Author: Lim Yu Qian, Translation: DeepTechFlow
Which African countries are most interested in cryptocurrencies?
As of 2023, Nigeria has the highest interest in cryptocurrencies of any African country to date, representing 66.8% of the continent’s cryptocurrency interest YTD, nearly eight times that of the second most interested African country.
Previously, Nigeria was rated as one of the most curious countries in the world about cryptocurrencies alongside Kenya. This West African country also frequently makes appearances in other global rankings for specific areas of cryptocurrency, including Meme coins, Web3 games, AI cryptocurrencies and even Proof of Reserves.
Like other African countries, Nigeria’s interest and adoption of cryptocurrencies is largely driven by weak traditional financial infrastructure and economic challenges, including high inflation and currency devaluation.
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Overall, the top 15 African countries represent 97.5% of the continent’s cryptocurrency interest share this year.
African countries with moderate interest in cryptocurrencies
South Africa, Morocco, Ghana, Egypt and Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) contribute less to Africa’s cryptocurrency interest, accounting for a total of 23.8% of the continent’s cryptocurrency interest YTD. Currently, they rank second through sixth among the African countries most interested in cryptocurrencies this year.
Some of these African countries have also appeared in global rankings, although usually below Nigeria: earlier this year, Morocco was one of the top ten countries most interested in Meme coins, and South Africa ranked 11th in interest in Proof of Reserves. Egypt was also identified as the ninth country most affected by the FTX crash last year.
African countries with the lowest interest in cryptocurrencies
The remaining 48 African countries have relatively low interest in cryptocurrencies across the continent, with each country accounting for less than 2.0% of the share this year. Specifically, of the 54 African countries this year, only 41 are interested in cryptocurrencies, with 13 countries in the entire continent having no interest in cryptocurrencies at all.
Among the top 15 African countries most interested in cryptocurrency, the countries ranked seventh to fifteenth only account for 6.9% of the cryptocurrency interest share. These nine countries are Uganda, Angola, Algeria, Tunisia, Kenya, Namibia, Mauritius, Botswana, and Seychelles, each with a share of 0.4% to 1.6% of the cryptocurrency interest in Africa.
Although Seychelles has a small share of cryptocurrency interest in Africa, as a tax haven that is friendly to businesses, it plays an outsized role in the cryptocurrency industry. Six out of the top 30 centralized cryptocurrency exchanges are registered in Seychelles, the highest number in a country.
Overall, interest in cryptocurrency in Africa is concentrated in a few countries on the continent. This highlights the unevenness of interest in cryptocurrency across Africa, but it may also reflect the characteristics of the African cryptocurrency community. For example, African investors may not check cryptocurrency prices as frequently as other regions.
Which African regions are most interested in cryptocurrency?
West Africa has the highest interest in cryptocurrency, accounting for 74.7%, followed by North Africa (10.0%) and South Africa (9.6%). East Africa (3.8%) and Central Africa (1.9%) are the regions of Africa with the least interest in cryptocurrency.
Among the top 15 African countries most interested in cryptocurrency, there are four representatives each from North and East Africa. South and West Africa each have three representatives, while only one country from Central Africa made it to the top 15.
In other words, four out of six North African countries and four out of 18 East African countries are in the top 15 in Africa. Meanwhile, three out of five South African countries and three out of 16 West African countries, as well as one out of nine Central African countries, made it to the top 15.
Which cryptocurrencies are African countries interested in by 2023?
So far, meme coins, DeFi tokens, and blockchain networks are the most popular cryptocurrencies in Africa. These three narratives represent 13 out of the top 17 cryptocurrencies in Africa, including seven meme coins, four DeFi-related tokens, and three native currencies of blockchain networks.
Unlike Southeast Asia’s enthusiasm for Pepe (PEPE), the entire Meme coin sector seems to be more popular with cryptocurrency enthusiasts in Africa. African investors are interested in a variety of meme coins, from Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) to other dog-inspired coins like Baby Doge Coin (BABYDOGE) and Bonk (BONK), to more recent ones like Pepe and Peepo (PEEPO).
In the six countries analyzed, Morocco and Ivory Coast are the only two countries that list meme coins as one of their top three cryptocurrencies. In addition, Morocco is interested in the payment protocol Ripple (XRP), while Ivory Coast is interested in the controversial Terra Luna Classic (LUNC).
The other four African countries have different narratives in their top three cryptocurrencies, similar to Southeast Asia, possibly because there was no strong crypto narrative in 2023.
In Nigeria, investors have been following the lending protocol Liquity (LQTY), as well as the Layer 1 protocol Conflux (CFX) that led the China narrative earlier this year. In neighboring Ghana, the top three cryptocurrencies are Dust Protocol (DUST) related to DeGods, Bitcoin (BTC), and another lending protocol Kava (KAVA).
In North Africa, Egyptian investors are interested in Sweatcoin (SWEAT) that leads to income and the token for the newly launched Layer 2 blockchain Arbitrum (ARB) among their top three cryptocurrencies.
Finally, the most popular cryptocurrencies in South Africa include Truebit Protocol (TRU) for computational technology and the native token of the decentralized exchange Dodo (DODO).
2023 Popular Cryptocurrencies in Africa
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The most popular cryptocurrencies in Nigeria are Peepo (PEEPO), Liquity (LQTY) and Conflux (CFX).
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The most popular cryptocurrencies in South Africa are Truebit Protocol (TRU), Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dodo (DODO).
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The most popular cryptocurrencies in Morocco are Dogecoin (DOGE), Ripple (XRP) and Bonk (BONK).
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The most popular cryptocurrencies in Ghana are Dust Protocol (DUST), Bitcoin (BTC) and Kava (KAVA).
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The most popular cryptocurrencies in Egypt are Sweatcoin (SWEAT), Arbitrum (ARB) and Pepe (PEPE).
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The most popular cryptocurrencies in Ivory Coast are Terra Luna Classic (LUNC), Baby Doge Coin (BABYDOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB).
Crypto Currency Interest Among African Countries in 2023
The other 13 African countries that had no record of web traffic during this period are: Burundi, Cape Verde (Cape Verde), Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, and Sao Tome and Principe.
Research Method
This study researched the interest of cryptocurrencies in African countries based on CoinGecko’s web traffic data from January 1, 2023, to July 4, 2023. To ensure representative data, inflated traffic was excluded.
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