African countries, including Nigeria, have parochially grown the cryptocurrency market by a whooping 1200% in a year according to a report released recently by Chainalysis, an online blockchain data platform.
The report ranked Africa as having the highest grassroots adoptions globally, noting that Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, and Tanzania where in the top 20 of its Global Crypto Adoption Index.
The report, in a Table, ranked Kenya as Africa’s 1st (World 5th), South Africa as 2nd (World 7th) and Nigeria as 3rd (World 8th) in the global top 10 of its Global Crypto Adoption Index.
Analyzing this report, the Punch said that Africa has the 3rd fastest growing economy in cryptocurrency and that “…a bigger share of its overall transaction volume made up of retail-sized transfers than any other region at just over 7 per cent, versus the global average of 5.5 per cent.”
It continued, “…Africa was the smallest cryptocurrency economy of any region under review, having received $105.6 billion worth of cryptocurrency between July 2020 and June 2021.
“…Peer to Peer platform is more prominent in Africa than other regions, and many African cryptocurrency users also rely on P2P platforms for remittances and commercial transactions.”
Quoting the report, the online Publication said, “Cross-region transfers also make up a bigger share of Africa’s cryptocurrency market than any other region at 96 per cent of all transaction volume, versus 78 per cent for all regions combined. Thanks in part to this recent growth, no region uses P2P platforms at a higher rate than African cryptocurrency users, as they account for 1.2 per cent of all African transaction volume and 2.6 per cent of all volume for Bitcoin specifically.”
On the issue of P2P, Chainalysis said that P2P are very important to adoption for developing countries. According to the report, “The top four countries for P2P cryptocurrency activity weighted by number of internet users and PPP per capita all appear in the Global Crypto Adoption Index’s top ten, and all four are developing countries. This illustrates how important P2P platforms are to cryptocurrency adoption in the developing world.”
Azuka Edokobi is a Writer , a Farmer, a Supply Chain Expert and an Entrepreneur
