Cryptocurrencies as an alternative payment option in Africa.

[jamesndungu1]

Cryptocurrencies could be the savior to African, as many currencies across the continent have suffered never known before levels of instability for years, with a slight sign of improvement. Let’s look at the South African Rand, which suffered its biggest drop in a decade in October. The biggest example, however, is Zimbabwe which has continually suffered hyperinflation and even at some point, a simple loaf of bread cost more than ten million Zimbabwean dollars, sad, right?

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/south-african-currency-rand-drops-2018/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45822166

Africans are frustrated by declines in currencies and the option they are turning to is none other than cryptocurrencies as a financial alternative. Bitcoin, being the most common, has tumbled in price but the people are still resilient. This cryptocurrency craze poses as chance for the unbanked to access financial services and experience economic freedom. Given that Sub-Saharan Africa has the second-highest population of unbanked adults in the world, the cryptocurrency option could potentially revolutionize the entire African economy by targeting such individuals. Economic freedom is what everyone desires ultimately.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-payment-firm-volume-of-transactions-in-africa-has-risen-130-percent-in-2018

Poor internet connection and access in Africa could potentially slow down the growth of cryptocurrencies in Africa. Governments have a lot to do to make sure the continent will benefit from the fourth industrial revolution. It would be such a shame for a continent of 1.2 billion to not have the necessary infrastructure and technical knowledge to allow virtual money to flourish unrestrained.

https://news.bitcoin.com/poor-internet-access-could-slow-down-cryptocurrency-growth-in-africa/

Another factor that slows down adoption is regulations from some governments to the use of blockchain and cryptocurrencies in Africa. But despite the above-mentioned factors, the general population has absolutely no know-how on how to go about cryptocurrency exchanges. A small percentage of the population in my country for instance knows what Bitcoin is - We have several meet-ups Such as Bitcoin Kenya https://www.meetup.com/Kenya-Bitcoin/ with over 800 members meeting regularly - We try our best to educate our community on blockchain technology and its endless possibilities.

[carter34]

Simple questions :

Do you think that volatility syndrome of bitcoin better than the "fluctuating" fiat in Africa?

The slow network or no network at all, good for digital currency?

How long do you think it will take Africa to fix bad network?
Anyway, bitcoin adoption isn't very close to many continent for now, not only Africa.

[dengpei]

Cryptocurrencies could be the saviour to African, as many currencies across the continent have suffered never known before levels of instability for years, with a slight sign of improvement. Let’s look at the South African Rand, which suffered its biggest drop in a decade in October. The biggest example, however, is Zimbabwe which has continually suffered hyperinflation and even at some point, a simple loaf of bread cost more than ten million Zimbabwean dollars, sad, right?

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/south-african-currency-rand-drops-2018/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45822166

Africans are frustrated by declines in currencies and the option they are turning to is none other than cryptocurrencies as a financial alternative. Bitcoin, being the most common, has tumbled in price but the people are still resilient. This cryptocurrency craze poses a chance for the unbanked to access financial services and experience economic freedom. Given that Sub-Saharan Africa has the second-highest population of unbanked adults in the world, the cryptocurrency option could potentially revolutionize the entire African economy by targeting such individuals. Economic freedom is what everyone desires ultimately.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-payment-firm-volume-of-transactions-in-africa-has-risen-130-percent-in-2018

A poor internet connection and access in Africa could potentially slow down the growth of cryptocurrencies in Africa. Governments have a lot to do to make sure the continent will benefit from the fourth industrial revolution. It would be such a shame for a continent of 1.2 billion to not have the necessary infrastructure and technical knowledge to allow virtual money to flourish unrestrained.

https://news.bitcoin.com/poor-internet-access-could-slow-down-cryptocurrency-growth-in-africa/

Another factor that slows down adoption is regulations from some governments to the use of blockchain and cryptocurrencies in Africa. But despite the above-mentioned factors, the general population has absolutely no know-how on how to go about cryptocurrency exchanges. A small percentage of the population in my country, for instance, knows what Bitcoin is - We have several meet-ups Such as Bitcoin Kenya https://www.meetup.com/Kenya-Bitcoin/ with over 800 members meeting regularly - We try our best to educate our community on blockchain technology and its endless possibilities.

Yes, cryptocurrencies could play a part in Africa's economic success but it is important to note that cryptocurrencies are not miracle workers! While they can make trade smooth and help to mitigate hyperinflationary pressures, they won't fix corrupt and repressive governments.

 It's a well-known fact that the problems with the South African rand stem from the ANC and Ramaphosa's vote-buying issues and the whole public protector debacle while in the same vein Zimbabwe has a corrupt, incompetent government that lacks legitimacy as it came into power via the 14 November coup and the disputed 31 July elections. Those problems are heavily affecting these economies and do not need crypto to fix but political will and reforms.

[AXEwang]

AXE is a crypto currency that targets to become Alipay for Africa. It is already present in Latin America for a while and now growing in Ghana and Nigeria. Since it is on Zel wallet, there is easy conversion to FIAT anytime. It is recently presented in the Blockchain Woman conference.

https://medium.com/@axecoin001/axe-a-better-payment-solution-for-africa-d4236deb320a

[Daniel91]

I have some experience sending bitcoin to friends in Africa.
It was very complicate to do in reality because of many problems.
First, they don't have electricity often.
Second, situation with Internet is even worse, in country side almost no Internet.
So, when we talk about Cryptocurrencies as an alternative payment option in Africa, we have to understand infrastructure problems that Africa has.
Until that is resolved, there is no chance that cryptocurrency payments will come to life there. 

[Linkkoin]

I have some experience sending bitcoin to friends in Africa.
It was very complicate to do in reality because of many problems.
First, they don't have electricity often.
Second, situation with Internet is even worse, in country side almost no Internet.
So, when we talk about Cryptocurrencies as an alternative payment option in Africa, we have to understand infrastructure problems that Africa has.
Until that is resolved, there is no chance that cryptocurrency payments will come to life there. 

What about making a cold wallet containing a specified amount of BTC, and p2p transaction?

[carter34]

The currency fall in Africa is synonymous with countries that are dependent, un-manufacturing and total reliance on other countries for what they use.
For example, what export and exchange does to a country is that, it grows the exchange powers and stocks up the foreign reserve because investors are going to put their money either to manufacture in that country or exchange for finished goods.
The domicile country has an upper hand to negotiate the currency for use on the transaction if they have the technology to manufacture and skill.

[Raja_MBZ]

According to this Binance research, a few African countries seem to be quite interested in learning about bitcoin, with Nigeria and South Africa on the top:

Visualized changes in heat ranking of “Bitcoin” #BTC in Google search by each Country/Region from Jan 2011 to today.

Noticeably, relative search trends of "Bitcoin" within each country have shifted from West to East, and most recently, Africa.

https://twitter.com/BinanceResearch/status/1177123438277754881

[ChrisPop]

I think that Africa can make the big leap from being mostly unbanked directly to adopting cryptocurrencies. No need to adopt electronic fiat payments anymore. Like mPesa was a big hit that helped the African economy so much so can Bitcoin or an alternative maybe stable crypto coin can be! I do believe that Africa is one of the biggest treasures of the world and we don't put much emphasis on developing the continent. Big investments must be made in the infrastructure there. Why don't we make the fiat an alternative payment option and make crypto the mainstream currency?!

[carter34]

Why don't we make the fiat an alternative payment option and make crypto the mainstream currency?!

Friend I don't know if this is a serious question and I don't know if you intend it. A continent that can trive and grow with confusion after pushing off fiat to be alternative while crypto become the mainstream currency are those that are technological driven and Africa is not there yet.

[3core]

How long do you think it will take Africa to fix bad network?
Anyway, bitcoin adoption isn't very close to many continent for now, not only Africa.

I think it's easier to convert btc to usdt (for example) by sitting at home than trying to convert your local currency to more stable or vice versa. Local exchanges offer not a good rate at all and governments prohibit exchange of currencies. Crypto could give people the opportunity to have control over their money and become independent from local currencies fluctuations.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

According to this Binance research, a few African countries seem to be quite interested in learning about bitcoin, with Nigeria and South Africa on the top:

And Binance is seizing the opportunity to get as much Africans especially Nigerians on board as possible by offering them the ability to trade their cryptocurrency with Naira, and also withdraw from the exchange, thread; Nigeria Naira becomes first Fiat currencies to be listed on Binance. No doubt Bitcoin has impacted the enthusiast from Africa positively but this myth of bitcoin been Africa savior is the reason many projects are popping up daily scamming Investors from Africa with the cover story of wanting to save the continent. I previously replied to this thread; Akon endorses Akoin to save Africa which is proposing the same BS. When it comes to saving the continents economy,

Africa as a continent only its citizens can save themselves when they realize they have the power to do so. Cryptocurrency is just a currency on a blockchain and not some God economy saver as it's presume to be by many. Until we realized this, the scammers would still be taking advantage of our ignorance to make millions/billions of dollars.

The benefits of bitcoin (cryptocurrency) in the continent currently revolves around them been an investment opportunities since the citizens has lost trust in the traditional investment vehicles. When it comes to everyday utility purpose we're still far behind and that won't be happening anything soon considering the current infrastructure challenges like Internet or availability of cheap smart phone/computers etc although we're still optimistic that's why peer2peer transaction is quite common in the region.

[pakhitheboss]

Has anyone of you checked Google trends?

Do me a favor - Go to Google trends today and then Type Bitcoin and on the country search first select worldwide and then select South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria.

These are the countries where people use the internet to search for Bitcoin. They are the highest, such as the popularity of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency.

Yes, Africa will change because of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

[Soldierswitlittlefaith]

Simple questions :

Do you think that volatility syndrome of bitcoin better than the "fluctuating" fiat in Africa?

The slow network or no network at all, good for digital currency?

How long do you think it will take Africa to fix bad network?
Anyway, bitcoin adoption isn't very close to many continent for now, not only Africa.

@carter34,


"...Anyway, bitcoin adoption isn't very close to many continent for now, not only Africa.  ..."

FYI, there is no govt in AFRICA. i'm willing to drop 1 bitcoin in an escrow for anybody who think otherwise with proof.

I assume you are speaking as an outsider. Go to Africa and see what an average child goes through in order to get 1 square  meal a day.
Well, the citizen can choose to use (not adopt) any currency they prefer most and drop the latter. What is the benefit of using a dead currency?


Thanks
Soldierwitlittlefaith