Meme coins, DeFi tokens, Blockchain networks Africa’s top cryptos
Alexander Chiejina
Nigeria has by far the largest level of cryptocurrency interest in Africa in 2023, accounting for 66.8 percent of the continent’s year-to-date (YTD) cryptocurrency interest, which is nearly 8 times higher than the next most interested African country, a study by CoinGecko has shown.
The country has frequently appeared in various top rankings around the world and has a keen interest in certain cryptocurrencies, such as meme coins, web3 games, AI crypto, and even Proof of Reserves.
Along with other African nations, Nigeria’s interest in and acceptance of cryptocurrencies are mostly fueled by a lacklustre traditional financial infrastructure as well as economic difficulties including high inflation and currency depreciation. The top 15 African nations will account for 97.5 percent of all crypto interest in Africa in 2023. South Africa, Morocco, Ghana, Egypt, and Côte d’Ivoire make up a lesser portion of Africa’s interest in cryptocurrencies, making up a total of 23.8 percent of the continent’s interest in cryptocurrencies YTD. They presently hold positions two through six among African nations showing the greatest interest in cryptocurrencies this year.
Even though they are frequently placed lower than Nigeria, some of these African nations have also been listed in the top global rankings: Morocco was one of the top 10 nations earlier this year driving the return of meme coins, and South Africa was No. 11 for interest in Proof of Reserves. Additionally, Egypt was originally listed as the ninth-most affected nation by the collapse of the Futures Exchange (FTX) in 2022.
With less than a two percent share in each country YTD, the remaining 48 African nations have relatively the lowest levels of cryptocurrency interest throughout the continent. Particularly, only 41 of the 54 African nations have reported any interest in cryptocurrencies this year, and 13 nations now have the lowest amount of interest in cryptocurrencies across Africa.
The seven to fifteenth-placed African nations barely make up a collective 6.9 percent of the top 15 most interested nations in cryptocurrencies. These nine nations— Uganda, Angola, Algeria, Tunisia, Kenya, Namibia, Mauritius, Botswana, and Seychelles—represent 0.4 to 1.6 percent of the continent’s cryptocurrency interest, respectively.
The business-friendly tax haven of Seychelles plays an enormous role in the cryptocurrency industry despite having a modest percentage of interest in cryptocurrencies in Africa. Seychelles is home to six of the top 30 centralised cryptocurrency exchanges, the most of any nation.
In general, only a few of Africa’s 54 countries have a significant amount of interest in cryptocurrencies. Tis demonstrates the current disparity in interest in cryptocurrencies across Africa while also refecting distinctive features of the African crypto community. Investors in Africa, for instance, would look at cryptocurrency values less regularly than investors in other regions.
The interest in cryptocurrencies on the continent is most prevalent in West Africa, where it stands at 74.7 percent, followed by Northern Africa (10 percent) and Southern Africa (9.6 percent).
The African regions with the lowest percentage of interest in cryptocurrencies are East Africa (3.8 percent) and Central Africa (1.9 percent). The areas of Northern Africa and East Africa have the most representatives, with four apiece, out of the top 15 African nations that are most interested in cryptocurrencies. Only one Central African nation appears in the top 15 rankings, with the remaining two being from West and Southern Africa.
In other words, four of the six countries in Northern Africa and four of the eighteen in East Africa are in the top 15 on the continent. The top 15 ranks also include 3 out of 5 Southern African nations, 3 out of 16 West African nations, and 1 out of 9 Central African nations.
The most widely used cryptocurrencies in Africa so far this year are meme coins, DeFi tokens, and blockchain networks. 13 of the top 17 cryptocurrencies in Africa are represented by these three stories, which include 4 DeFi-related tokens, 3 native currencies of blockchain networks, and seven meme coins. Compared to Southeast Asia, meme currencies seem to have garnered more interest from the crypto community in Africa. Investors in Africa have been paying attention to a variety of meme coins, unlike Southeast Asia where Pepe (PEPE) has gained a lot of traction.
The first meme coins include Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB), while more recent ones include Pepe and Peepo (PEEPO) and additional dog-themed coins like Baby DogeCoin (BABYDOGE) and Bonk (BONK).
Only Morocco and Ivory Coast had meme coins as two of their top three cryptocurrencies out of the six nations examined. Separately, Ivory Coast and Morocco are both interested in the contentious Terra Luna Classic (LUNC) and the payments protocol Ripple (XRP).
Like Southeast Asia, the other 4 African nations have a mix of narratives in their top 3 crypto, which could be explained by the limited appearance of potent crypto narratives in 2023.
Investors in Nigeria have been keeping an eye on Confux (CFX), the layer 1 that led the Chinese narrative early this year, as well as the borrowing protocol Liquidity (LQTY). The most popular cryptocurrencies in Ghana’s neighbour are the Dust Protocol (DUST), which is connected to DeGods, Bitcoin (BTC), and the Kava (KAVA) borrowing protocol. In North Africa, Sweatcoin (SWEAT), a move-to-earn cryptocurrency from Sweat Economy, and Arbitrum (ARB), a recently created layer 2 blockchain token, are among investors’ top picks in Egypt.
Lastly, decentralised exchange native token Dodo (DODO) and computation technology Truebit Protocol (TRU) are the two most widely used cryptocurrencies in South Africa.
