The regulatory policies recently implemented by the Nigerian government in financial matters are further driving the adoption of Bitcoin as an alternative to the traditional system. It has already become the second nation with the highest trading volume in this cryptocurrency.
Nigeria, a West African country with a booming economy, implemented strict economic regulatory laws, established by the country's Central Bank recently. These regulations prevent to its citizens to receive remittances from other Nigerian citizens residing in different parts of the world. This strict measure, together with the prohibition of international money transfer operators, TransferWise y Azimo, has made citizens turn even more towards Bitcoin (BTC), as an alternative to a complicated and restrictive financial model.
Nigerian youth, with an average age of 18 and knowledgeable about new technologies, are those who are most in favor of the adoption of Bitcoin and the cryptocurrencies, , in its fight against a corrupt and dominant banking and financial system. According to data shown by the trading platform PaxfulNigeria ranks second after the United States as the nation with the highest cryptocurrency trading volume globally.
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60.200 BTC on Paxful since 2015
According to data from Coin Dance, Nigeria has moved a total of 60.200 BTC over the past 5 years, a trading volume worth over $560 million in that time. In the past few days, Nigeria moved nearly 886 million naira, the country's national currency, equivalent to about $2,3 million, worth of BTC. This data also shows that the highest trading volume occurred in 2020, with a total of 20.504 BTC so far, representing a 30% growth over previous values.
Likewise, Baby Nwachukwu, Paxful's regional manager for Nigeria, revealed that between January and September of this year, new registrations within the platform grew by 137% compared to the same period last year. With these figures, Paxful increased its Nigerian users to more than 600.000 active users, demonstrating the boom and popularity that cryptocurrencies are having in the country. So far, Paxful is positioned as the exchange largest cryptocurrency exchange in Nigeria, even ahead of LocalBitcoins.
Number one in global search interest
As of today, Nigeria has several digital platforms for bitcoin trading, both domestic and international, which facilitate the conduct of commercial transactions without government interference. This has sparked a great interest in cryptocurrencies among those citizens who are not yet using digital assets to escape political and economic restrictions. Therefore, as we have already mentioned in this medium, Nigeria is ranked as the No. 1 country in search interest for the term BitcoinAccording Google Trends.
Source: Google Trends
A fight against the abuse of power
The repressive policies of the Nigerian government and police to control protests by thousands of young people and citizens demanding an end to the operations of SARS, Nigeria's special anti-robbery squad, accused of killing a young man and opening fire on hundreds of protesters, has also boosted the adoption of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
The government began freezing the bank accounts of activist groups and organizations that were raising funds to finance protests and demonstrators in the country, forcing them to open cryptocurrency accounts and wallets to raise funds safely, away from state influence and repression.
Moreover, Yele BademosiCEO Bundle, a payment app backed by Binance, posted on his Twitter account about the terrible experience he went through due to the SARS group, who kidnapped him, subdued him and stole money from his national and international accounts, regardless of whether he had committed a crime or not; they simply saw a young man from whom they wanted to take everything they could, Bademosi said.
Given the reality that the country is experiencing, Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, used its platform to collect donations in bitcoins for the fight against SARS and to continue promoting the adoption of cryptocurrencies in the region.
Continue reading: Bitcoin for the real world: A transformative shift from a crowded market in Africa
