The United States is without a doubt, the leading territory when it comes to the crypto revolution. The region boasted some of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world including Kraken and Coinbase, and the USA has done wonders when it comes to attracting new traders to the digital currency space, but it seems like the nation may lose its position because of developing crypto activity in Nigeria.
Nigeria Is a Key Bitcoin Hub
Bitcoin has experienced a rise in popularity in the country’s borders in the past two months because of police brutality protests. The country’s government shut out protesters from having access to the standard or traditional financial services and products, and many have found themselves switching to bitcoin to acquire the supplies needed to continue their cause.
It is not long before Bitcoin transactions accounted for around 40% of the financial activity connected to the protests. Those involved have managed to raise around $400,000 with the digital currency, and the trend has picked up ever since. In the last five years, Nigerians have traded more than 60,000 BTC units and engaged in around $566M worth of crypto transactions.
This made Nigeria the 2nd-largest bitcoin and crypto-trading territory in the world, with the US leading in the first spot. But it seems like the nation is catching up. Total bitcoin activity in Nigeria has increased to 20% each year in the past three years.
One big use case for Bitcoin in Nigeria is remittance payments. It occurs when people work abroad and must send money home to their families in the “old country.” Bitcoin and crypto have been publicly promoted as solid remittance tools, and it seems like citizens are now taking advantage. The Nigerian regional manager of Paxful, Nena Nwachukwu, stated in a recent interview:
“They mostly use the platform for peer-to-peer and arbitrage trading. Remittances are also a popular use case.”
She claims that one reason for this is that using bitcoin is less expensive and faster than standard banking services like wire transfers.
Additionally, the Nigerian Naira has been heading deeper and deeper into stagnation, with the currency now considered more unstable than ever. Extensively, Americans can understand this knowing that the US dollar has experienced major inflation in the past year, which is likely helping bitcoin’s increasing popularity in the nation and the recent price jumps.
Traditional Services will Cut Off and BTC Will Be the Answer
The co-founder of Buy Coins Africa, Eleanya Eke says:
“People want to be able to buy and sell, transact internationally, and the more the traditional channels are being restricted, the more people trade crypto and mainly bitcoin.”
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