Cryptocurrencies to develop Africa now!

We have all heard about the fact that Africa does not remain indifferent to cryptocurrencies. Statistics provided by Google Trends show that the city of Lagos, Nigeria, is in first place in terms of search volume for bitcoin. Current studies show that 32% of Nigerians own cryptocurrencies (The report of Statista).

This tells us, very clearly, that the people of Lagos, and Nigeria in general, are very interested in cryptocurrency. Moreover, the government of Nigeria with the president Muhammadu Buhari is currently working to create the e-naira, a digital currency (CBDC).

It is also, for them, an ultimate way to circumvent the flaws in the available payment system. Remember that the advantages of using cryptocurrencies are enormous, of which here are the three most important:

There are no geographical boundaries. One can send and receive payment from anywhere in the world without any restrictions.
The fees are extremely lower whether you send $100 or $1 million. We are far from the 20% charged by intermediaries like Western Union for example.
The transfer is faster and there is no intermediary: No need to wait for approval from a banking technician to validate the transfer. This is done instantly.

Bitcoin as a substitute for “fragile” African currencies

The enormous enthusiasm that we see in Africa is actually due to the fact that national currencies are very fragile and subject to high inflation. In the West, users of cryptocurrencies use it more for speculation and to hope to make gains in the future. The majority of Africans, for their part, see it as a way to acquire a currency - although volatile - that is stronger than their national currencies.

It is even often, in Africa, the only way to obtain supplies of international currencies and more particularly dollars. Remember that bitcoin is convertible into one single click in dollars or euros. This is certainly the highlight that attracts so many Africans to the cryptographic universe.

Bitcoin allows you to enter international trade

We must insist on this fundamental point. The globalization of commerce and trade has never been more real than with the Internet. Since payment methods have been permitted via the internet, all businesses have found new customers across the world. Let us emphasize here that with non-convertible African currencies, the absence of infrastructure and neglect on the part of governments, it is all of Africa, as a whole, which has not been able to fully participate in international trade. .

While all startups, which were originally just websites, have become a kind of new generation multinationals, accumulating clients from all over the world. Facebook became Facebook because it is present all over the world. It is not so much its service that is interesting as the fact that it is usable and available in all countries. It's the same thing for all Western companies, actually.

A French company x which sells shoes can suddenly reach a turnover calculated in millions, to the extent that it can have American, Canadian, Japanese customers, etc. In addition, with financial services like Paypal, everything has been made extremely easy for member countries. A simple Paypal button on a store allows you to sell - literally - all over the world. International trade therefore benefits everyone... except the excluded countries, which are mainly located in Africa.

What needs to be understood here is that all these "scalable" and international startups are only scalable thanks to one thing: international payment. This has been a definite boon for all monetarily developed countries.

The only ones who benefit from the Internet, from a commercial point of view, remain the countries which have a convertible currency. Likewise, an American can pay for a French service/good in euros, because currency exchanges take place instantly. With a VISA or Mastercard bank card, all payments are admissible. And it is precisely this that allows all companies (in the West, in particular), to increase their customers and their income tenfold, thanks to the Internet. Selling on the internet has been the ultimate wealth accelerator of the last decade. It is a fact.

For Africans….It's another story. Mobile payment is certainly a good thing, but it only remains relevant from a local point of view. A Togolese who receives his payment by mobile money will not be able to pay for international products online. Likewise, it is not at all possible for them to receive international payments.

We are at a stage in African history where inclusion in the game of international trade has become a necessity. Africa can no longer compromise with this element. It must be part of international exchanges, and these are carried out via a suitable payment system.

In other words, if African countries still do not have a way to convert their currencies into a convertible currency, then international trade will still be inaccessible.

Finally, the African is excluded from world markets for the sole and simple reason that he does not have a convertible currency. This is the only obstacle that stands in the way of creating income via the internet.

The African is therefore reduced to selling in his village, to the extent that he cannot even access online marketing services. In a word, Africans only use the Internet as a simple vector of entertainment or information, not at all, to do business.

This is where we arrive at the logical conclusion to this grotesque situation.

Since Africa remains massively excluded from the world market, should we not look for a solution? A solution that would be easy and quick to implement? In all likelihood, this solution already exists. It's no surprise to say that it's most likely cryptocurrency.

Indeed, an African can now, thanks to cryptocurrency, sell his services and goods abroad on the Internet. With cryptocurrency, there is no longer any difference between other players in the market. He no longer has any banking or financial restrictions. He can freely accept payments and receive them in his wallet, without there being any intermediary. If we look at it on a large scale, we understand that it is a unique opportunity for Africans to integrate international trade. This is the ultimate opportunity to integrate into monetary exchanges, without there being any major infrastructure work to be carried out, since the system is already in place.

The only thing to do now is legal regularization. Yes, payment in cryptocurrencies remains fundamentally a state affair. This is where the change that Africans have been waiting for for more than decades now will occur.

Of course, African governments remain skeptical although some have shown keen interest, like South Africa and Ghana, for example. They seem to have understood that there was an opportunity to resolve certain problems. In this case, it is more the blockchain than the cryptocurrency that is invoked. However, it is already a very big step that has been taken by these countries.

This general resistance seems to come from the fact that the media convey a truncated, if not reduced, image of bitcoin. In some ways, the advantages of bitcoin are rarely highlighted. If you only read conventional media, bitcoin remains a purely speculative currency, originating from anarchist movements, linked to multiple scams, etc.

How can you form an objective opinion in such conditions? Likewise, we will add that the complexity of the technology on which bitcoin is based further complicates the task. Today, it is difficult to understand bitcoin to the extent that explanations concerning the blockchain can seem, at first glance, unaffordable.

For many Africans, Africa is already ready for the crypto revolution and Ihyperbitcoinization seems unstoppable...

If not, what should we do? Witness this status quo of an Africa excluded from international markets without seeking to resolve it? Or should we seriously focus on blockchain and cryptocurrencies?

Would it not be scandalous, after all, not to give importance to what is already showing us the beginnings of solutions for each of our African countries.