Nigeria still blazes the trail in cryptocurrency growth despite CBN ban. The country has become a reference point in the emerging markets of Middle East and Africa when trading on crytocurrency is discussed.
Q1,2021 Nigeria shocked the world whenbetween January and March it posted a peer-to-peer, P2P Bitcoin trading value worth $99.1 million. Kenya also followed suit with $38.4 million, although that was $61 million less than Nigeria’s. Ghana and South Africa complete the top 4 with $27.4 million and $25.8 million respectively.
In 2020, Nigeria’s Bitcoin trading volume was $309.6 million followed by South Africa’s $98.4 million and Kenya’s $92.4 million. However, while Nigeria’s ban on cryptocurrency is not affecting both the P2P and general volume of trading, that of South Africa is having a negative impact considering that both Kenya and Ghana have eclipsed South Africa in the Q1 2021 trading report, according to UsefulTulips.org
South African government took a strong position on cryptocurrency after a $740million bitcoin scam allegedly coordinated by Bitcoin trader, Mirror Trading International, which is now liquidated.
The effect of that scam brought about stiff regulations which eventually drove away some investors and made the South African crypto market lose appeal.
Meanwhile Ghana and Kenya took a different route and rather preferred to tweak their regulations towards benefitting from where South Africa slipped.
While Ghana’s Central Bank launched a regulatory framework that not strictly controls but also gives blockchain-based companies including cryptocurrency startups priority, the Central Bank of Kenya is reported to have proposed switching to Bitcoin as a reserve currency. These policies could have pushed up their volume of P2P trading in Q1, 2021
However, Nigeria’s case is described as unique because of the huge youth population involved in crypto trading. While the government banned banks from processing all crypto-related transactions, traders, who are mainly youths, bypass the restriction.
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