Nigerian BTC Peer-to-Peer Volumes Nearly $400M in H1 2022 – Significant Growth in Kenya and Ghana Volumes – Bitcoin News from Emerging Markets

Nigeria’s peer-to-peer bitcoin traded volumes of over $1.1 billion between January 2021 and June 2022 mean the West African nation is now Paxful’s largest market. Kenya, which had trading volume of over $325 million in the same period, now ranks as the crypto exchange’s second largest African market, and fifth overall.

Financial exclusion drives P2P Bitcoin traded volumes

According to the latest data from peer-to-peer crypto exchange platform Paxful, Nigeria’s bitcoin traded volumes in the first half of 2022 topped nearly $400 million. Combined with $760 million in trading volumes seen in 2021, it means the West African nation is now the crypto exchange’s largest market globally.

Nigeria’s growing volume of bitcoin traded via the peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange comes at a time when regulators are cracking down on financial institutions that violate the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directive from February 5, 2021. The directive prevents banks and other regulated financial institutions from facilitating transactions involving crypto entities.

Explaining the reasons behind the increase in Africa’s P2P volume, Paxful told Bitcoin.com News that a general lack of access to financial services across the continent was driving people towards bitcoin. Paxful said:

For a market like Africa, where many people are underbanked and financial institutions are not as easily accessible, P2P financing provides an opportunity for financial inclusion. There has been an explosion in Bitcoin adoption in Nigeria due to a number of factors: an unemployment rate of 33%, an unbanked population of 38 million adults, a young and entrepreneurial community (over 75% of the population is under 35), and financial instability – such as volatility around the Naira.

According to the P2P exchange, all of these factors add up to “a massive case” for bitcoin, a technology it said was “built for the masses.”

Volume growth in Kenya and Ghana

While Nigeria is Paxful’s largest market globally, Kenya, which had P2P volumes of over $200 million in 2021 and over $125 million in the first half of 2022, is now the crypto exchange’s second largest market in Africa and fifth in the world. Paxful added that it “forecasts 25% growth in trade volume in Kenya by 2022.”

Commenting on the significant growth in Kenya and Ghana, Paxful said:

“There are more and more African users sending money over the years — the total remittance user base (users transacting in multiple currencies) on Paxful grew by almost 140% in Kenya and over 115% in Ghana in 2021. In 2021, Ghana experienced annual growth of 95% in trading volume.”

As for the Central African Republic (CAR) – the first African country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender – Paxful praised the move, saying it was hopeful the country would use “bitcoin to set the monetary policy to drive the economy forward.” However, the crypto exchange said it had “nothing noteworthy” to share regarding CAR’s volumes.

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Terence Zimwara

Terence Zimwara is a Zimbabwean award-winning journalist, writer and author. He has written extensively about the economic problems in some African countries, as well as how digital currencies can provide Africans with an escape route.