their easily and this is also a fact that bitcoin is playing a very big role in economy of countries and it has reduce unemployment in these countries because bitcoin price is very high in these countries and if you convert bitcoin in local currency so it can give you a lot of profit and that profit they can use on their food education and clean drinking water and on health as well.

[el kaka22]

Most of their population don't have access to bank accounts, and bitcoin can help here. Their coins are usually poor, and have no economic power

They don't have access to bank accounts, how do you expect these people to use bitcoin when they get to know on how banks work,crypto will be too much for them, for, one at least 25% of the population in Africa are illiterate ; two, they don't have adequate facilities (some don't even have basic needs and necessities); three, the markets of crypto are too volatile for them to handle and all these will affect the people tremendously.

I would not say that yet until sure. I totally agree with you on the fact that a very good number of the populations are illiterates which of course exempt those categories of people.

The infrastructures needed like internet is also not that widespread in some part of Africa, but at least doing well in parts where the OP have mentioned which would make those areas adopt faster than the others. I was in South Africa and Nigeria recently, and I was amazed at the rate some of them have adopted the use of cryptocurrencies and that even reassured me that crypto is here to stay.