Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy, and home to over 200 million people, boasting one of Africa’s greatest number of young and tech-savvy people. It is, therefore, unsurprising to see an entrepreneurial country as Nigeria recording the largest Bitcoin trading volume; according to data collated from UsefulTulips.org, which gathers trading volume from the world’s leading Bitcoin peer-to-peer crypto exchanges (Paxful and LocalBitcoins).
That ascent to the pioneer crypto prominence is rooted in a sharp fall in remittances during the worst viral onslaught recorded in humanity, as Nigeria’s currency, the naira got exposed to weakened demand for its major exporting produce coupled with growing unrest among a significant number of Nigerian youths, with no jobs and little earning capacity.
In an exclusive interview, Himanshu Kumar, a top crypto expert spoke on the endless opportunities Bitcoin can offer Nigerians as regards remittances, taking a cue from the small Central American country that recently adopted the pioneer Crypto asset as a legal means for payment.
“After El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender, now many small and developing countries are going to legalize or at least bring rules around Crypto. Using Bitcoin as a legal form of payment will empower the Nigerian people and will help them in getting money from all around the world without paying a big chunk of money to the bank. Using Bitcoin, give power back to the people, especially for a country like Nigeria, it’s highly important,â€Â Himanshu noted.
Data retrieved from Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access, a non-profit organization funded by the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, revealed 86 million Nigerian adults’ (80%) livelihoods were negatively affected by the pandemic in the year 2020.
Nigeria’s helmsman, President Buhari, faces an uphill task in reducing Africa’s most populated country’s alarming unemployment rate hovering at 33% as of Q4 2020; taking into account that more than 60% of Nigeria’s working-age population is younger than 34, coupled with growing insecurity partly caused by fewer available jobs and very low purchasing power among many Nigerians.
President Buhari not too long ago said, “I think we have a problem with unemployment. We have a problem of a lot of youths looking for what to eat, much less accommodation or clothes. The level of poverty is almost unimaginable.â€
Nigeria’s President in a recent interview also acknowledged the Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria was largely fueled by youth unemployment and poverty.
The growing unrest in some of Nigeria’s geopolitical regions is partly due to high youth unemployment. With millions of hungry and disgruntled Nigerians increasingly becoming aggressive, it becomes imperative for President Buhari to support this disruptive technology as the modern world is driven by economic means of survival.
Despite the Central Bank’s ban on Nigeria’s financial brands from dealing with Crypto (in the face of reports that only 1.1% of the total $1 trillion global crypto transactions in 2019 were illicit), Africa’s largest oil producer reportedly has the world’s third-largest bitcoin holdings as a percentage of gross domestic product.
The Nigerian legislative chambers launched an investigation into the viability of Bitcoin but nothing positive emerged from that effort. Still, Nigerians are increasingly buying the pioneer crypto at a premium.
Data obtained from Google disclosed the $514 billion economy is the only country with a perfect score in regards to the interest of Bitcoin, further helping areas with a significant number of unbanked people.
Using local geographical metrics, Nigerian states with much lesser exposure to banking facilities when compared to Lagos, Nigeria’s major economic hub, had the highest level of interest in the flagship crypto on a state level, with Delta leading the list, followed by Anambra, Bayelsa, Ekiti, and Edo. This points to Bitcoin’s stronghold in many Nigerian states.
