Ghana set to catch up to Nigeria and Kenya in terms of crypto adoption: Chainalysis

Paxful CEO Ray Youssef said that the current growth trends in Ghana show that it has the potential to be a leader in terms of crypto adoption.

As emerging markets take the lead in crypto adoption, Ghana, a country located in West Africa, may soon catch up to other African countries regarding cryptocurrency use. 

In a report released by blockchain analytics platform Chainalysis, researchers found that Ghana has the potential to achieve crypto adoption levels similar to Kenya and Nigeria, countries which ranked 11th and 19th in the analytics firm’s global crypto adoption index.

According to Ray Youssef, the CEO of P2P platform Paxful, the local population’s needs along with the current growth trends in Ghana show that it has the potential to become a leader in crypto adoption in Africa.

Youssef said that in the last year, the total trading volume coming from Ghana in their P2P exchange has grown by 400% in the last two years. The executive also believes that many Nigerians consider Ghana as their home during the summer and are educating Ghanaians on Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto.

Chainalysis also mentioned that the insights provided by Youssef align with their data on Ghana. The analytics firm added that apart from Ghana, other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are expected to have higher levels of crypto usage as a lot of residents continue to face issues that crypto can solve for them.

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In a recent interview with Cointelegraph at the Africa Money & DeFi Summit, Kwame Oppong, an executive at the Bank of Ghana shared that the country is testing and preparing for a central bank digital currency (CBDC). According to Oppong, the reason behind their pursuit of a CBDC is to foster financial inclusion within the country. The executive believes that there is a lot of potential for crypto use in the country as it gives a lot of benefits to its people.