Fonbnks Michael Kimani sorts out the facts on crypto adoption in Africa

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The African continent has been singled out as an important market for crypto adoption due to its young population, poor economic management by governments, and lack of effective financial infrastructure to connect the continent in and out. global scale.

Adoption is becoming so widespread that celebrities don’t want to be left behind, with several big names in the entertainment and media space working with crypto brands.

In the first episode of Cointelegraphs new podcast Hashing It Out, hosted by Cointelegraph social media specialist Elisha Owusu Akyaw, Fonbnk co-founder Michael Kimani answers questions about what adopting the crypto in the face of growing hype on the continent in media and reports.

One of the OG continents, Kimani started working with one of Kenya’s first Bitcoin (BTC) startups, BitPesa, in 2014. The growth of the crypto community in the East African country has resulted in the establishment of the Blockchain Association of Kenya, which he oversaw. at its beginnings.

From his years of experience, Kimani pointed out that it is extremely difficult to understand the scope of adoption because there is a data problem on the continent:

I think generally in Africa there is a data problem. We don’t have enough data. We have no data to rely on. And that’s not just true for the crypto ecosystem, it’s true for the entire tech ecosystem.

Regardless of data collection issues, Kimani is optimistic about crypto adoption in Africa, not from a reporting perspective, but from traveling across the continent to witness the growth himself.

The Fonbnk co-founder identified the opportunity to make money, high inflation and devaluation of local currencies, and the ability to transact globally as the main reasons for the rise in l use of cryptography.

When it comes to the future of crypto on the continent, Kimani is optimistic that while economies may experience further downturns, crypto will gain more users. One of the biggest beneficiaries, according to Kimani, will be stablecoins:

I expect stablecoins to figure prominently in the landscape of cross-border payments in Africa. I think there is a big problem with sending value across borders.

In the episode, Elisha and Kimani also cover:

A deep dive into the reasons behind crypto adoption in Africa. The unfavorable regulatory environment on the continent and other bottlenecks make adoption difficult. Projections for the crypto landscape in Africa in the next five years.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this podcast are the sole contributors and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

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