Against unfair financial orthodoxy, Africa turns to Bitcoin

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By Landon Manning

As the global economic fallout from the global coronavirus pandemic continues and more people around the world turn to Bitcoin’s alternative financial sovereignty, a new market is embracing it faster than expected: the African continent.

This trend gained Western visibility on September 14, 2021, as the blockchain data platform Chainalysis completed data compilation and released a report on the growth of the bitcoin market globally. Citing data from the Paxful peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange, this report asserts that Africa’s pre-existing trend dominating the P2P market globally has continued in the widespread adoption of Bitcoin. Several African countries have led the pack with such adoption, with Kenya alone seeing its cryptocurrency market grow 300% in a single year.

The reasons for this new adoption rate are manifold, but ultimately boil down to one very simple conclusion: the global economic orthodoxy that has long avoided Bitcoin is deliberately trying to undermine African economic development, and Bitcoin is a way to build it. independence and store wealth the will of this mainstream financial. In September, Fod Diop, a Senegalese Bitcoin and Lightning Network developer, described the hope and opportunity that Bitcoin can offer.

The hardships caused to Diop by global financial institutions had a profound influence on his life, as in his youth his parents’ savings were literally halved when France and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut by 50 % the value of the Senegalese currency. overnight.

This early and humiliating experience had a profound influence on him.

If you’re in a country where your money could be devalued at the whim of other nations interfering with the local economy, storing your money in bitcoin might be a better deal to preserve your wealth, he said, adding that when I read the [Bitcoin] white paper, I said: It is a weapon for us to fight against oppression. I feel like governments may still be under threat, but for me open source technology is just beautiful.

Diving deep into Chainalysis research, it becomes easy to see how many people across the African continent are finding similar reasons to turn to Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency spaces in Western Europe and North America established themselves before 2021 exploded in a wave of cryptocurrency price gains, so adoption in these regions continues to grow at a rapid pace. faster than any other. However, starting from the smaller cores of an active Bitcoin community, Africa rose to third place with an increase of over 1,200% in one year. Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and several other African countries proudly occupy their place in the top 20 of the Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index.

Several different use cases have flourished to enable Africans to meaningfully include cryptocurrency in their lives. The classic example of simple bitcoin HODLing, as it is a more stable store of value than a currency that may or may not lose huge amounts of its value at any time, is of course extremely widespread. P2P exchanges are also important, as they help a large number of people without access to bank accounts or without the possibility of using major international exchanges to integrate into the decentralized economic world.

International transfers are also useful and a perfect example of how Bitcoin’s untrustworthy model can bypass unfair economic restrictions. Not only is the international remittance market booming, Africans also have the opportunity to bypass European institutions directly with Bitcoin.

In short, it turns out that much of the advertised opportunity for Bitcoin to throw a wrench into financial orthodoxy is coming to fruition.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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