Nigerians adopt crypto despite the government’s crackdown against the currency. The popularity of bitcoin is growing in African countries.

Last month the trade volume of bitcoin reached its second strongest week in the country. Besides, the Nigerians are the top searchers of the term ‘bitcoin’ on Google.  The statistics show Nigeria is the second biggest country according to the p2p (Peer-to-Peer) trade volume of bitcoin. The United States is the first.

Nigerian ban on Crypto was a result of a government’s crackdown against the populous. The economic and political tensions make it the epicenter of local adoption of crypto.

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During the protests against police brutality, the government froze the bank accounts of people. It created economic tensions. Many turned to crypto for carrying out their economic activities outside of traditional banks.

Nigerians Adopt Crypto To Defy Government’s Tough Economic Measures:

In October 2020, ‘EndSars’ protests erupted in Nigeria. Sars is an infamous police unit in the country. As people mobilized against the police, the government became hostile against crypto.

A Nigerian journalist told the international newspaper The Guardian,

I think that EndSars is like the key catalyst for some of these decisions the government is making. It caused fear. They saw, for example, that people could decide to bypass government structures and institutions to mobilize.

The companies are keeping their money secure in Crypto for tough times. However, the discouragement from the government has pushed many individuals to access crypto from underground means.

The general manager of crypto trading platform Luno explained the phenomena of P2P bitcoin in Nigeria to the guardian.

A lot of trading activity has now been pushed underground, which means many Nigerians are now depending on less secure, less transparent over-the-counter channels, as well as Telegram and WhatsApp groups, where people trade directly with each other.

Nigerian adopt crypto as a sign of rebellion against the government’s oppression.