Localbitcoins Volumes in Africa Skyrocket Despite Warnings from Central Banks

The trend of citizens from multiple African countries has concerned the East African Community (EAC), an intergovernmental central bank organization composed of six countries in eastern Africa. The group is hoping to create a solitary currency for all six countries similar to the euro, but members believe “bitcoin interest” in Africa is hindering the process. Warnings about bitcoin have also stemmed from central banks like the Bank of Tanzania, Kenya, and other areas over the past few months. 

 The digital currency bitcoin is trending in Africa according to many reports and Google’s aggregated trend data. One particular group bitcoin is appealing to is African millennials, the columnist Catherine Byaruhanga from Uganda reports. For instance, a young resident from Kampala, Peace Akware, hopes her investment in bitcoin will grow enough for her to purchase a vehicle, and possibly even buy land some day. Another individual from Kampala, Martin Serugga, is teaching young millennials about cryptocurrencies in his weekly class that over 50 people attend. Serugga teaches the class how to trade cryptocurrencies against fiat used in the region.  

 Other reports detail that since the economic and political turmoil in South Africa residents from the area started looking to bitcoin. The exchange, Etoro saw a spike in users back in March when the region’s finance minister Pravin Gordhan lost his position.“In South Africa, the number of new users trading bitcoin through eToro rose by 671% from January to the end of November last year over the same period in 2016, more than the 574% overall growth,” explains Mati Greenspan, an analyst for Etoro.