Is Africa the Next Hotbed of Crypto Adoption? Feat. Anita Posch

What can crypto do in a country where less than a half of the population has access to the internet?

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ABOUT

This week, “Opinionated” hosts Anna Baydakova, Danny Nelson and Ben Schiller, are talking to Anita Posch, an Austria-based bitcoin educator, advocate and bilingual podcaster. Anita has just published a book about the leading cryptocurrency basics entitled “(L)earn Bitcoin.”

This episode is sponsored by Unique One Network.

We invited Anita to talk about the topic she knows so well – cryptocurrencies in Africa.

LocalBitcoins said that Africa delivered 12% of its $600 million in global volume between January and March and that demand is growing. Countries like Nigeria are seeing an increased interest in crypto even as the banks block crypto-related transactions in the country.

Anita traveled Africa and interviewed crypto influencers there like no other bitcoiner has. She knows what people think about bitcoin in Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Eritrea, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, and is keen to share her insights.

What can crypto do in a country where less than a half of the population has access to the internet? Why is it easier for Africans abroad to send money back home via crypto? The KYC/AML (know-your-customer/anti-money-laundering) policies in crypto around the world are getting stricter – how will that affect people in Africa, where personal IDs aren’t widespread?

Anita shares her thoughts on how crypto use in Africa is different from that in Europe and the U.S., and a possible future for African central bank digital currencies under China’s influence, and she gets into a heated debate with Ben on bitcoin’s viability as a form of payment given its volatility.

Listen to Anita, Ben, Anna and Danny discuss the optimistic – and disturbing things about crypto in Africa.

Anita Posch’s Twitter handle is @AnitaPosch

Mentioned in this episode:

Anita’s podcast “The Anita Posch Show”

Anita’s book “(L)earn Bitcoin”

Anita’s YouTube channel

LocalBitcoins: Bitcoin in Africa: Top 5 Countries

Image credit: da-kuk/iStock/Getty Images Plus, modified by Coindesk

HOSTS

Dan Ilett

Dan Ilett writes on tech, money and energy. He advises business on digital strategy and technology messaging for large deals. He is founder of Erbut - an advisory company - and Greenbang - a smart technology research company.

Anna Baydakova

Anna writes about blockchain projects and regulation with a special focus on Eastern Europe and Russia. She is especially excited about stories on privacy, cybercrime, sanctions policies and censorship resistance of decentralized technologies.
She graduated from the Saint Petersburg State University and the Higher School of Economics in Russia and got her Master's degree at Columbia Journalism School in New York City.
She joined CoinDesk after years of writing for various Russian media, including the leading political outlet Novaya Gazeta.
Anna owns BTC and an NFT of sentimental value.

Danny Nelson

Danny is CoinDesk's managing editor for Data & Tokens. He formerly ran investigations for the Tufts Daily. At CoinDesk, his beats include (but are not limited to): federal policy, regulation, securities law, exchanges, the Solana ecosystem, smart money doing dumb things, dumb money doing smart things and tungsten cubes. He owns BTC, ETH and SOL tokens, as well as the LinksDAO NFT.

Benjamin Schiller

Benjamin Schiller is CoinDesk's managing editor for features and opinion. Previously, he was editor-in-chief at BREAKER Magazine and a staff writer at Fast Company. He holds some ETH, BTC and LINK.

Danny Bradbury

Danny Bradbury has been a professional writer since 1989, and has worked freelance since 1994. He covers technology for publications such as the Guardian.

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