Cryptocurrency Adoption In Africa
Cryptocurrency is accepted and used in many different places across the globe. Though Cryptocurrency has proven useful to the vast majority over the years, several governments are still reluctant to legalize it. Certain African countries however are moving against the tide and opening up to Cryptocurrency;the Central African Republic even adopted bitcoin as an Official currency recently, making it the first African country to do so. Other countries such as Uganda are about to follow suit. Andrew Kawere ,who is the director for the national payments of the Bank of Uganda, said the BoU was doing an intensive research to decide whether it will be in the country's best interest to adopt digital currencies.
Meanwhile for a year now Cryptocurrency has been banned in Nigeria. The restrictions are so intense that citizens could even be arrested for having any Cryptocurrency related application on their mobile phones. This saw some die hard investors not only lose their hard earned money but also end up behind bars. Nobody understood why Nigeria placed the ban in February 2021 not until October when Nigeria introduced it's own digital currency called the eNaira. In a speech he gave, the president of Nigeria said the digital currency was estimated to increase the country's GDP. It is expected to contribute about $15 billion to the country's GDP in 5 years time.
Statistics indicate a growing interest in Cryptocurrency in the continent of Africa. Between 2020 and 2021 alone, the Cryptocurrency market of Africa has increased by 1200% according to reports from Chainalysis. Also it has been observed that most of the 'highest grassroot adoptions in the world are in Africa'.
There is a lack of exposure in most African countries resulting from little or no access to the internet and it's related services. Despite this Africa is very likely to open up to Cryptocurrency soon and grow it's market even more.