Nigeria has been ranked the leading country in bitcoin adoption in Africa as global trade in the digital coin hit $3 trillion.
Nigeria is followed by Togo, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Kenya and South Africa.
Convener of the Bitcoin Africa conference, Farida Nabourema, noted that the industry has been the fastest on the planet and has surpassed card transactions.
She mentioned that the African continent has the fastest adoption rates in the world and at this rate, the continent may surpass America, Europe, or even Asia.
Speaking on Bitcoin investment, she urged Nigerians to be careful saying one cannot recoup the cryptocurrency investment immediately. “In five to 10 years from now, Bitcoin is not going to be worth what it’s worth today, it is going to be worth close to a million dollars for one Bitcoin.
Nabourema said: “When people say can I invest in Bitcoin? I just tell them, can you invest in naira? Can you invest in dollars? The whole idea of making money out of Bitcoin is buying it and holding it.”
The high rate of Bitcoin trading recorded in Nigeria is despite the CBN’s restrictions on cryptocurrencies in the nation.
In February of 2021, the CBN asked banks in the nation to stop transacting in and with entities dealing in crypto assets.
The bank said, “Further to earlier regulatory directives on the subject, the bank hereby wishes to remind regulated institutions that dealing in cryptocurrencies or facilitating payments for cryptocurrency exchanges is prohibited.”
Since the restriction, P2P trading of crypto, especially BTC, has increased. According to a 2021 report by Chainalysis, the nation is the sixth leading nation in the world in terms of crypto adoption.
A recent report by KuCoin, a crypto exchange with over 10 million registered users, disclosed that about 33.4 million Nigerians trade or own crypto assets.
