Nigerian Bitcoin Peer-to-Peer Volumes Near $400M in 2022 H1
Expansion of P2P Trading in Nigeria
Peer-to-peer (P2P) Bitcoin trading in Nigeria is expanding at a time when authorities are cracking down on financial institutions that are defying the order of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from February 5, 2021.
According to Paxful, the rise in P2P volumes in Africa was caused by a general absence of access to financial institutions in the region. Paxful reported,
"For a market like Africa, where many people are underbanked and financial institutions are not as easily accessible, P2P finance provides an opportunity for financial inclusion. There's been an explosion in Bitcoin adoption in Nigeria due to a multitude of factors: a 33% unemployment rate, an unbanked population of 38 million adults, a young and entrepreneurial community (over 75% of its population is under 35), and financial instability - such as volatility around the Naira."
Volume Increase in Kenya and Ghana
The largest market for Paxful internationally is Nigeria. However, Kenya is now the second-largest market in Africa and the fifth-largest worldwide. Its P2P volumes totaled over $200 million in 2021 and over $125 million in the first half of 2022. In response to the massive rise observed in Ghana and Kenya, Paxful stated,
"There are more and more African users remitting money over the years—the total remittance user base (users trading in multiple currencies) on Paxful grew by nearly 140% in Kenya and over 115% in Ghana in 2021. In 2021, Ghana experienced a yearly growth of 95% in trade volume."
Paxful praised the decision by the Central African Republic (CAR) to become the first African nation to recognize Bitcoin as legal cash and expressed optimism that the country would utilize "Bitcoin to make monetary policy to push its economy forward."