[Transcript] #25: Crypto trading exchanges (African WealthTech Pt 3) - How cryptocurrency platforms are providing decentralized financial services across Africa
Recorded March 21, 2021
Ah! the heady days of crypto! Between January and March 2021 when we recorded this, both Bitcoin and Ethereum had doubled in price! Everybody was trading. Regulators disapproved. The Nigerian Central Bank ordered accounts related to crypto closed. Notwithstanding, crypto trading volume in Nigeria went from $684M in December to $2.4Billion in May 2021. This wasn’t just Nigeria. Africa's Crypto Market grew by 1,200% between 2020 and 2021. Entrepreneurs, Investors, Users. Everybody was in.
Those were the times.
They didn’t last though. As the macroeconomic environment changed, the prospects of crypto turned sour. Retail investors (speculators?) were caught in the rainbands of the hurricane that was the market downturn. Many shut down. Wonderkids became mere mortals on meds.
It’s not over though. According to Reuters, crypto usage is still growing. The factors that drove the adoption a few years ago still exist - many African countries still suffer under a unstable foreign exchange regime, skyrocketing inflation and punishing regulatory environment.
I’m still sceptical what all of this means. However, my scepticism feels insincere, you know, like the people who say “spiritual but not religious” when they really couldn’t care less. All together now, say it with me - “Blockchain but not bitcoin” . We’ll see how this all pans out.
As always, paid subscribers can review the transcript below. You can also listen to the episode at afrobility.com or search any podcast player.
Thanks for listening and sharing.
Bankole.
[00:00:00] Olumide Ogunsanwo: Welcome to Afrobility, a conversation about African business and technology. Today, we're going to discuss cryptocurrency trading across Africa to wrap up our Wealth Tech Trilogy. We'll start with some global context of cryptocurrency, we'll review cryptocurrency trading platforms across Africa, and then we'll end with our general thoughts and overall outlook.
This episode was recorded on March 21. 2021. Bankido. What's up, man? Bankido.
[00:00:26] Bankole Makanju: I'm good, man. How are you?
[00:00:26] Olumide Ogunsanwo: Bankido is a cross between Davido and something else. Maybe Bankole.
[00:00:34] Bankole Makanju: You know how you come up with them. I'm not going to ask. It's fine. You don't need to explain yourself.
[00:00:36] Olumide Ogunsanwo: I'm doing well. It's been a good week. I feel relaxed. I'm excited for this episode. I have a slightly renewed perspective on cryptocurrency and specifically cryptocurrency trading slash investing after prepping for this podcast. So it should be a good one.
[00:00:53] Bankole Makanju: I have a, maybe a different take at the end. Probably state my biases. I started off being overwhelmingly negative.
[00:00:59] Olumide Ogunsanwo: I'm not surprised. Just like with everything in life. No, no, no,
[00:01:03] Bankole Makanju: no. I'm cynical. I'm cynical. I've been cynical and then ended up being, huh, interesting. There's something here. But yeah, after, after you carve it out, there's some subsets which have more merit than other pieces.