Cryptocurrency is becoming increasingly popular among the African youth as an alternative to traditional financial markets, according to recent trends.
In terms of global cryptocurrency usage, Africa came in second. The continent’s youth population grew by 91.47 percent, largely due to Nigeria’s 210.6 percent surge in young crypto users.
At 11.3 percent, South Africa has the highest percentage of cryptocurrency owners in the world, beating both the United States and Sweden.
As such, both South Africa and Nigeria represent two powerhouse economies in the African continent which are paving the way for cryptocurrency use throughout Africa.
Nigeria: setting the pace for crypto adoption
With Nigeria becoming the second-largest Bitcoin market in the world this year, the dollar volume of crypto acquired by Nigerian consumers is expected to continue to climb in 2022.
As a result of the country’s high unemployment rate, Nigerians, particularly young people, have flocked to the cryptocurrency business in quest of alternative opportunities for income growth.
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Nigerians have turned to cryptocurrencies as a way to profit from the industry’s explosive expansion in 2021 as a result of the country’s persistently high unemployment rate.
Cryptocurrency’s market capitalization, for example, has increased by 228 percent from $760 billion to $2.51 trillion.During the last period, the Bitcoin market capitalization reached a high of $2.96 trillion.
Additionally, there have been instances of exponential expansion in the industry’s interest, participation, and investment levels.
South Africa: paving the way for crypto diversification
South Africa has a total crypto ownership percentage of 11.3 percent, which is higher than both the United States and Sweden.
According to some estimates, as many as 15% of South Africans — or about 9 million individuals — possess cryptocurrencies of some kind.
The fact that there are now so many different forms of cryptocurrencies to invest in besides Bitcoin has also contributed to the boom in South Africa.
With a market share of 31.5 percent, Ethereum is the second most popular cryptocurrency. South Africa has the eighth-highest percentage of internet users who possess Ethereum in the world, with an ownership rate of 27.1%, compared to the global average of 24.4%.
XRP, owned by 25.8 percent of the polled users, is in third place, followed by Dogecoin and Solana, respectively.
South Africa and Nigeria’s different roles in spurring on crypto adoption in Africa
As two of the biggest economies in Africa – in fact, Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and South Africa currently ranks third on the continent – these trend-making juggernauts are helping to pave the way for crypto adoption throughout the continent in different ways.
As Nigerians continue to rely on Bitcoin for their daily business transactions, as a means to counter the weakening Naira, and as an investment asset, more Africans see the day-to-day potential of crypto use.
Meanwhile, South Africa is spearheading the use of ground-breaking altcoins such as Ethereum and Dogecoin, introducing new possibilities for crypto investments for which other African countries can follow suit.
As a result, Africa is looking towards a crypto future of diversified digital coin assets which can be applied to a variety of business and investment uses, setting up a new frontier for financial expansion on the continent.
