Africa’s biggest crypto market, Nigeria keeps gaining momentum in spite of its exclusion from Nigeria’s financial ecosystem. This reflects dwindling faith in Nigeria’s traditional financial asset classes.
Adding credence to such bias is data retrieved from Paxful. The global leading Peer to Peer trading platform reveals Africa’s biggest economy and home to over 200 million people has now become its biggest market with 1.5 million users. In just four months, about $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin exchanged hands.
In addition, data retrieved from Google revealed that Nigeria is the only country with a perfect score in regards to its interest in the flagship crypto.
Using local geographical metrics, Delta State has the highest level of interest in the flagship crypto on a state level, followed by Anambra, Bayelsa, Ondo, and Ekiti. This points to Bitcoin’s stronghold in southern Nigeria.
READ: Dogecoin breaks new high, far more valuable than Nigerian Stock Market
However, the same can’t be said of the fast-rising crypto, Dogecoin, which was created in 2013 as a joke, to mock the crypto-mania at that time. Data reveals Dogecoin has its strongest trend in the North-central and some Eastern parts of Nigeria such as Ebonyi, Plateau, Imo, Enugu, Niger, and Nasarawa.
Surprisingly, Borno state, despite being ravaged by conflict showed a high interest in the dog meme coin.
Anambra, Ebonyi, Bayelsa, Imo, and Cross river have the strongest interests in Ethereum that’s already breaching record highs amid the ongoing bullish run, in play at the crypto-verse.
READ: Unknown whale moves $440 million worth of Bitcoin as institutional buying drops
Surprisingly, Lagos, Nigeria’s busiest economic hub on the state level, misses out of the top 10 in any of the rankings despite its strong fintech presence coupled with the fact that it is host to most of Nigeria’s crypto platforms like Buycoins Africa, Quidax, Bittle, and Bundle Africa.
This data reveals how much the crypto market thrives on Nigeria’s ethnic diversity, taking into account that the country, which is Africa’s biggest fintech community and home to Africa’s only two fintech unicorns – Interswitch and Flutterwave, will benefit from policies that encourage diversification and long-term inclusive growth.
READ: Unknown whale moves $272 million worth of Bitcoin
In a country prone to stringent foreign exchange policy and expensive transaction fees compared to other emerging markets, the crypto industry is thriving and already creating jobs at record levels via the Nigerian crypto start-ups, which are facilitating millions of dollars worth of transactions daily and fostering a new wave of crypto-based solutions.
Bottom Line: It is important to note that the crypto market has facilitated more economic collaboration and cooperation among Nigeria’s geopolitical regions further boosting the prospects for a strong political and economic entity that many young Nigerians desperately desire.
