A recent study by Chainalysis revealed that the highest proportion of crypto retail transactions (less than $1,000) is in Sub-Saharan Africa where people are using cryptocurrencies more and more to pay for their daily necessities like food, services, utilities, and more. Since banks fail to establish themselves as not only reliable but also accessible financial services, people are turning toward crypto which requires you to have only a smartphone and internet access.
Many factors are in play here
Using crypto is just a natural and logical thing for people living in these areas where banking is ridiculously expensive and inaccessible. At the same time, using internationally recognized utility-oriented assets like BTC, ETH, and many others is quite useful and simple. The arrival of the lightning network to Bitcoin’s ecosystem allows more payments to be conducted quicker and many retailers are now using BTC payments as their chosen payment method in Africa.
Among regions with predominantly developing nations, Sub-Saharan Africa stands out due to its impressive P2P transaction volume compared to Asia and Oceania. People in Africa are certainly interested in using cryptocurrencies as alternatives to fiat money offered by their governments. The same trend is gaining momentum in South America and the Middle East where more regular citizens are becoming interested in hedging against global inflation and fiat currencies by buying crypto and using local stablecoins to pay for goods and services.
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At the same time, the whole region has access to relatively cheap internet thanks to rapidly expanding mobile operators. Starlink from Elon Musk promises to cover the whole region and deliver inexpensive or even free internet to masses in developing regions.
The battle between fiat and crypto is happening in Africa and South America
With Kenyans and Nigerians seeing their national fiat currencies falling against the US dollar and many economies contracting under pressure from the geopolitical situation in Europe, more people will inevitably be moving to crypto against all odds and speeches from their leaders. However, the trend will be more visible in countries with weaker economies that fail to infuse confidence in their citizens.
