Regulation
interest in Bitcoin remains high in Nigeria
Despite the recent introduction of new regulation in Nigeria that would see the suppression of P2P cryptocurrency exchanges, attention and interest in Bitcoin remains unchanged and generally high within the African country.
According to the latest data from Google Trends, the stringent regulation proposed by President Tinubu and the pressure against cryptocurrency-related activities have not affected the sentiment of the Nigerian population, who manage to survive inflation with Bitcoin and stablecoins.
Let’s see all the details below.
Nigeria and crypto: Interest in Bitcoin remains stable and is not affected by stringent regulations
May 7th Bloomberg reported it the introduction of a new regulatory framework in Nigeria where peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency exchanges were banned, with President Tinubu motivated to strictly regulate and put pressure on the digital asset sector.
None of this has changed the feeling of the Nigerian population towards Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, whose interest generally remains high.
In fact, according to Google Trends statistics, Nigeria still represents the biggest cryptocurrency highlight in Africawhere searches for coins like Bitcoin on the search engine are commonplace.
In fact, it rises to first place for interest in Bitcoin and crypto, followed by the crypto hub El Salvadorwhere President Nayib Bukele is particularly proactive in supporting this type of alternative economy.
Last 5 year results for the search query “bitcoin” in Nigeria.
Source: https://trends.google.it/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&geo=NG&q=bitcoin&hl=it
The geographical analysis of the study highlights how Delta State represents the area most involved in this type of researchfollowed by other states such as Anambra, Ekiti, Enugu, Ondo, Ebonyi, Bayelsa, Osun, Edo and Imo.
Surprisingly, Lagos, the commercial hub of Nigeria, does not show much appetite for Bitcoin, so much so that it is not among the top 15 cities in terms of interest in Google Trends searches.
This confirms the thesis that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies manage to find fertile ground to take root within a society, in daily exchanges, and more generally in culture, when we find a high percentage of people excluded from basic financial services and where there are levels of inflation that are out of control.
Particularly in Nigeria, the middle class seeks to protect their initial savings from inflation using Bitcoin and Tether (USDT).
This polarization between government and citizens regarding the crypto topic could lead to strong internal tensionswith President Tinubu motivated to uphold oppressive regulatory standards by banning P2P exchanges and the Nigerian population increasingly inclined to use the cited alternatives rather than the Nigerian Naira.
The regulator’s firm stance was demonstrated earlier this year when it imposed a ban Binance operations in Nigeria, followed by the arrest and detention of its senior leaders, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla.
Additionally, Nigeria’s Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Binance of market manipulation, accusing it of contributing to the devaluation of the naira and necessitating government intervention.
It should also be noted that in the country, banks were not yet allowed to hold virtual assets in their wallets and trade cryptocurrencies on behalf of their customers.
Bitcoin is primarily aimed at those without access to a bank account and millennials
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies usually acquire more appeal in populations such as Nigeria where there is a strong concentration of the so-calledwithout banks“that is, adults who do not have their own bank account and cannot access basic financial services.
In this case, cryptocurrencies are popular Bind represent a valid alternative solution because they allow the exchange of value in P2P mode, without any state censorship affecting the successful completion of transactions (with the exception of censorship internal to Tether).
Furthermore, Bitcoin and its company are of greater interest among millennials than among other types of generationswhere the technological component has not yet reached the sphere of money and personal finance.
As for Nigeria, second According to a United Nations study, the country is currently one of the youngest in the world and at the same time one of the fastest growing countries in Africa, with 43% of the population under the age of 15.
Another factor that must be considered to understand where the crypto economy finds greatest interest is the level of inflation of a country and the solidity of the state currency.
Returning to the example of Nigeria, in this context the heavy devaluation of the naira, which has fallen by 86% against the euro since 2016, has pushed citizens to consider alternative options to preserve the value of their assets.
If in the West we are used to seeing the purchasing power of our account more or less always the same (and here too the first alarm signals sound), we cannot say the same of Nigeria, where from one moment to the next the value of the population’s sacrifices could be worth 20% less.
Regarding the ability to maintain value as an asset store of valueBitcoin is still the preferred choice for Nigerians.
As for using a currency for everyday transactions, Nigerians do not use the lighting networkbut they prefer to rely on Tether, which currently dominates the local trading market, especially after the diaspora regulation banning P2P trading.