A major reason investors worldwide are looking to modify traditional assets into cryptocurrencies is to combat the uprising inflation of the fiat currency. According to recent studies taken across Nigeria, there’s staggering growth in the use of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. This growth stems from limited access to cash-friendly fiat-based financial services in Africa.
The “Into the Cryptoverse Report” of KuCoin, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, pointed out that many Nigerian citizens have adopted crypto as a potential option to buy, store and transfer digital assets. Based on the report, 35 percent of people in Nigeria between 18 to 60 years, or about 33.4 million people, have purchased and traded crypto in the last six months. Among this population of people, about 52 percent of crypto investors in Nigeria ( or roughly 17.36 million people) have budgeted more than half of their assets for crypto.
Inflationary pressures on fiat currencies are one of the primary reasons investors worldwide seek to diversify their portfolios into cryptocurrencies. An investor poll conducted in the United Kingdom last month revealed that most respondents believed that crypto tokens were safe and secured compared to regular investments like crude oil, gold, real estate and stocks.
Peer-to-peer trading ( or P2P trading for short) is the most popular technique for Nigerian investors to transfer their fiat currency into cryptocurrencies, according to the KuCoin research. Around 23.38 million Nigerians will make increased cryptocurrency investments. Better still, over 70% of present cryptocurrency investors, as the country’s crypto adoption frenzy continues, apace during the next six months.
Nigeria’s fiat currency, the naira, has lost more than 209 percent of its value in the last six years. This issue is one of the primary reasons local investors look to deflationary assets such as Bitcoin for investment (BTC).
Although most Nigerian crypto investors began their investment adventure many years ago, the survey shows that 26 percent began investing in cryptocurrencies only six months ago, thanks in part to the 2021 bull run, which saw bitcoin prices momentarily reach the $69,000 level. eNaira, the digital currency issued by Nigeria’s central bank, was launched in October 2021 by President Muhammadu Buhari.
To reduce operational expenses and speed up cross-border payments, numerous governments worldwide seek to deploy CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currency) as a digitized alternative for fiat currency. In the recently issued “2022 Global CBDC Index,” the eNaira is deemed the most developed CBDC, receiving 95 points out of 100 in retail and wholesale categories.
Recently, a survey by cryptocurrency exchange Gemini revealed that worldwide crypto investors would experience a significant increase in 2021. The Press previously reported that crypto adoption was most prevalent in some countries including India, Brazil, and Hong Kong, with more than half of those polled admitting they had invested in cryptocurrency. According to Gemini’s research, Indonesia and Brazil are the world’s leaders in the proportion of cryptocurrency investors among the general public.