The Role of Crypto currency in Poverty Alleviation in Africa
Four years ago when I joined this beautiful platform, many Africans didn't really pay much attention to cryptos until bitcoin hit 20,000 usd and got the world asking questions.
Fast forward to 2021 and many African youths already made their first 1000 usd courtesy of cryptos which have also grown in numbers, purpose and usage (story for another day)...
Anyone reading this will see where I said that many African youths have made their first 1k usd as a result of coming in contact with crypto hence my curious enquiry into how that same crypto can be used to alleviate poverty and ensure sustainable growth in Africa.
Cryptos came into existence to reduce transaction fees, ensure fasts sending and receipt of money beyond borders, encourage privacy of users and ensure that there is transparency in the transactions that happen by decentralising things.
One of the problems faced in Africa is that of exchange rate and bank fees which fluctuate and are high respectively especially if there is going to be international transactions. Another is the stress inside the banking hall, the time wasted to do little transactions and the need sometimes give bribes in order to speed things up, something called "express" in most cases.
One can begin to connect the dots here, higher exchange rate plus higher transaction fees equals less money to save, while time wasted in the bank and the stressed experienced especially when one can not afford to bribe and even when they can, equal less time to do more productive things hence we can say that less time to be productive plus less money as savings due to no faults of the citizens equals general poverty!
This is why crypto currency should see more adoption as it ensures that fees are low and more money is saved while also making it possible for transfers to happen blazingly fast and at the comfort of the sender hence they can spend quality time adding value to their community and thus making it possible to poverty to reduce.
African governments should encourage the use of decentralised financial institutions which can be regulated in order to ensure adequate protection of assets and users while also encouraging banks and other financial institutions to do more to ensure that people won't waste much time doing things that add little or no value to the economy.
My name is ocha and I am a crypto currency enthusiast and igbo content creator. Until I come here again to put down my thoughts, I wish us all the best of life.
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Excellent post. Great thoughts. :)