Using Crypto ≠ Adopting Bitcoin: Are Nigerians Really Adopting Bitcoin?

[L E G E N D A R Y]

According to findings, Nigeria has managed to make their way to one of the countries with the highest crypto adoption rate, and that’s quite a big thing for Naija in the crypto presence.  But I’ve just been thinking, is it really true that Nigerians are really adopting Bitcoin for real or we are simply just using crypto to solve our financial wahalas?

For instance, Buying USDT simply to shield our Naira from depreciation, trading BTC simply for short term profits or using crypto to receive and send money across borders when we have need for it, all these are simply using crypto.

And when we talk about Adopting Bitcoin, it goes way deeper than just all these. It’s all about really understanding and valuing Bitcoin for its decentralization, financial freedom, limited supply, and complete autonomy and independence from third party/centralized institutions.

So what category does the majority of the Nigerian crypto community/users really fall under?? Adopters or users??

[Nathrixxx]

For sure song that really understand what bitcoin is are investing in it without considering for altcoin in serious manner, but you will also discover that some people are only being freak about cryptocurrency and does not know the difference between what bitcoin can offer them to what other altcoins can do, that you are a member of this forum choose that you truly understand more about bitcoin and are willing to prioritize investment on bitcoin than other alts in crypto.

I wouldn't be surprised as well to hear that some Nigerian citizens who are desperate about making money will go for some of these altcoins without weighing the risk in between.

[Donk1]

​I am sincerely trying to get the difference but you certainly didn't make a great point on differentiating it. Don't get me wrong, but to me when someone makes use of something, it means he has adopted it, and when you are classifying everyone who makes use of it you call them users. Nigerians who make use of Bitcoin adopted it because they saw its value and were searching for an alternative that can free them from third parties. So if Bitcoin didn't have what it takes, then no one would have made use of it. Thus, it's easy to say all what you said are the reasons for Bitcoin adoption. Its unique nature is its source of value, and without us users making use of it, then there will almost certainly be no value in Bitcoin as the network can't run without us..

[Webutxo]

For instance, Buying USDT simply to shield our Naira from depreciation, trading BTC simply for short term profits or using crypto to receive and send money across borders when we have need for it, all these are simply using crypto.

And when we talk about Adopting Bitcoin, it goes way deeper than just all these. It’s all about really understanding and valuing Bitcoin for its decentralization, financial freedom, limited supply, and complete autonomy and independence from third party/centralized institutions.

So what category does the majority of the Nigerian crypto community/users really fall under?? Adopters or users??

Do you want to know the truth? Nigerians have highest number of crypto adoption because of remittance and not because of holding. There are Nigerians that hold coins but they are few, the rest of the people that buy Bitcoin and stable coins use it to send and receive money from outside the country. Most tech guys use crypto and other coins as payments from other part of the world, this is why Nigeria lead in numbers but we are not the highest holders.

The usdt market is dominated by Nigerians when it comes to p2p because of remittance, many people don't like to use these companies that remit money due regulations make payments very hard for their customers and it takes days before you see your payments if you are using companies. If you are using stable coins and Bitcoin, you can get credited under some minutes and money will get converted to NGN without any problem, this is why we lead in adoption remittance.

[Coyster]

I'm not sure how you came about that difference, but i don't agree. Adoption is using bitcoin for whatever purpose the owner of the key decides. Even if you don't understand so much about bitcoin, but you use it, that is adoption, we can talk about your lack of firm understanding in a different discussion, but if the subject is about adoption, then you're contributing to it.

For instance, Buying USDT simply to shield our Naira from depreciation, trading BTC simply for short term profits or using crypto to receive and send money across borders when we have need for it, all these are simply using crypto.

All of these are a great part of bitcoin adoption.

[Btcdeybodi]

So what category does the majority of the Nigerian crypto community/users really fall under?? Adopters or users??

You asked a wrong question. Using bitcoin is part of its adoption, unless you have a different meaning to what your refer as ''users''. In the real sense of what adoption means, it simply refers to the acceptance and usage of bitcoin in our daily life financial activities. The real adoption is when money is used not hold, but because we want our money to have more value in the long term that is the reason why we hold instead of using it as daily payment system. With my explanation you can see that most Nigerians in the crypto industry are bitcoin adopters because having something to do with bitcoin is an adoption, even if you later liquidate it or trade it to obtain fiat currency.

[Iroh]

You don't just manage to find yourself among the countries with the highest crypto adoption rate. The instances you gave, isn't that what adoption of crypto is all about? It's quite obvious. A good number of Nigerians has understood and valued the importance of crypto and gone ahead to use it however they want.
A lot of Nigerians do understand the value of bitcoin and as much as there are short term investors, there are more long term investors out there. Most of them probably don't go about constantly telling people how many sats/bitcoin they've got.

There's actually no need for a category. The process of adopting involves using it first. Don't you think?

[casey15]

I do believe that usage in a way equals adoption. If people are ready to use it, it means a that they have accepted it into their daily routine.
I think there are more usdt users than any other especially dur to the uprise of remote and freelance roles .
When it comes to Bitcoin, a lot of people don't really transact with it. They rather keep for profit and then convert to fiat, I wouldn't really call that an adoption because it is treated more like a business for profit making  than a currency. But usdt hass had the most adoption and usage. I'm not talking from stats though just from my own observation and things I've experienced.

[Hatchy]

And when we talk about Adopting Bitcoin, it goes way deeper than just all these. It’s all about really understanding and valuing Bitcoin for its decentralization, financial freedom, limited supply, and complete autonomy and independence from third party/centralized institutions.

What is your definition of adoption? If people are using crypto to escape the inflatory nature of the economy, isn't that already adoption? Nigeria, I mean Africa has been one of the continent with most crypto adoption all over the world. Even though there were many set backs including those from government restrictions and all that, African countries were finding their ways into the crypto space for different reasons thus the rise in the rate of adoption.

So what category does the majority of the Nigerian crypto community/users really fall under?? Adopters or users??

you are simply making both terms complicated by separating them. The people who adopts crypto has to use it in other to fall into that category. You can't claim to adopt crypto and don't use it. The problem is that people try to differentiate between those who use it for their everyday transactions and those who stores it in their wallet for long term investment. Both aspects puts you as an adopter..

[Promocodeudo]

I do believe that usage in a way equals adoption. If people are ready to use it, it means a that they have accepted it into their daily routine.
I think there are more usdt users than any other especially dur to the uprise of remote and freelance roles .
When it comes to Bitcoin, a lot of people don't really transact with it. They rather keep for profit and then convert to fiat, I wouldn't really call that an adoption because it is treated more like a business for profit making  than a currency. But usdt hass had the most adoption and usage. I'm not talking from stats though just from my own observation and things I've experienced.

You have said much interesting things in your write up but then you didn't give much insight on the question that op throw to us.
do you know that there are Bitcoiners in Nigeria that have different wallet for hodling Bitcoin for a long-term and another for just just gambling around the market, I'm talking about those that see Bitcoin as a real asset and valuable investment.
Now let me respond to your statement that I bolded, you made much sense there, adoption to me differs from different individuals too, if you are a business owner in Nigeria that put Bitcoin as your mode of payment, it means you're have adopted Bitcoin right? What about traders, what can we say about them? Now my questions are, which category of Bitcoiners can you refer to as those that has adopted Bitcoin and what do you think Bitcoin adoption is, atleast for the benefit of newbies here?

[Orpichukwu]

So what category does the majority of the Nigerian crypto community/users really fall under?? Adopters or users??

The rapid increase in Bitcoin adoption in Nigeria is centred among the few you have listed above; if there was no possibility of making profit from Bitcoin, the majority of us wouldn't care about owning any unit of it. We are from a country where jobs are the lowest; everyone is looking for a legitimate opportunity on how to make extra income, which is exactly where many position crypto. Use it to make money by working and earning in crypto and trading to earn more. Only a few use it for the purpose of international payment, but even as that, we still know the value of self-custody, which is exactly part of the reason why Bitcoin was invented: to give us freedom to our own wealth.

[Mate2237]

You raised a very important issue that is privelent in Nigeria, the truth is that most of the people who are into crypto currency in Nigeria are there primarily for the purpose of making immediate gains for the purpose of survival. This is as a result of the economic situation in the country. Many consider Bitcoin as a good tool which will be use in helping them shield the harsh economic system in the country. Bitcoin has been linked to protecting against inflation and the ever dwindling currency situation in the country and this in turn has contributed to higher inflation rate. Because any time the Naira losses value inflation increases.


Crypto currency adoption like Bitcoin is beyond just using it that is just a well established fact. Crypto adoption means that an individual trying to integrating Bitcoin into his or her personal life, not give too much attention about the what ever negative news that may be going on, Long term investment mindset . Crypto adoption means that crypto currency been integrated into the economy. There should be more businesses which should accept crypto.

[Donneski]

It's one thing to use crypto and actually adopting Bitcoin, however, I don't think they can be completely seperated. Someone can be buying USDT in order to protect their money from inflation or use crypto to make across border payments but still does not care much about Bitcoin's principles even when they're becoming familiar with the technology. That said, I think using crypto even when you don't understand Bitcoin or isn't too interested about could still the first step toward adopting Bitcoin.

[Proty]

There is no much difference between using bitcoin and adopting. When someone is using bitcoin, they are either using it for transactions or they holding it. However when a large number of people like government, banks , schools and businesses owners are making use of bitcoin then this is adoption. Therefore, using bitcoin and bitcoin adoption is almost the same thing.Therefore bitcoin has been adopted by millions of Nigeria because there are many people both businesses,banks and different institutions that are making use of it in Nigeria.

[Tungbulu]

I'm not sure how you came about that difference, but i don't agree. Adoption is using bitcoin for whatever purpose the owner of the key decides. Even if you don't understand so much about bitcoin, but you use it, that is adoption, we can talk about your lack of firm understanding in a different discussion, but if the subject is about adoption, then you're contributing to it.

While you make a great point, I think you’re missing the point and conflating usage with adoption. The fact that someone is simply using Bitcoin once in a while or occasionally doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve adopted it in a meaningful sense. When we talk about Bitcoin adoption, what we mean is that Bitcoin has suddenly become a major part of how a person regularly (not occasionally) transact, stores, earns and/spends value.

So yeah, I’ll agree with you that everyone who makes use of Bitcoin both occasionally and regularly does contribute to its usage in one way or the other, but when we talk about full adoption, the level and nature of that usage should really matter a lot. Technically, anyone who barely understands Bitcoin but still uses it occasionally is a user, but in real sense, it tells quite little about actual adoption.
Except you want to tell me that someone who only mostly pays with cash and decides to use mobile transfer maybe once in a month has actually adopted mobile or digital form of payment…

[Ever-young]

.
So what category does the majority of the Nigerian crypto community/users really fall under?? Adopters or users??

you are simply making both terms complicated by separating them. The people who adopts crypto has to use it in other to fall into that category. You can't claim to adopt crypto and don't use it. The problem is that people try to differentiate between those who use it for their everyday transactions and those who stores it in their wallet for long term investment. Both aspects puts you as an adopter..

Far from it, I think there’s a lot of sense in what the OP is trying to say here, maybe it’s not just coming off that relatable. The fact someone occasionally uses something doesn’t mean they’ve adopted it. Technically, adoption of Bitcoin means totally accepting Bitcoin as legal tender, a form of money, investment or savings tool, something that’s become part of them and not something used occasionally or bought just to resell when the price goes up.

I looked this up on google and it gave quite a great explanation.

[Somto9Light]

For instance, Buying USDT simply to shield our Naira from depreciation, trading BTC simply for short term profits or using crypto to receive and send money across borders when we have need for it, all these are simply using crypto.

Just to correct you, Buying USDT does not shield the naira from depreciation. If you convert 10,000 naira to USDT during when the exchange rate was 1,500, don't you know that your money has lost value now. The only way to shield your naira from depreciation is to use it and buy bitcoin and hold but when you convert it to a stablecoin don't think that it will be protected from inflation and depreciation.

[Ndabagi01]

So what category does the majority of the Nigerian crypto community/users really fall under?? Adopters or users??

The two can be interlocked as one, but what I see about this instance is that Nigeria will continue to lead in crypto adoption even in years to come. The use of cryptocurrency has solved a very big problem for Nigerians during cross border payment. It makes everything very easy, accessible and transparent unlike the Western Union and others being used them to receive money from outside the country. Even the charges will make you discourage and want to start using crypto more for cross border payment. Not so many Nigerians are holders of bitcoin, so many of them are after using it for conversion between currencies and payment methods.

[Felicity_Tide]

And when we talk about Adopting Bitcoin, it goes way deeper than just all these. It’s all about really understanding and valuing Bitcoin for its decentralization, financial freedom, limited supply, and complete autonomy and independence from third party/centralized institutions.

So, imagine if I actually understood all these, maybe from my own research, and I chose not to get involved, i.e buy and own Bitcoin for myself, or use it as a payment system.. Does that mean I have in anyway adopted Bitcoin?. Even Peter Schiff understands all these things, but we can't confidently call him an adopter of Bitcoin or can we ?.

Imo, bitcoin adoption is more related to how the people, government or even businesses sees Bitcoin, and how they choose to use it. Holding is a form of bitcoin adoption... Accepting and sending, In the form of a payment system is also another form of adoption. And mind you, whether you choose to trade for a short term or long term, you are still an adopter. Let's not forget that it has always been about a peer-2-peer electronic cash system.

[Tungbulu]

So, imagine if I actually understood all these, maybe from my own research, and I chose not to get involved, i.e buy and own Bitcoin for myself, or use it as a payment system.. Does that mean I have in anyway adopted Bitcoin?. Even Peter Schiff understands all these things, but we can't confidently call him an adopter of Bitcoin or can we ?.

Imo, bitcoin adoption is more related to how the people, government or even businesses sees Bitcoin, and how they choose to use it. Holding is a form of bitcoin adoption... Accepting and sending, In the form of a payment system is also another form of adoption. And mind you, whether you choose to trade for a short term or long term, you are still an adopter. Let's not forget that it has always been about a peer-2-peer electronic cash system.

So what you’re saying in other words is that, folks who decide to buy bitcoin now, wait a few days/weeks/months, for the price to go up, and when price surges, boom they sell off, that even these folks are also called investors and HODLers just because they bought bitcoin, held it for some time and sold it? Because this concept basically sounds like actual long term holders, just a difference of the time horizon.

The fact that two concepts looks, feels or sounds alike doesn’t necessarily mean they’re the same thing mate, and drawing a distinct line between two familiar but different concepts makes you logical. Anyone can argue that short term traders are actually investors or HODLers, just as anyone can argue that Bitcoin users are same with Bitcoin adopters, but only critical thinkers would be able to look beyond the similarities and realize there’s actually a difference between the both concepts.