Study ranks South Africa among the best in terms of possession of cryptocurrencies

According to a global survey by social media management company Hootsuite and the global Wearesocial agency, South Africa has been ranked as the number one cryptocurrency owner. The survey found that 10.7% of Internet users in the country own cryptocurrency. Thailand comes in second place with 9.9% of mobile users with cryptocurrency and Indonesia in third with 9.5%, while the world average was 5.5%.

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Africa regularly kisses cryptocurrency

The 2019 World Digital Report also placed other sub-Saharan African countries such as Ghana and Kenya among the top 45 countries in the world where a large number of people possessed cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin. The results are based on a survey of Internet users aged 16 to 64 in the six months to September 2018.

The survey confirms that Africa has embraced the digital currency revolution. A growing number of people on the continent are using cryptocurrency to meet both personal financial needs and entrepreneurial projects such as the transfer of goods, services and money, at the international and national levels.

There is also an emerging generation of Africans buying virtual currencies as investment vehicles, while a relatively small number of Africans are trading digital currencies for speculative purposes.

In 2018, Paxful Inc., a peer-to-peer bitcoin exchange center, experienced significant growth in Africa. The US-based company said Africans now represent the largest number of people buying and selling cryptocurrency on its platform, with average monthly transactions totaling $ 64.5 million.

Over the past year, users on the African continent (1.2 billion people) have climbed 225 percent, said Ray Youssef, managing director of Paxful. Forex market transactions have increased by 60% in Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, 25% in South Africa, the continent's most sophisticated economy and up to 100% in other parts of the world. Africa.

South Africa consults on the regulation of cryptography

The ranking of the South African cryptocurrency property at the top of the list comes at a time when the country's monetary authorities have asked the public to comment on policy and regulatory proposals for cryptographic badets such as Bitcoin. There is currently no regulation on cryptocurrencies in South Africa, which has prompted the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to propose measures offering legal protection or recourse to investors and users.

While the rest of the South African financial system is subject to strict regulation to prevent market failure problems, the cryptography market is not, SARB said. In its guidance document, the central bank makes several proposals, including leaving the cryptographic badets without legal status to the legal tender, so as not to recognize them as electronic money.

The paper also recommends that an appropriate regulatory framework be developed through a registration process for crypto-badet service providers. It also proposes a review of existing regulatory frameworks, followed by new regulatory requirements or changes to existing regulations.

"The gradual approach, starting with the obligation of registration, could give rise to formal authorization and designation as a registered / licensed supplier for cryptographic badet services operating at a later stage in South Africa, "says the central bank.

What do you think of the growth of cryptocurrency ownership in Africa? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Jeffrey Gogo

Jeffrey Gogo is an award-winning financial journalist based in Harare, Zimbabwe. Former Deputy Editor of Zimbabwe Herald, the country's largest daily, Gogo has more than 15 years of experience in the fields of financial markets, business economics and news. He met bitcoin for the first time in 2014 and started covering the cryptocurrency markets in 2017