The African cryptocurrency market continues to evolve as more people adopt cryptocurrencies, new companies are started, and regulators make new pronouncements. Despite the evolution, more has stayed the same regarding the spread of adoption geographically. In this article, we explore the top cryptocurrency markets in Africa in 2023.

Since cryptocurrency adoption on the continent became a major narrative in mainstream crypto and traditional media, Africa has been tipped as a region that is expected to benefit immensely from innovation in the cryptocurrency space. In contrast, others argue that the cryptocurrency industry needs the continent to achieve extensive global penetration. These projections have primarily been made based on the nature of Africa’s population and the unique use cases of digital currencies in the region.

Africa’s population is the world’s youngest, with 70% under 30 in sub-Saharan Africa. This demographic creates fertile grounds for the adoption of new forms of technology, which is usually led by the youth, and an enabling environment for the composition of new tech capital cities filled with builders and innovators needed to move the Web3 ecosystem forward.

For use cases, crypto and its related innovations can potentially overhaul the entire financial system. From cross broader payments in the continent, which are currently broken to external transfers, also known as remittances, which play a big part in the GDP of multiple African countries, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and stablecoins like USD Coin (USDC), Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) have replaced traditional banking and platforms like Western Union and MoneyGram.

What’s more, the unstable nature of African currencies and the high level of inflation make cryptocurrencies a better alternative for saving and storing wealth. Countries like Zimbabwe and Sudan are known for their inflation, but the situation on the continent post-pandemic has become so dire that more stable economies like Ghana and Ethiopia have recorded an inflation rate of 52.8% and 32.0% this year. The nature of the economies in these countries makes it difficult for citizens to save in their local currencies since they may lose a substantial amount of value. Other options like saving in global currencies like the U.S. dollar, are expensive through traditional means but can be done easily using stablecoins.

Finally, the growing cryptocurrency landscape is creating new opportunities for a region battling with high levels of unemployment. Young Africans are filling roles across various companies in the Web3 space, making it an area of interest for many. With all these factors and more, Africa is a major market for the cryptocurrency ecosystem. However, the level of interest and adoption varies among countries and sub-regions. We break that down in this piece: