Despite the 2015 warning to cryptocurrency traders by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), the residents of the East African country has continued to deepen their adoption of crypto.
While the country’s authorities continue to clamp down on crypto traders, the Chief Executive Officer of Luno Marius Reitz predicted that Kenya will lead the cryptocurrency market in Africa as we sail through 2022.
The Luno boss predicted that Kenya may leave Nigeria behind. Nigeria is another Africa country where its apex bank is blocking bank account linked to crypto trading.
Prediction for Africa Crypto Market in 2022
In its latest prediction for Africa crypto in 2022, Reitz stated on Thursday, January 6, 2022, that Kenya’s booming crypto adoption may turn the country into a crypto leader.
In 2021, Kenya was the leader of peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency transaction volumes, followed by Nigeria, which sparked more punitive measures by authorities of the two countries, instead, traders continue to find alternatives to remain relevant in the crypto world of trading.
Some of the indicators that would make Kenya Africa’s leader in crypto adoption in 2022, according to Marius are:
- Young population
- High heels of mobile connectivity
- Familiarity with digital payment solutions
Additionally, a lot of emerging companies in Kenya are building blockchain-based solutions while a lot of them see cryptocurrency as an alternative means of handling cross-border transactions and remittance, which are Africa’s major problems.
He said:
“According to World Bank, total remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa surpassed $45 billion in 2021 — but with the severe lack of foreign currency reserves across Africa stopping companies from receiving international payments and remitting their profits, many businesses could look towards cryptocurrencies as an alternative means of handling cross-border transactions,”.
He’s optimistic that Africa will gain more from cryptocurrency if authorities look beyond the risks involved in crypto.
CBK Position on Crypto
Like its counterpart in Nigeria, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has consistently warned members of the public on the use and trade in virtual currencies.
“No entity is currently licensed to offer money remittance services and products in Kenya using virtual currency such as Bitcoin. This is to inform the public that virtual currencies such as Bitcoin are not legal tender in Kenya and therefore no protection exists in the event that the platform that exchanges or holds the virtual currency fails or goes out of business”.
A report in 2021 by Chainalysis show that more Africans are receiving remittances in crypto. Some of them have adopted crypto as a means of cross border trade as some African countries battle with foreign exchange. Nigeria, for instance, has not got its forex policy right on forex.
Bitcoin, which is the determinant of which direction altcoins take, was $42,465.53, dropping by 1.05 per cent in the last 24 hours; ethereum was $3,259.02 to 1ETH, dropped by 3.04 per cent at the time of publication
Above all, P2P has been a lifesaver for most crypto traders across the continent.
Featured image:
- By Pierre Borthiry on Unsplash