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- Sub-Saharan Africa is the second-largest region in the P2P market and accounts for more than 24% of the global P2P transaction volume
- Western Africa’s Nigeria leads the African P2P market, recording $8 million as average daily transactions
- Nigeria’s hefty transaction volume largely attributes to the Nigerian Central Bank prohibiting banks from dealing with cryptocurrency in any way
While the global peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency market has been returning relatively stable volumes over the past year, the African P2P volume figures are sky-rocketing. Africa has seen a solid development in this market, which was possible thanks to the ardent support from Nigeria. The West African nation dominates Africa’s P2P crypto market, with a weekly average of $8 million transactions per day, reported leadership.ng, a native daily.
Africa’s P2P Boom: Nigeria, Kenya & Ghana
Sub-Saharan Africa is now the second-largest region in the P2P market and accounts for more than 24% of the global P2P volume. According to Arcane Research’s recent weekly report titled “Barking up the wrong tree,” the African P2P market boom was driven by steady growth in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana, respectively.
Based on the statistics from UsefulTulips.org, a Bitcoin (BTC) analytic data provider, last Sunday, the combined LocalBitcoins and Paxful trade volumes accounted for $7.9 million in Nigeria, $3.0 million in Kenya, and $2.5 million in Ghana. Reportedly, Nigerians traded their maximum at $10.3 million on July 26, 2020, and reached $9.08 million on April 4, 2021. This year, Kenya and Ghana reported their all-time highs at $4.70 million on May 9 and $3.14 million on April 11, respectively.
Nigeria’s $8M Average Daily Transactions
Nigeria’s exceptionally large bulk of transactions is primarily due to the Central Bank of Nigeria restrictions, prohibiting regulated banking institutions from partaking in any cryptocurrency-related conducts. The Nigerian commercial banks can neither directly deal with crypto nor facilitate cryptocurrency transactions.
African P2P Market’s Transaction Volume Spike
Last July, Arcane Research collaborated with Luno, Africa’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, and published a report named “The State of Crypto Africa.” It states that LocalBitcoins’ and Paxful’s African trading volumes and activities shot up dramatically during the mid-2020s; even the graphs trace a steep rise. Africa’s overall P2P market transaction, which was around $6 million in April 2020, surpassed $18 million till July end, a three-fold increase in just over three months.
The crypto market also witnessed a spike as users migrated from crypto-to-fiat exchanges to peer-to-peer exchanges. Subsequently, last month, the daily transaction volume in the overall African P2P market was trailing at around $20 million.
Surge Stats And Surveys In Africa
According to a note from Binance, Africa’s P2P transaction volume surged by 386.93% in the first quarter of 2021, while the exchange’s client base in Africa grew by 2,228.21% in the same duration. A recent survey by the exchange revealed, 55% of the cryptocurrency associated African population views crypto investments as a long-term strategy and 31% as a short-term trading opportunity. Of the survey respondents, 38% said they don’t trust the current financial system, thus the crypto involvement.
A peer-to-peer trading system cancels any intermediary or third party involvement, giving users greater control over their assets and transactions. Although trades can be risky, trading on a P2P exchange provides an additional layer of protection to both buyer and seller. This arrangement makes users feel safe, which subsequently helps them trade confidently. For the Africa-residing traders, P2P trade is a great option to trade anywhere around the globe through an independent and secure network at a minimal cost.
With a background in journalism, Ritika Sharma has worked with many reputed media firms focusing on general news such as politics and crime. She joined The Coin Republic as a reporter for crypto, and found a great passion for cryptocurrency, Web3, NFTs and other digital assets. She spends a lot of time researching and delving deeper into these concepts around the clock, and is a strong advocate for women in STEM.
