Nigeria $ 40 Million Bitcoin P2P Trading

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Nigeria has led the way in the adoption of Bitcoin in Africa despite recent efforts by its government to reduce access to Bitcoin services to its population. In February, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) strengthened 2017 legislation that prohibits regulated financial institutions from dealing with bitcoin or facilitating payments for bitcoin exchanges. The ban notwithstanding, Nigerians have resorted to peer-to-peer (P2P) commerce and transferred nearly $ 40 million in BTC volume in the past 30 days.

According to data from the UsefulTulips analysis platform, the Nigerian naira (NGN) has been the most traded sub-Saharan African fiat currency against BTC over the past two 30-day periods. From July 4 to August 4, 2021, Nigerians traded the USD equivalent of $ 38,083,688 on two P2P platforms, Paxful and LocalBitcoins. In the previous 30-day period, June 4 to July 4, bitcoin trading on major P2P markets in Nigeria was $ 37,761,748.

Volume of Bitcoin trading, in Paxful and LocalBitcoins combined, in sub-Saharan Africa in periods of 30 days. Solid colored bars represent the most recent period, while faded bars represent the previous period. Source: Useful Tulips.

The Kenyan Shilling (KES) ranks second and has also seen significant trading volume for bitcoin. The East African country traded the equivalent of $ 14,054,477 in the last 30-day period. During the previous period, Kenyans moved slightly less – a total of $ 13,423,999 in volume. Ghana follows closely behind, with its fiat currency, the cedi (GHS), moving to $ 11,614,047. In the previous 30 days, the country moved $ 11,367,511. A trend has formed in sub-Saharan Africa as almost all countries have increased their volume of bitcoin trading in peer-to-peer markets.

The vast majority of countries in sub-Saharan Africa traded more BTC in the most recent 30-day period than in the previous period, which is indicated by shades of red in the graph. Source: Useful Tulips.

As a true peer-to-peer electronic money system, Bitcoin cannot be easily bent to arbitrary rules of governments. Nigerians have proven since February that banning banks and stock exchanges from participating in Bitcoin does not undermine the network but strengthens it. A clear demonstration that Bitcoin is indeed antifragile and cannot be banned.

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