Stablecoins account for 43% of cryptocurrency transactions in the sub-Saharan African region in 2024, doubling Bitcoin's market share of 18.1%.
A new study reveals a significant shift in the cryptocurrency market structure in the sub-Saharan African region, with stablecoins surpassing Bitcoin to become the most traded digital asset. This dominance reflects the growing demand for stable financial instruments amid many local currencies facing exchange rate difficulties.
Nigeria and South Africa lead the region in stablecoin adoption, while Ethiopia, Zambia, Mauritius, Kenya, and Ghana record the most impressive growth. Notably, both Ethiopia and Zambia achieved over 100% year-over-year growth in stablecoin usage. Ethiopia's case is particularly remarkable, with a recorded growth of 180%, which can be explained by the birr losing value by 30% in July of the previous year.
A detailed analysis by transaction size shows a diverse distribution across market segments. Small retail transactions under 1,000 USD increased by 12.6%, while large retail transactions from 1,000 to 10,000 USD increased by 10.6%. Most notably, there was an explosion in the professional segment from 10,000 to 1 million USD with a 60.4% increase, while large institutional transactions over 10 million USD only saw a slight increase of 0.2%.
Nigeria leads in transaction scale.
Nigeria continues to assert its leading position with the largest inflow of stablecoin in the region at 20 billion USD, accounting for 40% of the total inflow for the entire sub-Saharan region. In addition to stablecoins, Nigeria has also witnessed strong growth in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, reflecting the trend in sub-Saharan Africa becoming a global leader in DeFi adoption.
Cryptocurrency activity in Nigeria is primarily driven by retail and professional transactions, with about 85% of transaction value being under 1 million USD. This indicates the inclusive nature of the digital currency market in this country, serving not only large investors but also reaching a large number of individual users and small to medium-sized enterprises.
The report forecasts that as the regulatory framework becomes clearer, organizational adoption of DeFi will increase significantly. This could lead to a unique hybrid model, where decentralized platforms operate under centralized oversight, creating new opportunities for traders to exploit price discrepancies and optimize profits.
