Africa Doesn’t Need Another Wallet App: It Needs a Seat at the Table (Op-ed)

Key Points

1. Many crypto ventures treat Africa as a single user base, offering pre-made products that often go underused, failing to address local complexities.

2. The industry frequently relies on energy-intensive mining, speculative tokens, and greenwashing, rather than practical solutions like low-cost money movement.

3. Effective crypto solutions in Africa require offline transactions, low-bandwidth compatibility, and local agent networks, focusing on pragmatic rather than speculative use cases.

4. Africa needs crypto solutions that address real needs like low-bandwidth debugging and local value flows, not just another wallet app or remittance protocol designed for VC returns.

5. Crypto in Africa must avoid repeating Web2's mistakes by focusing on decentralization and local engagement, rather than top-down approaches.