Original Title: 《Crypto Interest in Africa Still Nascent》

Author: Lim Yu Qian, CoinGecko

Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow

Which African Countries Are Most Interested in Cryptocurrency?

As of 2023, Nigeria has the highest interest in cryptocurrency in Africa to date. It accounts for 66.8% of the continent's cryptocurrency interest year-to-date (YTD), nearly eight times that of the second most interested African country.

Nigeria, along with Kenya, was previously ranked as one of the most curious countries about cryptocurrency in the world. This West African nation frequently appears in other global rankings and shows strong interest in specific areas of cryptocurrency, including meme coins, Web3 gaming, AI cryptocurrencies, and even proof of reserves.

Like other African countries, Nigeria's interest and adoption of cryptocurrency are largely driven by weak traditional financial infrastructure and economic challenges, including high inflation and currency devaluation.

Overall, the top 15 African countries represent 97.5% of the continent's cryptocurrency interest this year.

Moderately Interested African Countries in Cryptocurrency

South Africa, Morocco, Ghana, Egypt, and Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) contribute a smaller share to Africa's cryptocurrency interest, accounting for a total of 23.8% of the continent's cryptocurrency interest year-to-date. Currently, they rank second to sixth among the most interested African countries in cryptocurrency this year.

Some of these African countries have also appeared in global rankings, although usually below Nigeria: earlier this year, Morocco was one of the top ten countries interested in meme coins, while South Africa ranked 11th in interest in proof of reserves. Egypt was also identified as the 9th country most affected by the FTX collapse last year.

African Countries with the Lowest Interest in Cryptocurrency

The remaining 48 African countries have relatively low interest in cryptocurrency across the continent, with each country accounting for less than 2.0% of the interest this year. Specifically, only 41 out of 54 African countries have shown interest in cryptocurrency this year, while currently, 13 countries in Africa have no interest in cryptocurrency at all.

Among the top 15 African countries most interested in cryptocurrency, the countries ranked seventh to fifteenth account for only 6.9% of the cryptocurrency interest share. These 9 countries are Uganda, Angola, Algeria, Tunisia, Kenya, Namibia, Mauritius, Botswana, and Seychelles, each holding between 0.4% to 1.6% of the cryptocurrency interest in Africa.

Although Seychelles has a small share of cryptocurrency interest in Africa, as a business-friendly tax haven, it plays a disproportionately large role in the cryptocurrency industry. Six of the top 30 centralized cryptocurrency exchanges are registered in Seychelles, the highest number for any country.

Overall, Africa's interest in cryptocurrency is concentrated in a few countries on the continent. This highlights the current imbalance of cryptocurrency interest across Africa, but it may also reflect the characteristics of the African cryptocurrency community. For example, African investors may not check cryptocurrency prices as frequently as those in other regions.

Which African Regions Are Most Interested in Cryptocurrency?

West Africa has the highest interest in cryptocurrency, accounting for 74.7%, followed by North Africa (10.0%) and Southern Africa (9.6%). East Africa (3.8%) and Central Africa (1.9%) are the regions with the least interest in cryptocurrency in Africa.

Among the top 15 African countries most interested in cryptocurrency, North Africa and East Africa each have 4 representatives. Southern Africa and West Africa each have 3 representatives, while Central Africa has only 1 country in the top 15.

In other words, 4 out of 6 North African countries and 4 out of 18 East African countries made it into Africa's top 15. Meanwhile, 3 out of 5 Southern African countries and 3 out of 16 West African countries, along with 1 out of 9 Central African countries, also entered the top 15.

Which Cryptocurrencies Are African Countries Focusing on in 2023?

So far, meme coins, DeFi tokens, and blockchain networks are the most popular cryptocurrencies in Africa. These three narratives represent 13 out of the top 17 cryptocurrencies in Africa, including 7 meme coins, 4 DeFi-related tokens, and 3 native currencies of blockchain networks.

Unlike Southeast Asia's enthusiasm for Pepe (PEPE), the entire meme coin sector seems to have higher cryptocurrency interest in Africa. African investors are interested in a variety of meme coins, from Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) to other dog-inspired coins like Baby Doge Coin (BABYDOGE) and Bonk (BONK), as well as the recent Pepe and Peepo (PEEPO).

Among the 6 countries analyzed, Morocco and Côte d'Ivoire are the only two that list meme coins among their top 3 cryptocurrencies. Additionally, Morocco is interested in the payment protocol Ripple (XRP), while Côte d'Ivoire is interested in the controversial Terra Luna Classic (LUNC).

The other 4 African countries have different narratives in their top 3 cryptocurrencies, similar to Southeast Asia, possibly due to the lack of strong cryptocurrency narratives in 2023.

In Nigeria, investors have been focusing on the lending protocol Liquity (LQTY) and the layer one protocol Conflux (CFX), which led the Chinese narrative earlier this year. The top three cryptocurrencies in neighboring Ghana are the DeGods-related Dust Protocol (DUST), Bitcoin (BTC), and another lending protocol Kava (KAVA).

In North Africa, the top three cryptocurrencies of Egyptian investors include Sweatcoin (SWEAT) from the Sweat Economy, which is moving towards income, and the newly launched layer two blockchain Arbitrum (ARB).

Finally, South Africa's most popular cryptocurrencies include the computational technology Truebit Protocol (TRU) and the native token of the decentralized exchange Dodo (DODO).

Popular Cryptocurrencies in Africa in 2023

• The most popular cryptocurrencies in Nigeria are Peepo (PEEPO), Liquity (LQTY), and Conflux (CFX).

• The most popular cryptocurrencies in South Africa are Truebit Protocol (TRU), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and Dodo (DODO).

• The most popular cryptocurrencies in Morocco are Dogecoin (DOGE), Ripple (XRP), and Bonk (BONK).

• The most popular cryptocurrencies in Ghana are Dust Protocol (DUST), Bitcoin (BTC), and Kava (KAVA).

• The most popular cryptocurrencies in Egypt are Sweatcoin (SWEAT), Arbitrum (ARB), and Pepe (PEPE).

• The most popular cryptocurrencies in Côte d'Ivoire are Terra Luna Classic (LUNC), Baby Doge Coin (BABYDOGE), and Shiba Inu (SHIB).

Cryptocurrency Interest in African Countries in 2023

The remaining 13 African countries that did not record webpage views during this period are: Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, and São Tomé and Príncipe.

Research Methodology

This study is based on CoinGecko's webpage view data from January 1 to July 4, 2023, examining the cryptocurrency interest of various African countries. To ensure representative data, views that may have been exaggerated were excluded.