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Joy Agwunobi
Nigeria has cemented its place as Sub-Saharan Africa’s cryptocurrency leader, recording more than $92.1 billion in on-chain transaction value between July 2024 and June 2025, according to new data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
The figure, highlighted in the company’s 2025 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report, shows that Nigeria received nearly three times the value handled by South Africa, which ranked second in the region. Ethiopia, Kenya and Ghana completed the top five markets.
Chainalysis attributed Nigeria’s dominance to its large, tech-savvy youth population, alongside persistent inflation and foreign currency access challenges that have pushed individuals and businesses toward stablecoins as a preferred alternative.
Regional growth accelerates
Across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), crypto activity has risen rapidly. The region received over $205 billion in on-chain value during the 12-month period, representing a 52 percent year-on-year increase. That growth rate makes SSA the third-fastest growing region globally, behind Asia-Pacific and Latin America.
“Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains the smallest crypto economy in our regional analysis, yet its usage patterns reveal significant insights into grassroots adoption and the increasing role of crypto in everyday financial activity. Between July 2024 and June 2025, the region received over $205 billion in on-chain value, up roughly 52 percent from the previous year. This growth makes it the third fastest growing region in the world, just behind APAC and Latin America,” the report stated.
The report noted that March 2025 marked a turning point when on-chain volume surged to nearly $25 billion in a single month—an anomaly compared to declines seen elsewhere. The spike was largely driven by Nigeria, where a sudden currency devaluation prompted higher adoption as households and businesses turned to crypto both as an inflation hedge and as a substitute for scarce U.S. dollars.
“The surge was driven largely by centralised exchange activity in Nigeria, where a sudden currency devaluation prompted increased crypto adoption. Such devaluations typically drive volumes higher in two ways: more users move into crypto to hedge against inflation, and existing purchases appear larger in local currency terms as it takes more fiat to buy the same amount of crypto,” the study noted.
Retail adoption and financial inclusion
Chainalysis stressed that Sub-Saharan Africa is emerging as a critical retail crypto market. Over 8 percent of all value transferred in the region involved transactions under $10,000, compared to just 6 percent globally.
“This highlights that crypto adoption trends in Sub-Saharan Africa are closely tied to ongoing financial inclusion challenges,” the report said, it added that “despite significant progress in recent years, particularly around mobile money adoption, a significant amount of adults in Sub-Saharan Africa remains unbanked which creates further fertile ground for alternative financial technologies like cryptocurrencies”
Nigeria and South Africa, the two largest economies in the region, also show significant institutional activity, particularly in cross-border payments through a growing B2B sector.The study stated “Further analysis of on-chain flows reveal that stablecoins are frequently used in high-value transactions tied to trade flows between Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. In particular, we observe regular multi-million dollar stablecoin transfers that support sectors such as energy and merchant payments, highlighting crypto’s utility as a settlement rail in regions where traditional financial infrastructure may be limited or slow.”
South Africa’s regulatory edge
While Nigeria leads in scale, South Africa is distinguishing itself through regulatory sophistication. With hundreds of licensed virtual asset service providers, the country has provided the clarity institutional investors need. “As a result, the market sees a high share of large-ticket volumes, often driven by sophisticated trading strategies like arbitrage. Financial institutions are actively exploring crypto-related offerings, from custody to stablecoin issuance, signaling a shift from exploratory interest to active product development,”the study said.
It added that institutions such as Absa Bank are already in advanced stages of launching offerings ranging from custody services to stablecoin issuance. Chainalysis described this as evidence that South Africa is maturing into a regional hub for institutional crypto infrastructure and compliance.
The report also highlighted differences in asset preferences. In Nigeria and South Africa, bitcoin dominates fiat purchases, accounting for 89 percent and 74 percent respectively—far higher than the global USD-based average of 51 percent.
“Among fiat purchases of crypto in Sub-Saharan Africa, a striking pattern emerges: bitcoin dominates in both Nigeria and South Africa, making up 89 percent and 74 percent of crypto purchases, respectively, far higher than the 51 percent share seen in USD purchases, the report noted while adding “This suggests that, in SSA markets, BTC is viewed not only as a store of value, but also as a default entry point for crypto exposure, particularly in environments where fiat currency faces volatility or access to other investment vehicles is limited. In Nigeria, where access to USD is tightly controlled and inflation remains high, bitcoin has become a widely recognised financial hedge and alternative savings tool.”
Meanwhile, Nigeria has also seen stronger uptake of USDT (Tether) than global averages, representing 7 percent of purchases compared with 5 percent in USD-based markets. “This reflects the growing role of stablecoins as a dollar substitute in economies where the official exchange rate diverges from the black market rate, and citizens increasingly rely on crypto rails for informal FX access, payments, and savings,”Chainalysis added.
In South Africa, by contrast, higher shares of XRP and ETH point to a more investment-driven, speculative market supported by centralised exchanges and diversified portfolios.
Beyond speculation
Chainalysis stressed that the findings should be seen as more than evidence of speculative interest. “Our analysis reveals Sub-Saharan Africa as a critical proving ground for crypto’s real-world utility,” the report said. “From Nigeria’s response to currency devaluation to South Africa’s sophisticated regulatory approach, the region shows how crypto can function as a strategic economic tool rather than merely an alternative investment.”
The firm added that stablecoins and bitcoin are emerging as practical solutions to persistent challenges—hedging against inflation, facilitating cross-border trade, and expanding access to financial services where traditional banking remains out of reach.
The March 2025 transaction surge, it noted, demonstrated how quickly digital assets can be mobilised during economic stress.
Chainalysis concluded that the region’s 52 percent year-on-year growth is not just a statistical milestone but evidence of a fundamental shift in financial behaviour, adding that from Nigeria’s response to currency devaluation to South Africa’s sophisticated regulatory approach, the region shows how crypto can be a strategic economic tool rather than merely an alternative investment.
“As institutional engagement deepens and regulatory frameworks mature, Sub-Saharan Africa is not just participating in the global crypto ecosystem—it is actively reimagining and reconstructing financial infrastructure from the ground up,” the report stated.
