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While the West Chases Memecoins and ETFs, Africa is Building Blockchain Resilience

2025-07-12 22:23:25

While the West Chases Memecoins and ETFs, Africa is Building Blockchain Resilience

Main Idea

Africa is leveraging blockchain technology to address financial inclusion challenges, with a focus on real-world DeFi applications and homegrown innovation, while the West prioritizes speculative crypto products like memecoins and ETFs.

Key Points

1. Africa's mobile-first financial adoption is growing, with Sub-Saharan Africa surpassing 500 million mobile money users in 2024, yet 51% of the population remains unbanked.

2. Nigeria ranks second globally in DeFi usage, with Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa in the top 30; 95% of on-chain transactions in Sub-Saharan Africa are retail-focused (under $10,000).

3. Stablecoins like USDT and USDC account for 43% of blockchain transaction volume in Africa, serving as practical tools for payments and remittances.

4. African Web3 startups received 6.4% of all venture capital funding in H1 2024 (nearly double the global average), with Nigeria seeing a 28% YoY increase in Web3 developers.

5. Local projects like Kotani Pay (SMS-based stablecoin transfers) and Jambo (blockchain super app) address infrastructure gaps, focusing on financial inclusion and cross-border solutions.

Description

In Western Europe and North America, decentralised finance, referred to in common terms as DeFi, is largely seen through the lens of investment. The following guest post/opinion editorial was written by Kamal Youssefi, President of The Hashgraph Association. How Blockchain Can Replace Broken Financial Systems Asset managers involved in DeFi are promoting products that include

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Tags:
Op-Ed Africa Blockchain

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