Kenya recorded the highest volume of trades on LocalEthereum now LocalCryptos compared to other African countries in 2019.
LocalEthereum began in 2017 as the first peer-to-peer marketplace for Ethereum. The platform rebranded to LocalCryptos this year to support more cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin.
In an exclusive interview with BlockNewsAfrica, LocalCryptos revealed that Kenya is the current leader in transaction volume from the African continent.Â
In 2019, 75% of all trade recorded on the LocalCryptos exchange platform from Africa came from Kenya, with about fifteen KES to ETH trades daily. This represents 7% of the total global volume on LocalCryptos.
Other countries like Nigeria, Egypt, Uganda, and South Africa follow Kenya in the same order to make the list for the top five sources of volume from Africa.
Top 5 Africa Countries on LocalCryptos (Transaction Volume)
- Kenya
- Nigeria
- Egypt
- Uganda
- South Africa
Speaking to BlockNewsAfrica, CEO of LocalCryptos, Michael Foster highlighted Kenya’s dominance and the platform plans for the continent in 2020.
In 2020, we’re especially focusing on growing our African communities. We’re very interested in bringing LocalCryptos to new users in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and Zimbabwe. Africa is on the road to becoming a major blockchain hub, with many governments and communities embracing the technology, and we want to be a part of it.
Most people in Africa—and particularly Kenya—have a strong preference for Bitcoin over any other crypto. Until last month, we didn’t have Bitcoin. Now that we do, combined with the fact that blockchain in Africa continues to surge, we expect to see more new users from Africa in 2020 compared to any other continent.
2019 has been a solid year for peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency exchange platforms in Africa. Big names like Paxful have seen over 60% increase in exchange volumes from Africa.
Moving into the new year, it will be interesting to see how Africa continues to be an essential continent for P2P marketplaces in 2020. Foster believes that P2P platforms that make it easier for users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies will be the most relevant moving forward.
Peer-to-peer trading activity has dropped dramatically on the rival P2P platform LocalBitcoins since they recently introduced mandatory verification tiers. For some in Africa, it’s impossible to meet these new stringent requirements because of the difficulty in obtaining acceptable documents (for example, in some African countries it is hard to find acceptable proof of residency). We are giving these stranded traders a new home where their challenges won’t be ignored or forgotten.
Currently, LocalCryptos’s biggest market is Venezuela, which Micheal Foster believes shares a lot of similarities with Zimbabwe.
LocalCryptos’ most popular country—Venezuela—is on the other side of the world, but it bears some similarities with Zimbabwe. Its cultures and histories are different, however both countries have broken, mismanaged economies, and very weak currencies. Both countries also have large groups of educated young people who are beginning to embrace cryptocurrency as an escape from rapid inflation and a path toward a healthy and sustainable future.
With some level of similarities between top markets for LocalCryptos and other African markets, the platform is looking forward to capturing more users in 2020.
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