Bitcoin adoption in Africa has skyrocketed over the past year, growing over 1,200%, according to a report by Chainalysis[1]. The increased activity in the region has been fueled by retail investors, who resort to bitcoin every day for savings, remittances, and peer-to-peer (P2P) trading.
Artur Schaback, COO and co-founder of P2P exchange Paxful, told Chainalysis that his platform had seen stark growth in African countries, notably 57% in Nigeria and over 300% in Kenya, over the last year. In fact, Africa has the largest volume[2] of P2P bitcoin trading in the world, as citizens often face banking restrictions[3] to centralized bitcoin on-ramps.
The ability to purchase bitcoin through P2P markets and transact it in a permissionless fashion has also enabled African citizens to bypass government restrictions of remittances and transfer more funds across borders. In 2019, Sub-Saharan Africa received at least $48 billion in remittances, a study by Brookings Institute[4] found.
In addition to remittances, Schaback also explained that bitcoin enables African merchants to perform international commercial transactions more efficiently. Users resort to P2P markets for purchasing bitcoin and paying for the goods they wish to import, which is more efficient than using the traditional banking system.
“If you’re working with a partner in China to import goods to sell in Nigeria or Kenya, it can be hard to send enough fiat currency to China to complete your purchases,” said Schaback. “It’s often easier to just buy bitcoin locally on a P2P exchange and then send it to your partner.”
The final use case powering bitcoin adoption in Africa relates to hostile economic conditions in the continent’s countries, where fiat currency debasement is often the norm. Paxful’s growth, for instance, accelerated in Nigeria over the past
