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.
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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