Nigeria becomes most crypto-obsessed nation after April crash: Report

by · August 8, 2022

The crypto market crash in April saw most cryptocurrencies lose more than 60% of their valuation from their peak, leading to a general decline in trading activity, investor interest and venture capital investment. A recent study has highlighted nations’ growing curiosity and interest in crypto following the April crash.

The survey was based on Google Trends data from popular crypto search terms that often reflect increased interest in the crypto market. The search history of each nation was then aggregated to give an overall search score. The countries at the top of the list appear to be the most eager to buy the dip.

The Coingecko survey highlighted a significant increase in curiosity among Nigerians following the April crypto market downturn. The Nigerian population searched the most for the terms ‘cryptocurrency’, ‘invest in crypto’ and ‘buy crypto’ among the 15 countries that were part of the research and had a total search score of 370.

The following two Google trend charts show the data for “invest in crypto” searches in Nigeria compared to the world. Search density for the term has seen similar rates following the April decline in Nigeria, while worldwide search density has seen a constant decline in comparison.

Data for “Invest in Crypto” keywords in Nigeria Source: Google Trends
Data for keyword “Invest in Crypto” worldwide Source: Google Trends

Nigeria’s growing interest in crypto is fueled by insufficient financial services in the country, which has been a key reason for crypto adoption across Africa. As Cointelegraph reported in April, nearly 17.36 million (or 52% of Nigerian crypto investors) have allocated over half of their assets to cryptocurrencies. Nigerians started using crypto as a viable alternative to store and transfer assets.

Related: Global Bitcoin Adoption to Reach 10% by 2030: Blockware Report

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) came in second with a search score of 270, which didn’t come as a surprise to many given the country’s recent push for crypto adoption. Singapore was ranked third with a search score of 260, while the United States was ranked 12th with a search score of 157.

The search results data also highlighted some of the top cryptocurrencies that people in these 15 countries searched for. Interestingly, Ethereum (ETH) trails Bitcoin (BTC) in 14 of the 15 countries, with Singapore leading the list with a score of 59. The increase in interest towards ETH over BTC can also be attributed to the upcoming merger of the proof. of-stake network scheduled for the third week of September.