The used of Bitcoin in Africa

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Click to Join African bitcointalk community hangout
Countries in the continent africa is embracing the blockchain technology and Bitcoin in their masses. In some countries the government of the day are showing some kind of support or interest fo :)r the new technology while others are advising their citizens not to use the cryptocurrency due to fear of fraudulent activities. I have taken my time, done some research plus the little knowledge I already have, made this thread to highlight the three ways Bitcoin is been used in Africa. They include;

[1]: Trading and investment:
Most citizens of countries in Africa like Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kanye, South Africa etc have turned to Bitcoin as their recuse from poverty and others to increase their asset portfolio. According to the report carried out in August 2018, five (5) Africa countries where ranked among the Top 50 highest traders of Bitcoin on Localbitcoin exchange namely;
7. Nigeria – $258M
10. South Africa – $98M
23. Kenya – $25M
36. Morocco -- $6M
43. Tanzania -- $2M
Source

Note: This is just a statistics from one exchange, we have numerous exchange both locally and international that Africans are trading on and that's just one of the ways Bitcoin (cryptocurrency in general) is been used in Africa.

[2] Online shopping:
The number of cryptocurrency related online shops is raising daily mostly in South Africa and Nigeria. Africans can now buy goods online from the comfort of their home and pay with bitcoin. Physical store are also joining the party, In 2017 one of South Africans biggest grocery stores called Pick n Pay showed interest in accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment we also have numerous merchant already accepting Bitcoin and few of them can be found here, Merchants Accepting bitcoins for Payment in Africa

[3]: Online transaction (money transfer):
Any one familiar with Africans knows we're migraters, there isn't any part of the world you'll go that you won't find Africans in their number, majority of the times it's the hustle that take them there. Many Africans leave their country for search of greener pastures in Western countries and when they succeed they always struggled to send money back to their families but with the help of Bitcoin everything has changed as sending money is now made easier, cheaper, faster and more secured. The luno wallet/exchange is one of the many platforms used for that purpose as it make it easier to convert Bitcoin to local currency.

If you're a blockchain developer and you were looking for the next regional area to get potential customer for whatever service you're providing I suggest you join the few companies tapping the potential found in Africa.

Here are some useful article you can read to convince you more;
Why Africa Is Fertile Ground for Bitcoin Adoption
Top 5 African Countries That Are Embracing Bitcoin

[AAKODI]

From the beginning African countries has an open mind regarding bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and that is the reason bitcoin investments and trading has progressed which is a great thing for the crypto world because government acceptance is the only way that bitcoins future can be secured and with these kind of freedom there are many benefits that can gain not only for the market but also for there citizens

[kryptqnick]

Yeah, I also read some articles about blockchain events for people where they can learn about cryptocurrencies and ways to use them in Africa. I honestly believe that Bitcoin can be a game-changer for the continent. There aren't many adequate countries there, and the overall economy is terrible. Not to mention extremely high level of corruption and issues of the lack of recognition of official governments. People don't use banks there much. And the thing is that they don't need to. They can skip the banking part and move right to bitcoins on smartphones (while being very poor and not able to afford, say, computers, many people there have smartphones). If they abandon their terrible fiat and rely on cryptos, it can lead to economic prosperity of the region.

[Mpamaegbu]

Truth be told, in Africa we see bitcoin as an investment rather than as a medium of payment. So, we acquire it and then wait awhile to resell it like a real estate. In Nigeria, I am yet to see any shop accepting Bitcoin for payment. One has to exchange bitcoin first into fiat before any payment for goods and services.

[abojamal]

The crypto community is growing steadily in Africa
The countriesyou have mentioned, especially Nigeria, are the vanguards of the continent
Exchange platforms are currently being held in some of these countries
What is remarkable is that some of these projects devote part of their investments to spreading the idea of crypto  in African societies to villages, forests and even high mountains.

[iqlimasyadiqa]

The African continent has such a large population and this can be a very good market share for the development of digital currencies. some weaknesses that must be addressed are infrastructure, because in the African country at present Infrastructure is a major problem. technology can still be said to not be too good in countries in the African continent. what the government needs to do on the African continent is to improve infrastructure first so that someday later digital currencies can develop and be facilitated well for all citizens on the African continent.

[thesmallgod]

Nigeria is always fast in adopting and catching up with anything that can increase the standard of living. cryptocurrency has been source of livelihood. crypto has actually put the smile on the face of nigerian than the government. fast adoption has always been because of high internet presence. Nigeria is among top 10 internet users in the world. However, buying goods from local store using bitcoin is one of the challenge. it is very easy to see merchant that accept bitcoin as payment for services but not goods.

[sfr2017]

Although the cryptocurrency market is highly volatile, Bitcoin remains an exciting investment opportunity .More and more Africans are turning to Bitcoin to overcome the limitations of restrictive banking options ( Money transfer). Also, various e-commerce platforms have adopted Bitcoin as a form of payment.

[Dudeperfect]

The biggest advantage of using Bitcoin or any other blockchain-based cryptocurrency is all about adopting a global platform which allows inclusion of everyone in the system. Anyone from any corner of the world has a platform to grab global opportunities through using a uniform payment system, I see this as the golden opportunity for undeveloped and developing countries to gain the value from this international ecosystem.

[arpon11]

African has a large market for international market and since cryptocurrencies or bitcoin make transactions easy I think Africa will be the greater beneficiary of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general.  Blockchain technology discovered, 7777⅞⅞7if will utilize will help many Africa's nations to come out of most of the financial problems they are going through currently.  The third world countries will also benefit from bitcoin and that is only if there can adopt it into their financial system.  Many African countries are poor today because of the influence of major currency on their economic and since bitcoin is decentralized I think it will provide solutions.

[Upgrade00]

Government interference is one of the key limitations to growth of cryptocurrency and blockchain in Africa. In Africa for example, the government has declared bitcoin and other digital asset unregulated and goes on to advise against it's trades or circulation as anyone engaged does so at his or her own risks.
This sort of stand would dissuade majority of the neutral audience and also willing merchants from accepting cryptocurrency

[Kakmakr]

Wow there are a huge leap between Nigeria and South Africa! I would have never guessed that and I hope the large amount does not consist mainly from bitcoins that were used in scams.! <Nigeria is famous for their scammers> 

It is also strange that ATM distributors are not targeting countries like Nigeria. Coinatmradar.com shows zero hits for Nigeria. 
I see they also have only 11 Bitcoin exchanges in the country, which is not a lot for such a large amount of money going in and out of Bitcoin. 

[bitfocus]

interestingly and surprisingly, African nations are very positive toward crypto and blockchain from the beginning!

[leonair]

Without a doubt Nigeria was on the number one list because most of the scammers in the internet are originated from there, it seems that scamming is the most profitable job in their country. I watched a documentary about scammers in Nigeria and they are truly an expert in different kinds of techniques when it comes to fraud that even the government of other country used to believed in those scams.

[kingpin4321]

This is a great community service the fit to talk section dedicated to Africans
Africans comprise a huge number in the forum and they are fast getting involved in cryptocurrency with high level of youth

[bp124]

Nigeria , South Africa and Kenya i have no doubt about that but Mexico and Tanzania there is no way they are on top than Ghana when its comes to the use of bitcoin ,  Even  in Africa most  of the crypto exchange  companies  are in Ghana and Nigeria . But its really  interesting how Africa is adopting  the digital currency  and blockchain  the master technology  behind it. I know Gradually very soon very will see most Blockchain project coming from Africa  to compete the global  blockchain market ..   

[CryptoBry]

Truth be told, in Africa we see bitcoin as an investment rather than as a medium of payment. So, we acquire it and then wait awhile to resell it like a real estate. In Nigeria, I am yet to see any shop accepting Bitcoin for payment. One has to exchange bitcoin first into fiat before any payment for goods and services.

Truth be told, that is actually what the whole world is primarily viewing Bitcoin so this is not unique to the African continent and this kind of orientation had been the driving force in the great speculative activities happening in 2017 and early 2018 causing the Bitcoin to almost reach the 20K mark. And now that the speculations have subsided, we are witnessing the many great dips of Bitcoin. There is nothing we can do if people are seeing Bitcoin as something to speculate though because just like any asset the holders have all the rights in the world to do whatever with something he is owning. However, speculations alone will not be making Bitcoin great as we need practical applications or uses to make it last and be stronger. The continent of Africa is representing a great frontier for Bitcoin and I am sure that given the chance and massive adoption there is a great future for Bitcoin in there.

[Sithawaka]

Like African countries It has become common for any country in the world to use bitcoin as a trading asset but not as a currency to make payments in real world scenarios and also there is no way trading a volumes can do good to a currency without any adoption into businesses because at the end without any real use it can become useless so such trading volumes in Africa are useless which can do no good to the future of bitcoin

[MTNAX]

I think this is good news because people in Africa will certainly be more helped by the existence of bitcoin there. Bitcoin invasion is very useful for its users. With many countries using bitcoin, making bitcoin increasingly popular.

[pawanjain]

It is good to know that Africa is supporting cryptocurrencies to such an extent where offline stores are enabled to accept cryptocurrencies as a payment.
Many countries have still not legalized bitcoin due to fear but seeing Africa accepting could lead other countries to accept it as well.
Although bitcoin is used for money transfer, trading and investment already in many countries, I would definitely like to know which online stores in Africa are accepting bitcoin as a payment.
I would be glad if you could PM or post it here some online stores that accept bitcoin.