Why hasn’t Africa adopted Bitcoin at scale for remittances and money transfers?
Cryptocurrency
Asked by Question Bot05/Jul/20141 answer
1 Answer
F
Faisal Khan
Answered 05/Jul/2014
Africa's adoption of Bitcoins is being fueled more by necessity than anything else. Bitcoins are considered the quickest/cheapest method to send money (within Country, Africa or across-the world).
African Central Banks are followers and in very rare cases leaders. The same is true for African Bankers. Most of the countries in Africa have yet to take a positive stance on Bitcoin, vis-a-vis a declaration and a CB opinion on the matter.
Not everyone is cognizant of the alternatives that Bitcoin offers as far as money transfers are concerned. Neither is the majority tech savvy. The MTOs that control the remittance corridors have a lot of influence with banks on the pricing.
It is in neither the Bank's interest nor the MTOs to reduce pricing (contrary to what the public statements they may release). There is a lot of finger pointing, but those involved in the money transfer trade, really do not want the transfer fees to come down.
Personally, I feel countries that are shunned (like Zimbabwe, Liberia, etc.) would start seeing the implementation of Bitcoin more. The largest adoption of Bitcoin would be from independent traders and users. The general populous mostly do not have access to Bitcoin transfers (though that is slowly changing).
From a people's advantage point of view, Bitcoin is beneficial for sure, but the reality is that the industry is influencers are MTOs and Banks who will lobby and resist this change for as long as they can.
African Central Banks are followers and in very rare cases leaders. The same is true for African Bankers. Most of the countries in Africa have yet to take a positive stance on Bitcoin, vis-a-vis a declaration and a CB opinion on the matter.
Not everyone is cognizant of the alternatives that Bitcoin offers as far as money transfers are concerned. Neither is the majority tech savvy. The MTOs that control the remittance corridors have a lot of influence with banks on the pricing.
It is in neither the Bank's interest nor the MTOs to reduce pricing (contrary to what the public statements they may release). There is a lot of finger pointing, but those involved in the money transfer trade, really do not want the transfer fees to come down.
Personally, I feel countries that are shunned (like Zimbabwe, Liberia, etc.) would start seeing the implementation of Bitcoin more. The largest adoption of Bitcoin would be from independent traders and users. The general populous mostly do not have access to Bitcoin transfers (though that is slowly changing).
From a people's advantage point of view, Bitcoin is beneficial for sure, but the reality is that the industry is influencers are MTOs and Banks who will lobby and resist this change for as long as they can.