Despite the fact that the central bank has prohibited financial institutions from enabling cryptocurrency payments or trade, crypto remains popular in Nigeria. Bitcoin’s popularity in Nigeria has not waned in recent months. Bitcoin’s peer-to-peer (P2P) transaction volume grew to over $204 million in the first half of the year, according to numerous sources.
Nigeria, according to Coindesk’s Usefultulips statistics, outstripped the rest of Africa in terms of volume during this time period. Kenya’s revenue totaled $84.3 million, while Ghana’s revenue totaled $59.8 million.
According to Paxful and LocalBitcoins data, Bitcoin’s P2P transaction volume in Nigeria would have surpassed $38 million in June 2021, up 8.7% from May. This volume might really be larger, according to the sources, because it excludes transactions from other major platforms like Binance and Remitano.
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All of this data implies that Nigerians are still interested in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, as evidenced by their frequent visits to online exchanges. Remember that, after the United States and Russia, Nigeria is expected to be the third country to adopt cryptocurrency, according to forecasts from the end of March.
It will be interesting to monitor how transaction volumes evolve over the following months if the Central Bank of Nigeria follows the global trend and launches its own digital currency scheme. It should be highlighted that worldwide financial authorities have created central bank digital currencies (MNBCs) as “rivals” to cryptocurrencies since they are “more safe” and “less polluting for the environment.”
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Another thing to watch is whether the Nigerian government decides to take a tougher stance on bitcoin as its MNBC initiative progresses.
P2P crypto Nigeria P2P crypto Nigeria
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning write