₦airaland Forum

of crypto and Nigeria is leading the

Africa has been making a steady rise in the adoption and use of cryptocurrency, even though it is still behind many parts of the world. If you look at the numbers, between July 2023 and July 2024, Sub-Saharan Africa had the smallest global crypto economy share, only 2.7% of the total transaction volume globally. However, on a more positive note, this region saw a $7.5 billion increase from the last year in on-chain value to $125 billion in the same period.

On the same note of positivity, countries in Africa are leading in the global adoption of crypto. Well, according to Chainalysis, Nigeria ranks second worldwide in their Global Adoption Index. Other countries are also doing well, with Ethiopia (26th), Kenya (28th), and South Africa (30th) also making it in the top 30. This is just to show you that cryptocurrency is making a huge impact on the region's financial landscape, with many regions leveraging various crypto for their business payments as a hedge against inflation.

Practical uses of crypto in the region

You'd be surprised that most individuals and companies are not using crypto as a store of wealth. You see, it would be very practical for you to purchase Bitcoin since you understand that it has been growing and making other crypto seem like they are child's play. For example, bitcoin price surpassed the $100k mark in late 2024, a feat that no one could have imagined possible. Just two years ago, the price of Bitcoin had dropped to a low of around $16,500, but investors still had hopes for it. Right now, experts are estimating that it might hit $500k before the end of 2030.

But enough about Bitcoin. Let's see what exactly is making Africans adopt crypto at the rate they are doing. West Africa, specifically, is really interested in this fine technology, holding a 74.7% rate of interest among different regions in the continent.

Hedging against inflation

Inflation has become a big menace to some countries in Africa. In fact, some of the currencies are even facing devaluation.In such situations, crypto, especially stablecoins, have become a big refuge for the preservation of wealth. For example, in December 2024, the inflation rate of Nigeria was 34.8% while that of Ghana in January 2024 stood at 23.5%. Now, this has caused people to turn to stablecoins, especially the ones pegged to the US dollar, like USDT and USDC to store value.

Since inflation can be really unpredictable, a young businessman saving a portion of their earnings in stablecoins is in a very good position to escape. In fact, a report by KuCoin showed that in 2022, around 52% of investors in Nigeria had half their assets in crypto. The same report said that around 65% of crypto investors in the country on-ramped fiat deposits to stablecoins and other crypto through OTC trading. This just goes to show how serious investors are with their wealth preservation.

Cross-border transactions

One of the biggest challenges among investors all over the world is cross-border transactions. The problem with traditional financial systems is that there is either too much documentation process required, many hidden charges and slow processing times. This makes it really difficult for both individuals and investors wanting to send or receive money across borders.

However, crypto has come to solve this issue. They offer a fast, reliable and cost effective alternative for sending money across international borders. For example, if you are living in Kenya, you can easily make payments to your shipment supplier in China without a lot of pressure and your products are sent immediately. The good thing about this is that this works for both individuals and institutions.

In an interview with Chainalysis, Rob Downes of Absa Group said that he had noted a trend among the institutions' clients in South Africa. He noted that many of them were turning towards stablecoins as a tool for managing liquidity and reducing exposure to currency volatility. He also said that stablecoins were a game changer for making payments abroad as they are faster and more affordable compared to traditional remittance services.

Enhanced security of transactions

Now, one of the challenges that has been facing the financial sector is cyber security. In fact, according to the IMF, financial firms have suffered approximately one-fifth of all cyber attacks within the last two decades. This makes people want to find the most secure way of operating their funds, since you can't escape financial institutions.

Crypto offers a heightened amount of security following the robust measures of blockchain technology. To start with, transactions are stored in an immutable ledger that is spread across many computers in the network. Unlike traditional systems where data is stored in a central server, data in a blockchain network is decentralised. That means that not one person is responsible for data in the network and that everyone can see the data involved. This not only heightens security but also transparency. Something that is quite lacking in traditional systems.

Wrapping up


As we conclude, we can clearly see how crypto is making a huge difference in Africa's financial sector. This practicability is what is making Africans tend more towards this advancement in technology. And as Chris Maurice, CEO of a top crypto exchange platform in Africa, said, people don't care about crypto. They just care about its practicability.