Crypto Adoption in Nigeria

According to research carried out by CoinGecko, Nigeria is the most crypto curious in 2022 leading global search for cryptocurrency information. Nigerians showed more interest in cryptocurrencies than any other country since the digital assets began to decline in April 2022. Nigeria scored 371 in the study that looked at Google Trends data for six searches such as “buy crypto” or “invest crypto” that were then combined to give each English-speaking nation a total search ranking. The West African country was followed by the United Arab Emirates.

Nigeria ranked second largest crypto market in Africa following South Africa. However, the ratio of Nigeria’s population to crypto currency is quite high. Crypto adoption  in Nigeria is over 40% higher than traditional banking penetration in the country. Over the years, Nigerians  have become more informed about cryptocurrency hence the continuous increase in adoption across the country.

Current state of cryptocurrency in Nigeria

In 2021, the Nigerian government placed a “ban” on cryptocurrency trades. The central Bank of Nigeria stopped banks from facilitating crypto transactions and  also instructed the commercial banks to block accounts suspected in the trading of cryptocurrency. However, Nigerians have boycotted the banks by continuing to trade crypto peer to peer. The typical Nigerian has become immensely interested in crypto assets because of the possible huge financial benefits it offers.

Nigeria has a high poverty rate coupled with hyperinflation, and its the naira has also been dipping in value in recent years. However, crypto serves as a hedge of financial value, making a lot of Nigerians divert towards it due to the benefits it offers, such as 

 Job opportunities

Cryptocurrency industry has undoubtedly provided jobs for the young Nigerians. This is a great and welcome improvement because Nigerians have leveraged these job opportunities which significantly pays higher than minimum wage. In Addition, crypto jobs opportunities are readily available in different types which includes blockchain development, crypto marketing, NFT artist, crypto trading and community management etc. 

Trading cryptocurrency

Crypto trading has become one of the most popular activities Nigerians engage in. The idea is usually to buy at a low price and sell at a higher price. For you to trade crypto in Nigeria, you have to first choose a reliable crypto exchange app. Like Binance, Kochure etc but ensure that these platforms do not charge excessive fees in trading commissions.

Despie some of these benefits, cryptocurrency in Nigeria has had its own fair share of challenges. Some of the challenges include the following;

Regulations                                                                                                                                                                       

Being that crypto currency is void of any superior authority, certain risks are continuously present. So, until the technology is adopted and regulated properly at the Federal level there will always be risks in investing in crypto .

Cyber Security Issues                                                                                                                                                       

Crypto is a digital technology, hence it is subject to interference from hackers. It was reported in 2021 that there was an 80% increase in crypto scams and over $1 billion has been lost to scammers since 2021 according to reports from US regulators. 

Unreliable trading platforms

Some trading platforms in Nigeria can be unreliable making trading cryptocurrency trading unpleasant for citizens. However, there are some great crypto trading apps like Kochure, Trust wallet and Safpal Wallet.

What is the future of cryptocurrency in Nigeria? 

As Nigeria’s currency continues to devalue, more Nigerians are expected to continue trading and storing digital assets. Asides the fact that it serves as a financial freedom avenue, the industry has a lot of opportunities to offer. Cryptocurrency has continued to impact the lives of many Nigerians in different ways either through job creation opportunities, crypto trading and granting financial freedom.

All these have continued to elevate widespread adoption and more recently in September 2022, we heard news  about talks between the Nigerian government and private sector stakeholders to establish a digital economic zone in Nigeria to help Nigerian entrepreneurs fast-track their adoption of blockchain technology.