The rise of adoption of non-fungible tokens (NFT) in Africa is on the rise with a new study noting that about 8.3% of polled South African internet users own NFTs while a further 9.4% said they plan to acquire such tokens in the future.

According to the findings of the latest Finder online survey, about 8.3% of the 1,205 South African internet users surveyed own a non-fungible token (NFT). These findings are enough to see South Africa ranked as the country with the 12th highest NFT adoption in the world.

In terms of internet users that plan to acquire NFTs in the future, the survey found that 9.4% of polled South Africans are planning to do so. When this is combined with the number of internet users that already own NFTs, South Africa’s NFT adoption could soon rise to 17.8%. This figure is higher than that of Vietnam (17%) which is currently ranked fifth globally.

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According to the findings, The Philippines (32%) currently has the most NFT owners globally, followed by Thailand with 27%, Malaysia with 24%, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which has 23%. Nigeria, which is ranked sixth globally, is the highest-ranked African country with 13.7% of polled users confirming they own an NFT.

Meanwhile, the findings show that South African men are more likely to own NFTs than women, with 10.5% of men compared to 6.3% of women saying they have at least one NFT. According to Finder, this gender gap of 4.2 percentage points is higher than the global average of 2.7%.

As expected, younger South Africans dominate with the youngest age group accounting for more than ten percent of the country’s NFT owners. 

“People aged 18 to 24 are the most likely to have NFTs in South Africa (11%). At the other end of the spectrum are people ages 55 to 64 (5.2%),” the survey explained.

Globally, only Thailand and Venezuela have more women buying NFTs than men while at the other end of the spectrum UAE has the least number of women that own NFTs.

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While many expect NFT adoption to increase globally, the survey found Japan to be the country whose internet users have the least knowledge of NFTs. About 90% of Japanese users said they don’t know what NFTs are. Germany has the next highest percentage with 83%, followed by the United Kingdom with 79% of people unsure.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry