Africa’s crypto market has grown by more than 1,200% since 2020: Chainalysis

[Nathrixxx]

Goodnews over Africa in the crypto world as it was rank one of the most effective active user of p2p exchanges such as Paxful among others, Nigeria to be precise has recorded a tremendous performances in this regards with an outstanding increase in numbers of users with active account, you could recall her recent ban of crypto by the government and the citizens have soughted for an alternative crypto trading platforms (exchanges) which is more preferred than the cross boarder transactions by Fiat with high cost on transaction fee/charges in a bid to avoid inflation, this has also help in the increase of Nigeria's Economy and more visible chances could lead to it adoption by the government at a later run.

P2P platforms, the need for remittances to circumvent restrictions from banks, and putting savings into crypto as a means of avoiding inflation could have contributed to the growing market in Africa.

Chainalysis said Africa’s crypto market increased in value by more than 1,200% between July 2020 and June 2021, with high adoption in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and Tanzania. The company added that the popularity of P2P platforms could have been one of the driving factors toward greater crypto adoption in the region, given some countries have restricted or banned residents from sending money to exchanges through local banks.

If the government put in place by the people to effectively work and regulate the economy, make policy and implement strategies to economy development but couldn't than placing restriction on crypto which could have been one of the aiming soughted out solution, the populace have rather in their own way create an alternative to sustain their respective businesses and exchange market thereby avoiding inflation and solving the problem of remittance limiting number of funds to transfer abroad.
With this developments, I hope it will create an upper edge toward the adoption of crypto back in Nigeria specifically and increase the performance and participation the more in Africa as a whole.

[Kittygalore]

This will grow much bigger if the government is supporting crypto, one example of untapped potential is Nigeria, they have a big marlet in P2P but their government and central bank isn't supporting the crypto community even though the over all result of crypto for the economy is mostly positive.

[paxmao]

I am not surprised for a couple of reasons: The first one is that bitcoin tends to do well in two types of countries, that is, those which are following irresponsible monetary policies or have serious issues with governance and, on the opposite side of the spectrum, those that do very well and have wealthy citizens buying bitcoin.
The second reason is because when you have little, is easy to see it grow massively even with moderate adoption.

[kryptqnick]

It's good that there are p2p exchanges, but this is for trading or for selling Bitcoin for fiat in order to actually use it. How common is direct usage of cryptos in countries like Nigeria? Can people pay for goods and services with it, or is Bitcoin merely a way to make profit there?
Also, 4 countries out of the whole continent that has 54 countries is impressive, but I guess not enough to talk generally about how cryptos are very popular in Africa. What about the majority of countries there? I think it's wrong to overgeneralize a big and diverse place, based on limited data from 16% of the countries out there.

[Kakmakr]

It is widely known that the Nigerians are some of the most active scammers out there, so using them as an example of a country in Africa that are growing the fastest on their Crypto market... should raise some red flags.

One of the advantages of using Crypto currencies are the pseudo anonymity that goes with the technology and also the fact that transactions cannot be reversed. (Like with Credit cards)

A technology like this can be a asset for the African continent, but it can also be a tool for scammers to extort money from people. (  “Nigerian prince” scam, also known as the “419” scam ) 

[Charles-Tim]

Also, 4 countries out of the whole continent that has 54 countries is impressive, but I guess not enough to talk generally about how cryptos are very popular in Africa. What about the majority of countries there? I think it's wrong to overgeneralize a big and diverse place, based on limited data from 16% of the countries out there.

Have you checked the above Chainanalysis data before based on PPP. Although, based on PPP but it is still an indication that there are still other countries in Africa that are involved in crypto adoption. Out of first 20 countries listed, 5 African countries are among.

Insert Quote
It is widely known that the Nigerians are some of the most active scammers out there, so using them as an example of a country in Africa that are growing the fastest on their Crypto market... should raise some red flags.

Your post simply means those using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are scammers and you are indeed wrong. You are just having the opinion just like few leaders in Nigeria like CBN governor and EFCC chairman that deemed decentralized currencies bad and illegitimate and misleading people, especially the CBN governor that only have interest of e-naira while condemning decentralized currencies just for people to go for e-naira that will be pegged with naira and significantly subjected to devaluation.

One of the advantages of using Crypto currencies are the pseudo anonymity that goes with the technology and also the fact that transactions cannot be reversed. (Like with Credit cards)

Why comparing cryptocurrencies to credit cards?

[Gozie51]

It's good that there are p2p exchanges, but this is for trading or for selling Bitcoin for fiat in order to actually use it. How common is direct usage of cryptos in countries like Nigeria? Can people pay for goods and services with it, or is Bitcoin merely a way to make profit there?

If there is room for P2P trading with ease that means with little more time, such transaction will commence if it is not already because buyers and sellers relationship is fast growing and I won't doubt if some are already exchanging some items and paying in btc. There are online sales and delivery system going on in Nigeria , though yet to confirm if btc is added to there payment system but surely P2P is in top rave at the moment and that creates faster awareness than decentralized exchanges.

[el kaka22]

I wouldn't be shocked about it. Crypto has the slogan of "banking the unbanked" for a reason and that reason is no joke. We are talking about something that is helping the people all around the world, but the lower financial nations that have a lot less wealth do use it the most.

After all, if you are a person in USA and a big economy state like New York or California and you are let's say a developer then doing something for 50 bucks is not really that interesting, you may if you are a kid but if you are a good developer that has been coding for 10+ years then you will say no to 50 bucks, probably no to 200+ bucks as well, it has to be like 500 bucks to interest you at least.

In Africa, there are 10+ year developers that would jump into 50 bucks and compete to get it, which allows Africans to get the jobs a lot easier, they are equally great developers who are just in a bad economy nation, so companies in crypto world hire them and they bring in money to their nation and all around works for them amazingly.

[Coyster]

The Bitcoin market in Africa would definitely continue to grow, the thing is, Bitcoin is more about control and freedom for its users and since many governments in Africa tend not only to be corrupt, but also somewhat dictatorial, it's only necessary that its citizens somewhat put their finances in their hands and try to control it to an extent by using Bitcoin, the government may not like that, but as long as there is P2p service, there is little or nothing they can do about it.

We recall the situation in Nigeria and their ban on banks handling crypto transactions from exchanges, it was more or less counterproductive as it didn't dissuade the teeming crypto population in Nigeria as Nigerians in mass just basically adopted p2p transactions, but what we must come to accept is that since Bitcoin is decentralized, it must face hostilities from a centralized government that wants to control absolutely everything.

[Twinkledoe]

The Bitcoin market in Africa would definitely continue to grow, the thing is, Bitcoin is more about control and freedom for its users and since many governments in Africa tend not only to be corrupt, but also somewhat dictatorial, it's only necessary that its citizens somewhat put their finances in their hands and try to control it to an extent by using Bitcoin, the government may not like that, but as long as there is P2p service, there is little or nothing they can do about it.

We recall the situation in Nigeria and their ban on banks handling crypto transactions from exchanges, it was more or less counterproductive as it didn't dissuade the teeming crypto population in Nigeria as Nigerians in mass just basically adopted p2p transactions, but what we must come to accept is that since Bitcoin is decentralized, it must face hostilities from a centralized government that wants to control absolutely everything.

I do agree that corruption is rampant in African region and a lot of its people will really opt to hide their assets by other means like putting it into crypto. And since p2p still exists, then, they have no problem converting their crypto to fiat, if needed. But if the government will find out that it is better to regulate it rather than being strict about it, because with regulation, at least they can get some taxes from crypto-related business even if they can't get a hold of all crypto transactions, they will soon be much open to it.

[coupable]

It's good that there are p2p exchanges, but this is for trading or for selling Bitcoin for fiat in order to actually use it. How common is direct usage of cryptos in countries like Nigeria? Can people pay for goods and services with it, or is Bitcoin merely a way to make profit there?
Also, 4 countries out of the whole continent that has 54 countries is impressive, but I guess not enough to talk generally about how cryptos are very popular in Africa. What about the majority of countries there? I think it's wrong to overgeneralize a big and diverse place, based on limited data from 16% of the countries out there.

This is exactly what i was thinking about right after reading the full report from Chainanalysis. The report was made based only on the number of transactions via P2P platforms [localbitcoins,Paxful] and focus on the example of few countries where users moved from Binance to P2P platforms to avoid sanctions from central banks, which causes a significant growth in P2P adoption. However, this is far to give an accurate result. The number of people using binance in other African countries is much more bigger than those 4 countries having the highest rate according to the report. And as we can't determine how many people are using cryptocurrencies apart those using centralised/P2P exchanges, almost all statistics can't reveal the real mass of adoption, all arround the world and not just for Africa .

[Jating]

It's good that there are p2p exchanges, but this is for trading or for selling Bitcoin for fiat in order to actually use it. How common is direct usage of cryptos in countries like Nigeria? Can people pay for goods and services with it, or is Bitcoin merely a way to make profit there?
Also, 4 countries out of the whole continent that has 54 countries is impressive, but I guess not enough to talk generally about how cryptos are very popular in Africa. What about the majority of countries there? I think it's wrong to overgeneralize a big and diverse place, based on limited data from 16% of the countries out there.

This is exactly what i was thinking about right after reading the full report from Chainanalysis. The report was made based only on the number of transactions via P2P platforms [localbitcoins,Paxful] and focus on the example of few countries where users moved from Binance to P2P platforms to avoid sanctions from central banks, which causes a significant growth in P2P adoption. However, this is far to give an accurate result. The number of people using binance in other African countries is much more bigger than those 4 countries having the highest rate according to the report. And as we can't determine how many people are using cryptocurrencies apart those using centralised/P2P exchanges, almost all statistics can't reveal the real mass of adoption, all arround the world and not just for Africa .

And it also shows that the data might not reflect the whole status in Africa. Definitely, Nigeria is leading all bitcoin activity and maybe majority of the data come from them. So I wouldn't put 100% faith in that news. Definitely welcoming, but there could be some gap as well.

So let's look at it in a positive way, maybe when the government in Africa builds infrastructure to support the growth of crypto, then we might see Africa leading the adoption because that is a huge market to explore, just ask Jack Dorsey about it.

[Rruchi man]

There's a high rate of poverty & economic hardship in Africa, the young, conscious and digital minded have singled out multiple opportunities in the crypto market and are taking full advantage of it.

With the high rate of volatility in the crypto market, most persons have been able to take advantage and improve their standard of living from the good profits they have made from their crypto experience.

[Emitdama]

The cryptocurrency ban that was initiated by the Nigerian government seemed like it triggered so many people in that country to start making use of cryptocurrency. A lot of them now has moved into making use of peer-to-peer crypto currency exchanges, and that goes to show how strong the cryptocurrency community can be; they are always unstoppable.

Nigeria has recorded as the number one country in Africa in making use of cryptocurrency.Another country in Africa that is strongly making use of crypto currency is South Africa, and if I’m right Kenya is another one.Some people have said that this number will increase more when the government becomes in support of cryptocurrency, but I don’t really think so. Whether their government is in support of cryptocurrency or not, it is still going to continue growing in all these countries.

[Desmong]

Maybe be the reason could be due to the economy of many African countries that had been trying to meet up with other economy to be stable. Many African citizens are afraid of the fluctuation of their own economy making them to switch to a more benefiting currency that can yield excellent income.

[wxa7115]

This will grow much bigger if the government is supporting crypto, one example of untapped potential is Nigeria, they have a big marlet in P2P but their government and central bank isn't supporting the crypto community even though the over all result of crypto for the economy is mostly positive.

That is precisely why they are not going to support bitcoin, when governments begin to lose control of the economy the first thing that they do is to forbid their citizens to use a currency other than the one that they can print, and they do this because they know that with inflation they can steal your wealth and in that way keep themselves in power.

However if you use anything else but their own currencies then they do not have that power over you, and they particularly fear bitcoin because at least with other currencies or even gold they can easily confiscate them but when it comes to bitcoin this is a lot harder because people can move their coins over the Internet and have no evidence over them to signal this fact, so I'm not really surprised that countries like Nigeria do not really support bitcoin at all.

[fiulpro]

That's the case when the government is not really that fond of Bitcoins in the first place. For example look at this statement taken from google:

While government officials have advised against the use of bitcoin, there is no legislation against it and it remains fully legal. In December 2014 the Reserve Bank of South Africa issued a position paper on virtual currencies whereby it declared that virtual currency had 'no legal status or regulatory framework

Which does show us how the crypto market is not openly supported by the government which is a very important part for a country such as Africa where both local and international residents are sometimes more dependent on establishing the framework of p2p exchange and at the same time they are able to handle the market better than their own currency and it's more beneficial for them, due to excessive corruption in the central banks it's better to have such one world 🌍 currencies supporting people and the businesses independently. I think it would be beneficial if the government realizes what bitcoins is actually doing for their country.

[so98nn]

Pretty complicated news though! Last time I heard that Nigerian government is completely against the crypto currency use and they are banning all the accounts associated with it. I think it’s better to segregate the result as per North Africa and South Africa as the region is clearly differentiated with two different authorities. The overs result might be good for Africa but regional and local authorities are not in favour of crypto currency. As I started Nigeria which also constitute bigger populated country is having measure negative side impact on the use of bitcoin and are prohibited to invest in crypto. Not sure if these things have changed after my last update.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

This will grow much bigger if the government is supporting crypto, one example of untapped potential is Nigeria, they have a big marlet in P2P but their government and central bank isn't supporting the crypto community even though the over all result of crypto for the economy is mostly positive.

Do we need the government support for this to be effective? I think it's the government not supporting that's even driving the support/volume upwards. Unlike other nations, Nigerian tends not to follow the government directives since corrupt has gotten to majority of those in power, so if the government were to give their support they might decrease the increase of the citizens. They still haven't understood that instead of them fighting (which will drive the volume upwards), they should try supporting and see how many will lose interest lol.

Maybe the reason could be due to the economy of many African countries that had been trying to meet up with other economy to be stable. Many African citizens are afraid of the fluctuation of their own economy making them to switch to a more benefiting currency that can yield excellent income.

Actually that's the reason and in years to come we'll continue seeing such increase as the economy isn't getting any better. In country like Nigerian our local currency is declining daily and some to be in thousands just for one dollar. Jobs are been lost and the fiats is getting devalued against the dollars so yes cryptocurrency investment/trading is now the safest bet out there, just wished the citizens realize this early but it's never too late to invest.

[Vaskiy]

Not the grown country, but more number of growing countries find cryptocurrency as a way to boost the country's economy. This has been happening good in real-time, but the inappropriate plan and execution have made countries like Venezuela suffer even after its positive move with cryptocurrency usage. Now what we can see with Africa is the growth from the ground level, which means the common man have begun to use it in large scale fearing inflation of the local currency. This is the reason why we're seeing a massive bounce in the growth on African Crypto Market.