Niger, Vietnam, Philippines… Why are they among the biggest users of cryptocurrency?

In October 2021, C # Corner published the ranking of countries with the highest number of cryptocurrency holders.

The Top 5 was as follows:

1. India: 100 million
2. USA: 27 million
3. Russia: 17 million
4. Niger: 13 million
5. Brazil: 10 million

The presence of Niger may be surprising, especially since the population of this West African country – one of the poorest in the world – has only 24 million inhabitants. Further down in this same table, appear other relatively underdeveloped countries such as Indonesia (n ° 8 with 7.2 million users) or Vietnam (n ° 9 with 5.9 million users) or again the Philippines (n ° 11 with 4.3 million users).

It lacks in such a table a region such as Salvador who adopted the Bitcoin as official currency, at the beginning of September 2021, and therefore shortly before the publication of the C # Corner table.

1.7 billion unbanked individuals

How to explain such an interest in cryptocurrencies in underdeveloped countries or emerging ? There are many reasons. First, on our planet, nearly four in ten adults are not “banked”. If we are to believe World Bank figures, there are 1.7 billion individuals without a bank account, therefore without access to savings or credit. It is not easy to undertake in such a context.

The specter of devaluations

Those who have access to banking services have sometimes had to complain bitterly. In countries such as Argentina, Cuba or North Korea, the national currency has often suffered colossal devaluation. Citizens have seen their national currency holdings lose enormous value. Thus, Venezuela devalued its currency by 96% in 2018, and even more in October 2021. In Niger, the government has established rules that make it almost impossible to exchangesilver with the foreigner. In addition, a large number of Central American countries manage currencies that depend on the dollar, which puts them at risk in the event of US sanctions.

El Salvador, spearhead

Faced with such situations, the populations of some of these countries have turned to cryptocurrencies. A small Central American nation, El Salvador was the first country to adopt Bitcoin as its national currency and, according to President Nayib Bukele, after three months of use, the wallet Bitcoin put in place by the government already had more users than the entire Salvadoran banking system. This transition did not go smoothly and many Salvadorans complained about Chivo wallet issues such as the inexplicable loss of Bitcoins.

The example of Salvador nevertheless stained oil. In countries such as Paraguay and Mexico, leading political figures have shown themselves to be in favor of such a development. Venezuela leads the pack: many Venezuelans have already adopted Bitcoin as a safe haven, but also for international currency exchanges. And, in August 2021, Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández announced that he was considering adopting Bitcoin as legal tender.

On the African continent, in addition to Niger, citizens of many countries have similarly adopted Bitcoin: Kenya, Togo, Ghana … Useful Tulips shows that, regularly, Bitcoin transactions in sub-Saharan Africa exceed those that took place in the United States.

Play to earn games as a means of subsistence

This is not all. Cryptocurrencies are also a source of income for many inhabitants of countries like the Philippines and Indonesia, especially with Axie Infinity, a “play to earn” game. What is the principle? It is reminiscent of the Pokémons: the player acquires Axies then puts them to the test during various fights, but also useful objects for his quests. He can then exchange his tokens (tokens) for real money.

Independence from the dollar

In Cuba too, cryptocurrency are considered as a bulwark against the depreciation of the local currency. Due to US financial sanctions, the island found itself isolated from the international financial system. Cubans do not have access to credit cards and therefore cannot profit from online commerce. However, many inhabitants of the island rely on remittances of dollars from close expatriates. With classical methods, such movements money is generally not in their favor – while it is faster and cheaper to go through Bitcoin. As early as August 2021, the government of Cuba took steps to make it easier for traders to accept Bitcoin and other coins such as TRX.

Humanitarian aid

Bitcoin also appears as a humanitarian solution in particularly poor countries. In the Congo, following the destruction caused by the wash volcanic in May 2021, an initiative was born, Kiveclair, to allow the population to use Bitcoin, via a wallet (wallet) on the phone mobile using the Lightning Network. And Internet users were invited to make donations to help the project.

Lastly, in some of these regions of the world there is what is called the leapfrog effect. Thus, in Africa as in Asia, many countries without fixed telephone lines have gone directly to the mobile telephone. In the same momentum, these same countries are now adopting Bitcoin or Ethereum as a very useful life jacket.