Triple A, a global cryptocurrency payment gateway for Binance Pay, has in a recent report revealed Nigeria’s dominance in Africa’s crypto space and its standing in the world despite the ongoing ban on crypto activities in the country.
By the numbers
Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria, has one of the highest rates of crypto adoption in the world, as over ⅓ of the continent’s crypto holders are in the west African country. Nigeria leads with 22 million digital assets owners.
- According to Triple A’s report, 53 million people in Africa own digital assets, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). The 53 million people represent 16.5% of the over 320 million crypto owners worldwide.
- Nigeria is in fourth place amongst the countries with the most Bitcoin after the United States, India and Pakistan who occupy first, second and third place, respectively.
What’s more
The African countries that make up the list of nations with the most crypto owners are South Africa with 7.7 million holders, Kenya with 6.1 million, Egypt with 2.37 million, and Tanzania with 2.32 million.
Nigeria’s crypto ban
In February 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria directed all commercial banks in the country to stop processing cryptocurrency transactions in order to deal with the threat Nigeria’s financial system faced at the time. CBN even fined banks who defaulted in reporting cryptocurrency transactions. Later on in the year, the SEC Director-General announced that the commission had inaugurated a department to investigate the crypto industry.
Following the restriction on the trade of cryptocurrencies in Nigeria, citizens resolved to peer-to-peer platforms to continue processing cryptocurrencies in the country. Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) then published a new set of rules guiding the issuance, exchange and ownership of digital assets, such as Bitcoins/NFTs in the country.
- Reports from Paxful, Chainalysis and KuCoin, disclose that the trade of cryptocurrencies in Nigeria has increased amidst despite the ban.