Key Takeaways
- Africa becomes biggest BTC p2p market in the world
- Nigeria leads the p2p market in Africa
- P2p numbers in Nigeria can be attributed to the CBN ban in February
Useful Tulips made this assertion after analyzing trading data from Local Bitcoin and Paxful trading platforms.
According to the data analyzed, about $17.6 million worth of BTC was traded in Africa compared to $17.5 million in North America in the past week.
Nigeria led the charge with more than $8 million worth of BTC traded, while Kenya and Ghana came in second and third at $3.6 million and $2.8 million traded, respectively.
In North America, the United States led overwhelmingly with over 90% ($16.5 million) of trades.
In terms of total amount traded in August, North America has a slight edge at $73.5 million to $73.4 million for Africa.
This increase in p2p trading in Africa is primarily due to the ban of cryptocurrency in Nigeria.
The central bank of Nigeria prohibited financial service providers from engaging with banks in February, which has led to an increase in p2p trading.
Therefore, it is not surprising that several p2p platforms in the region have recorded a rise in trading volume.
Some of the top p2p exchanges in the region include Remitano, Paxful, and Local Bitcoins.
Binance also has a popular p2p platform that has attracted many customers in recent months. There are expectations that once concrete regulations have been put in place, the Central Bank could reverse its existing crypto ban.
Kenya and Ghana have also experienced rising crypto adoption as youths turn to crypto as a hedge against local currency volatility.
This latest data from Useful Tulips shows that cryptocurrency adoption is an inevitable phenomenon that is gaining ground quickly.
What are your thoughts on Africa's rapid p2p trading volumes?
