Report says Nigeria’s cryptocurrency market grew by 1,200% in one year

The cryptocurrency market in Nigeria and other African countries have grown by 1200 per cent in one year, a report by Chainalysis said on Tuesday.

The report said African region has one of the highest grassroots adoptions in the world, with Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Tanzania ranking in the top 20 of its Global Crypto Adoption Index.

It added that Africa has the third-fastest growing cryptocurrency economy, and a bigger share of its overall transaction volume made up of retail-sized transfers than any other region at just over 7 per cent, versus the global average of 5.5 per cent.

The report said that Africa was the smallest cryptocurrency economy of any region under review, having received $105.6 billion worth of cryptocurrency between July 2020 and June 2021.

According to the report, Peer to Peer platform is more prominent in Africa than other regions, and many African cryptocurrency users also rely on P2P platforms for remittances and commercial transactions.

“Cross-region transfers also make up a bigger share of Africa’s cryptocurrency market than any other region at 96 per cent of all transaction volume, versus 78 per cent for all regions combined,” the report said.

“Thanks in part to this recent growth, no region uses P2P platforms at a higher rate than African cryptocurrency users, as they account for 1.2 per cent of all African transaction volume and 2.6 per cent of all volume for Bitcoin specifically.”