- Twitter Founder and American rap star Jay-Z dump 500 bitcoins yet to be distributed in Africa
- Despite the regulatory ban, bitcoin is still popular among retail investors
- The popularity of cryptocurrencies in Africa encourages policymakers to embrace the crypto revolution
Most crypto experts believe that bitcoin is experiencing its lowest value, as they project the currency will hit the US$100,000 mark by 2050.
The currency fell below US$34,000 on Monday, with bitcoin selloff nearing a 50 per cent drop from the record high of US$69,044 recorded in November.
Read: Tanzania going round in circles over cryptocurrency adoption
However, the African market looks promising as retail crypto traders rise daily. Crypto Investors are also looking to create awareness in the almost untapped market that promises to increase bitcoin’s value through popularity adoption.
Five hundred bitcoins are set to be released to Africa’s crypto market by Btrust.
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and rapper Jay-Z partnered to co-found Bitcoin Trust (Btrust) and appointed four Africans to sit on the Btrust board on December 15, 2021.
The two plan to deploy 500 bitcoin to develop and foster the currency in Africa and India.
Ojoma Ochai, Obi Nwosu, Abubakar Nur Khalil and South African Carla Kirk-Cohen are the Btrust board members. The application form for board members established a mission to “make bitcoin the internet’s currency.”
Dorsey said on his Twitter account that the board members would work towards defining the operating principles on how to best distribute the 500 bitcoin towards development efforts.
According to Dorsey, The Bitcoin trust will work as a blind irrevocable trust that will take zero directions from the donors.
Pressure is building for African policymakers to adopt crypto as a mode of payment.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) revealed that one of the barriers to trade in the continent was perennial complexities in payment. Economic experts reiterated that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies offered a potential solution to the complexities.
“If bitcoin can solve it (intra-trade barriers), then African developers need to be in there, working on the bitcoin protocol. So that was my interest, making sure that Africans are involved in creating the future of a solution that could be potentially a game-changer for a sector like the creative economy,” said Ojoma Ochai, one of the appointed Btrust board members.
In February 2021, the Nigerian government banned cryptocurrency transactions through licensed financial institutions. Despite the regulatory ban, bitcoin is still popular among retail investors, with billions of dollars worth of transactions in Nigeria every month.
The popularity of cryptocurrencies in Africa, even with sanctions, encourages policymakers to see the advantages of the crypto revolution.
Read: Africa is cryptocurrency-friendlier than you think
Khalil believes that Btrust will play an essential role in educating regulators and policymakers on the advantages of using the “internet currency.”
Bitcoin records a record drop below US$34,000
Since it roofed a record high of US$69,044 in November, the leading cryptocurrency has been in the woods, losing more than $600 billion in market value.
A current trend developed over time- If bitcoin falls, every other cryptocurrency fall- saw Ethereum drop by 13.3 per cent over the last 24 hours, and BinanceCoin fell by 15.2 per cent.
At the beginning of January, Crypto experts had warned that the currencies could be highly volatile over the next few weeks. Oanda Senior Market Analyst Ed Moya told Forbes that the long-term projection of bitcoin is still bullish, but the short-term is looking very ugly.
El Salvador President, Nayib Bukele said in a tweet that his country purchased 410 bitcoin for US$15 million on January 21, saying that the current sell-off has left the cryptocurrency really cheap.
Bloomberg reports that the American government is readying to release a strategy for digital assets as early as next month. The Biden administration will charge federal agencies with opportunity and risk assessments as part of the toddler steps for the government-wide strategy.
Read: Is Bitcoin poor Africans’ alternative reserve currency?
