While most of us have been focused on Covid-19, whichever country we are in, a quiet revolution has been happening in Africa, according to a report by Arcane Research and Luno, Cointelegraph reports.
T...he study analysed Google searched ‘Bitcoin’ and found that Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya were amongst the Top 10 countries for crypto-related searches.
It goes on to say that Africa is “one of, if not the most promising region for the adoption of cryptocurrencies,” in part because adoption so far has been low, but interest is high and growing.
The continent is promising, because it has a distinct combination of “a young population, frequent monetary crises and currency failures, large unbanked or underbanked populations, and expensive means of payment.”
In terms of numbers, Nigeria has for some time dominated cryptocurrency trade volume, but it emerges that South Africa has the highest percent of cryptocurrency ownership or use among internet users in Africa with 13%, followed by Nigeria with 11%. Indeed, worldwide, South Africa ranks fifth in the world for cryptocurrency adoption.
The current health crisis, and the many restrictions imposed, appears to have encouraged South Africans to head towards Bitcoin. In the last week, the country has posted “its second-strongest weekly volume on peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace Localbitcoins, with nearly $1.65 million worth of BTC changing hands.” It surged to the extent that its P2P knocked Kenya out of its crypto trade position.
P2P in Nigeria is also showing record highs, achieving $9.2 million in combined weekly trade, while Kenya has also seen a spike in Localbitcoins trade between BTC and the Kenyan shilling producing its second-strongest week on record for the third consecutive time. Morocco and Egypt have also reported record trade activity.
For the first time ever, P2P volume in sub-Saharan Africa has out-performed Latin America, so it’s definitely a continent with plenty of crypto confidence.
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