hype or hope

Africa in 2022: Are crypto-currencies like Bitcoin set to soar?

By Nicholas Norbrook

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Posted on January 24, 2022 09:05

© Between the end of 2019 and the second quarter of 2021, overall cryptocurrency ownership increased 24-fold. In the space of one year, the same rate increased by 880%. Ozan KOSE / AFP)
Between the end of 2019 and the second quarter of 2021, overall cryptocurrency ownership increased 24-fold. In the space of one year, the same rate increased by 880%. Ozan KOSE / AFP)

Whatever your take – hype? hope? – cryptocurrencies are part of the conversation. And many Africans are jumping into these digital assets with both feet. But with fiat money a key part of the glue of the state, will this lead to creative destruction… or just destruction?

Here are some data points: In September 2021, African users living below the Sahara accumulated $80m of cryptocurrency, according to UsefulTulips, a market analyst. It was a 20% bump compared to the previous month. And it was – for the first time – greater than the dollar amount of cryptocurrency accumulated by users in the US.

More crypto in Africa than in the US? Really?

‘Not only has Africa’s cryptocurrency market grown over 1,200% by value received in the past year, but the region also has some of the highest grassroots adoption in the world, with Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania all ranking in the top 20 of our Global Crypto Adoption Index,’ says the Chainalysis data platform.

READ MORE “2022 is the year for taking crypto mainstream,” says Binance Africa director Emmanuel Babalola

African reaction: from interventionist to laissez faire

Reactions from central authorities have varied. Kenya is taking its usual hands-off approach, as it did to mobile money a decade ago.

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