What are the benefits of bitcoin to my country (Nigeria) economy?.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Please before you contribute to this thread, do understand Bitcoin and blockchain are two different things don't mistake the benefits of one to the other. Bitcoin needs a blockchain to function but the blockchain don't need bitcoin (no disrespect). Try to stay on topic so i can get some key points to strengthen my debate if there'll be a need for one in the near future as the awareness of the technology is increasing rapidly (yearly) in the country. Considering bitcoin is just another currency, what can it offer that my local currency can't to improve the economy of the nation? Already done some research and understood the benefits of blockchain to a country's economy but I'm yet to understand that of bitcoin. Enlighten me please.

[Lucius]

I must admit that I do not know what is the current economic situation in Nigeria, but Bitcoin is not some magic currency that can change things over night and help people to live better. Perhaps the biggest influence of Bitcoin on some country is in fact that it create new jobs, mosty in exchange companies or people who do business with cryoto ATMs or anything similar.

Also, we should not neglect the consumption aspect, people like to spend Bitcoin in times when its value is going up, so merchants who accept crypto as a means of payment profit from that, and state is profit from value added tax. Some countries profit from hosting big mining farms, others for producing popular hardware wallets or mining equipment.

[stompix]

Considering bitcoin is just another currency, what can it offer that my local currency can't to improve the economy of the nation?

Very little, unfortunately.
Bitcoin is a currency, it can only do what currency can, and you can use it the same you use your own currency.

There is one advantage over traditional cash or digital, you don't need to be next to the guy in case of cash and you don't need a third party (as with digital).
From this, we have a better speed at sending money, not waiting for payments for days and so on, reaching people who don't have a bank account, dealing with fewer intermediaries, basically making the transfer of value fasters and with increased coverage.

But this is where it stops.
Bitcoin won't create jobs, won't create factories, will not make people smart, will not combat corruption, government's stupidity or anything.

And I won't agree with Lucius on this part

Perhaps the biggest influence of Bitcoin on some country is in fact that it create new jobs, mosty in exchange companies or people who do business with cryoto ATMs or anything similar.

Those jobs are jobs that get paid for a fee you pay, an intermediary just like the banks, if people stop dealing with the traditional fiat and switch to bitcoin entirely those jobs will be dead, just like they were when there was no bitcoin. When there will be no Naira, they will get on the unemployment lists.

I seriously doubt any 3rd party that you must pay to get a deal done is actually adding anything to the economy.

Let's see this example.

I must buy something from Tom for 10 000$, but I must use an intermediary.

I choose to buy less than 10k and pay the guy with the rest, so Tom gets fewer sales.
I choose to buy the exact 10k, I pay the guy a fee, Tom gets its sales, but I've just paid more so I will cut my expenses and John won't be able to sell me anything.

So rather than bringing value, it's more redistribution and is actually hurting the economy.
JUST like a poor coverage and high fees banking sector would.

Now, I would really want to hear from the OP some real data, no clickbait bs about real-life usage in Nigeria. People, shops, business and not only that they offer bitcoin payments, how many bitcoin payments are they getting!
Without that data is impossible to really measure if there is an impact.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

I must admit that I do not know what is the current economic situation in Nigeria, but Bitcoin is not some magic currency that can change things over night and help people to live better.

I don't know anything about Nigeria's economy or anything else--I'd actually like to hear a little more from OP about what things are like there and how he thinks bitcoin might help.  I definitely agree with you that there's nothing magical bitcoin is going to do for any economy.  If that were the case, you'd think it would have made a bigger impact on things than it has.  Most people I know still have only heard of it from the media, and I've only met one or two people in real life who've owned any bitcoin.

Bitcoin won't create jobs, won't create factories, will not make people smart, will not combat corruption, government's stupidity or anything.

Right on.  That's why when I read the typical bounty spammer posting things like "bitcoin will bring us a bright future" or some other such nonsense, it drives me up a wall.  Those spammers are probably earning more money as a result of bitcoin, but I don't think it's made much of an impact on any country's economy overall--in fact, I'm pretty sure of that.  And then there are people who genuinely believe those things about bitcoin.  If there's any evidence that bitcoin has helped a society overall, I'd sure like to hear about it.

[MonsterV]

I have a little knowledge of Nigeria, maybe I know that Nigeria is an oil-producing country. Not only that, I have also read that the economy in your country is quite advanced among other African countries and Nigeria in 2014 has been named the largest economy in Africa.

And what is familiar about Nigeria is its scam level, well your country is one of the biggest scam countries in the world. Sorry for that, it's not like I'm vilifying your country, but I'm talking about facts. But I am very sure that bitcoin will be a new land for nigeria citizens to earn income, because I know nigeria has a high level of internet users, I also often order services on some nigeria citizens.

I hope that with bitcoin, it will reduce the level of scammers in Nigeria because there will be more places to find new income that Nigerian citizens can find in bitcoin.

Bitcoin won't create jobs, won't create factories, will not make people smart, will not combat corruption, government's stupidity or anything.

Well maybe Lucius intention is to create a new way of making money where Nigerian citizens can trade in the bitcoin market with high volatility.

Maybe many people think that bitcoin won't have an impact on the country's economy, but for me bitcoin has an impact on my own economy. It's just that if everyone in a country knows bitcoin, it might have a big impact on that country. And I have read reviews about bitcoin from a number of forum members, that bitcoin has brought changes to their economy.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1106196.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1478069.0;viewResults

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

I must admit that I do not know what is the current economic situation in Nigeria, but Bitcoin is not some magic currency that can change things over night and help people to live better.

I don't know anything about Nigeria's economy or anything else--I'd actually like to hear a little more from OP about what things are like there and how he thinks bitcoin might help. 

I totally agree with all what you guys have said and that was my main reason for this thread. I thought there was something I'm not aware of that bitcoin can magically do. I get so confused when I attend seminar to socialize with like minds and all I hear (when they're about promoting bitcoin to novices attending the seminar) that bitcoin can do this, bitcoin can do that for the nation economy when actually those benefits they speak of are attributes of the blockchain technology and not bitcoin (as a curreny).

The country's economy is totally dependant on Oil (petroleum) and a little bit of agriculture (at least that's what the government tells us). I'm of the believe bitcoin as an acceptable payment option can have an impact on the business sector of the country's economy by removing boundaries, giving merchant the privilege to extend their business beyond the boundaries of the country as a result bringing more revenue into the country.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

And what is familiar about Nigeria is its scam level, well your country is one of the biggest scam countries in the world.

Well if it wasn't for that damn Nigerian prince scam thing that's become infamous....lol.  But seriously, there are probably as many scammers in the United States or anywhere else.  Unfortunately, it's the first thing that comes to mind when I hear about Nigeria. 

The country's economy is totally dependant on Oil (petroleum) and a little bit of agriculture (at least that's what the government tells us).

Thanks for the info, I do appreciate it.  I wasn't aware of Nigeria's oil-rich state, nor its agriculture.  I did take a single course in geography in college, but that's about it and it was years ago. 

The quick payment thing is definitely something bitcoin can do, but I just wonder if people would rather use a service like PayPal or any of the other similar payment processors that can function the same.  It's not like you can't send money around the world for a very low fee these days.  Granted, there's no anonymity with those payment methods, but that's not something everyone worries about. 

I would think that the advantage of bitcoin is that you don't have to rely on a bank account in order to send money.  That's something that PayPal does require, and I'm pretty sure other services like that do require bank accounts in order to fund them.  Don't know about Nigeria specifically, but there are a lot of unbanked people living in the world who can't send money around the world because they don't have a checking account.  Then again, if that's the case then they might not be able to buy any bitcoin in the first place.   

[hatshepsut93]

Practical benefits:

Some people will get rich by being early investors, some people will earn money by working for bitcoins, some people will profit from mining, some people will use it for international transactions that they couldn't do otherwise.

Theoretical benefits:

Bitcoin preserves the wealth in case national currency crumbles, Bitcoin fuels shadow economy (can be a good or a bad thing, depending on who you ask), Bitcoin has allows your people to economically connect with people from any other country, and so on.

The problem here that theoretical benefits remain theoretical because there's not enough adoption in the world to see if Bitcoin can indeed have such effects on economy.

[stompix]

Maybe many people think that bitcoin won't have an impact on the country's economy, but for me bitcoin has an impact on my own economy. It's just that if everyone in a country knows bitcoin, it might have a big impact on that country. And I have read reviews about bitcoin from a number of forum members, that bitcoin has brought changes to their economy.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1106196.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1478069.0;viewResults

I don't want to sound rude but you, me, Lucius, hatshepsut93, The Pharmacist and the OP we are irrelevant on a national scale, especially the size of Nigeria.
Our finance won't make a dent unless one of the above is Satoshi.
Same for the all the ones that entered and voted that topic. (Is loaded there:P?)

So, let's do the math to back my opinion.

Let's assume that Nigerians own all the bitcoin!  All! And they have bought it at 0 cents!
That would be a humongous $193,017,405,309 , half of the GDP of 375.8 billion.
But, that's the GDP, an annual indicator, the bitcoin is a whole 10 year gain!
Anyhow, divided by the wikipedia population of 200,962,417, we have the humongous...sum of 900$ per capita. Still pretty nice.

Let's go to reality. I doubt that Nigerians own more than 1% of all the bitcoins and I feel tempted to put a 0 before but let's say it like that, let's also assume the entry point was 3k$.
And from 900$ per capita, we're down to ...6$. A Bigmac Large Menu!

Oh, and please don't think that by trading you could have earned more.
Without somebody losing you can't make more than the market cap, so Nigerians earning more than that would mean some other country is bleeding money because of Bitcoin.

Don't know about Nigeria specifically, but there are a lot of unbanked people living in the world who can't send money around the world because they don't have a checking account.  Then again, if that's the case then they might not be able to buy any bitcoin in the first place.  

Remember the Cyprus crisis?
Everyone there was buying bitcoins because they had their bank accounts frozen!
How earth they were doing this nobody knows, but it has to be true.  

[lixer]

There are numerous benefits of bitcoin to your country, but I am sorry to say, but your governments are too blind to this because they are more concerned about government and how to stall funds. One of the benefit of bitcoin to them is that it could crated job, look at when we talk of OTC , there are so many exchanges that could open for bitcoin transactions and they could earn commission for it like they do for some of these pay point, because I visited Nigeria(Lagos ) of recent and I saw the business being rampant.

One of the thing that is also killing the economy of Nigeria is that there are too many middle men always involved in a transaction, but with bitcoin, it could eliminate that and make transaction faster and even more secured than their traditional bank.

[joniboini]

Some people will get rich by being early investors, some people will earn money by working for bitcoins, some people will profit from mining, some people will use it for international transactions that they couldn't do otherwise.

This is probably the general benefits of a country. But there is also a barrier of entry to each of them. You need capital to bought some Bitcoins so that it could get you crazy returns, you need to know how mining works and buy rigs for that, and so on. Anyway, the first benefits might be no longer valid because 1 Bitcoin is priced at $10k or so, so unless they wanted to wait for years, I don't think the average joe would get great benefits from that.

Creating new exchanges will probably give short-term benefits, which is job opening, but I doubt exchanges would hire thousands of people. So it's marginal if you count it on national scale imo.

[Lucius]

CryptopreneurBrainboss, we all post some opinions, and they are of course different, which is quite normal. But what interests me is Bitcoin in any way help you in your life, do you live better or similar as before?

Probably Bitcoin cannot help one country as a whole, but it can help individuals who can then change things around for the better. I look for some info about cryptocurrency in Nigeria and I see you have few crypto exchanges in country, Nairaex seems to be most popular.

I do not know what percentage of Nigerians are using Bitcoin and altcoins, but i found interesting info in this article :

According to Nigerian Blockchain Solutions Ltd. CEO Mr. Lucky Uwakwe, 51% of people see Bitcoin as a profitable long-term investment. 19% of people use Bitcoin for remittance purposes, and 30% of Nigerians regularly use Bitcoin to shop online or transfer money to friends and family. In all cases, the appeal of Bitcoin is simple. Bitcoin consistently performs better than the Naira on world currency markets. This makes it easier for Nigerian entrepreneurs to do business internationally. It also gives everyday Nigerians a way to protect personal savings, as the Naira loses value against the Dollar and Euro.

[dothebeats]

Bitcoin is not a magical creation that will solve the world's problems in poverty, corruption and economic downturns. It's a decentralized currency and that's just it. Perhaps bitcoin is overrated when it terms to such issues due to what happened in Venezuela--though that in itself proved to be false due to other factors affecting transactions within the country. Anyway back to Nigeria, bitcoin is money, and if people don't have their own money to trade for bitcoins, they won't have it, and they're stuck in the vicious circle unless something happens that will break the chain i.e. a caring leader who'd break walls to establish a new Nigeria. Sadly though, that doesn't seem to come into a reality, and wouldn't be in the near future.

[ololajulo]

Presently the system is affect by the threat of Government security agent to control the spending of the suspected corrupt officers, although this security agency are not absolutely free of corruption itself. This has led to hoarding of dollars among the rich and some even running out of the country. These so called rich men keep their monies at home not even the banks to prevent the security and other financial agency from monitoring. I dont support corruption but the way is been handled controls fund exchange and money in the economy. Bitcoin as a store of value can keep this fund safe and also engage exchange within the system (within and outside the country) for other lucrative use without been monitored.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

CryptopreneurBrainboss, we all post some opinions, and they are of course different, which is quite normal. But what interests me is Bitcoin in any way help you in your life, do you live better or similar as before?

If i can recall correctly I have replied on numerous thread relating to how bitcoin have affected my life positively, I don't think there's any individual who have invested in bitcoin that hasn't been affected positively especially if that individual is the patient type. I do live better now and been on the forum has also been supportive.

The reason for this thread was to get an idea of how bitcoin would affect the economy of the country if it's been recognized by the government or atleast been used by more individual just as other nations are experiencing a rapid increase in bitcoin adoption. Currently in the country bitcoin is been used mainly as an investment vehicle to financial freedom. I see some point in your statement, so the focus should be helping individuals have a better life with investing in bitcoin then it will reflect on the economy as a whole right?.

[milesfull]

What are the benefits of bitcoin to any country economy? I dont know. It may be helpful only in Iran or venezuela there visa are banned

[stompix]

I do not know what percentage of Nigerians are using Bitcoin and altcoins, but i found interesting info in this article :

According to Nigerian Blockchain Solutions Ltd. CEO Mr. Lucky Uwakwe, 51% of people see Bitcoin as a profitable long-term investment. 19% of people use Bitcoin for remittance purposes, and 30% of Nigerians regularly use Bitcoin to shop online or transfer money to friends and family. In all cases, the appeal of Bitcoin is simple. Bitcoin consistently performs better than the Naira on world currency markets. This makes it easier for Nigerian entrepreneurs to do business internationally. It also gives everyday Nigerians a way to protect personal savings, as the Naira loses value against the Dollar and Euro.

That is worse than Soviet Propaganda!

30% of Nigerians use bitcoins regularly? What the hell does he mean by regularly?
Nigeria has a population of 200 million, 30% means 60 f millions!

There are 400 million transactions in the entire blockchain if any of those 60 million regular users would have made 3 transactions it means that half of the chain is made from transactions from Nigeria!
But, let's say that's possible! 

There are currently 26 786 434 addresses with a balance, half of them with less than 10$, how it is possible that 60 million people use Bitcoin regularly?
That guy has no shame promoting his crappy exchange.

[stfN2128]

To be honest i don't really know something about the economic situation in nigeria. I don't think that bitcoin will be used widely as a currency in the near future. Its still a store of value for me, maybe ongoing development in the future will change this.
The big PRO on bitcoin for me is still the fact, that it's not controlled by any gov. It cannot be produced unlimited as they do it with currencies, backed by nothing. You already know how much bitcoin will exist in 10 or 20 years.

[sandra_x]

Benin City, a City in the southern parts Nigeria, ranked 3rd globally among cities with the highest number of google search(https://cointelegraph.com/news/these-are-the-cities-googling-bitcoin-as-interest-hits-17-month-high?fbclid=IwAR3LM18Ih1JPbMtAJrxutxwZBZFbTwXlWejldVFHl0xnVHKl6GvYzmc6WEA)
That is an indication of the level of interest. However,much of these are for speculative investments and not really for practical uses such as supporting local businesses, ecommerce  and cross-boarder payments.
If there are no/little practical use in commerce, then bitcoin in Nigeria is not doing anything exceptional or different from local currencies

[BitHodler]

Perhaps bitcoin is overrated when it terms to such issues due to what happened in Venezuela--though that in itself proved to be false due to other factors affecting transactions within the country.

It's so unfortunate that news outlets contribute to the narrative of Bitcoin being a safe haven currency in these countries, while in reality it's rarely being used as such because most people just can't afford it.

I get it that there might be a very small number of people actually using it as they claim, but the average few dollar per day earner there can't participate in a fee bidding war where the highest bidder gets its transactions included in a block.

If that wasn't enough, most of these people don't have a consistent internet connection that would allow them to use it whenever they want. They need and use physical money, mainly us dollars because it works at all times.