The newfound interest in cryptocurrency among several African countries is apparent, but particularly notable in Nigeria – which recently overtook South Africa at the peak of the continent’s market share of the digital currency with a remarkable 66.8%. Spanning the breadth of the Nigerian crypto landscape are the Peepo [PEEPO], Liquity [LQTY], Conflux [CFX] tokens, which are the most favored up-and-comers in the region. Meanwhile, in South Africa, assets like the Truebit Protocol [TRU], and the DeFi-based Dodo [DODO] digital token are gaining traction due to their computational technology based capabilities. Yet, like many other African nations, South Africa appears to have a strong liking meme coins too. Its national asset of choice? You guessed it – Shiba Inu – which presently vies with DogeCoin [DOGE], Baby DogeCoin [BABYDOGE], and Pepe Coin [PEPE] to remain one of the continent’s most sought-after virtual assets.
Though the majority of African markets – representing approximately 48 countries – account for a modest 0.2% share of YTD cryptocurrency transactions, this industry’s surge is still striking compared to traditional financial systems – Nigeria being a prime example. In a sweeping move amongst widespread cash shortages in the country, the Nigerian government promotoed the use of its local currency E-Naira; yet, flagging adoption ultimately relocated investors and buyers to trading – namely altcoins.
Kenya was once among the most curious countries for cryptocurrency, coming in at the global top eleven for digital currency interest with 0.59%. Southern Africa trails at a discrete 8.36% of the digital currency industry – Nigeria’s extreme demand nearly eightfold. Although only 5.75% of Nigeria’s population possess any cryptocurrency, a notably larger chunk of 10% of South African citizens have been seen making crypto moves.
