Topic: How bitcoin can be useful in developing nations like the African continent. - page 2. (Read 2610 times)

Its true to some extent but now advanced technologies have reached almost all parts of the world.It would not be difficult for people from under developed countries to use bitcoins.Already,money is sent through mpesa to african countries at very low prices.

Hi. I've been in Ethiopia and I know it a bit.

Bitcoin would have a great market in Ethiopia because it would solve several government-generated money issues (like the great difficulty in sending money out or effecting payments abroad, which is causing serial business failures), and even to serve the remits market which moves much more money than its foreign trade, and this is a reason why any bitcoin initiative there would be repressed by the state with maximum penalties and why bitcoin is still non existent there and it will be so until the current model of authoritarian government will persist, just because bitcoin frees individuals from the money powers, which in Ethiopia is the state.

I guess that even to occasionally trade btc p2p there would be a serious risk without a deep previous legal research and/or special permissions. You might start enquiring on this with the proper government agency, and maybe look for a business license (which I expect that they will never release for btc trading).

Not to mention the pitiful state of the internet access there thanks to the state monopoly of telecom + censorship + total internet blackout (like the one currently ongoing), etc.

But if/when you will have a less authoritarian government I expect that cryptocoins will bloom there.

Good point but are there any credible exchanges out of there in Zimbabwe that will be willing to exchange their unstable currency for bitcoins? It's a good point but I doubt if it will be practical enough on the ground.

I think it is good because it can also be counted as one of those none perishable good. You can store in a long time and if you need you can withdraw it then transact. I don't mean like good that is consumable but it is like a gold and if a country is in need they can just extract it then at least they can have easy money with out loaning to banks.

I think bitcoin will be helpful in the country of Africa in terms of growing their economy because I believe that bitcoins has a big impact in ones economy. Bitcoin will also helpful in giving a chance to unemployed person to have an alternative income.

Point well taken. Educational awareness and connectivity should be the first priority in these countries as with the connectivity the speed of transformation takes place with much better pace. We simply can't do anything about the past, however, while looking forward I see the equal opportunities to these countries as compared to that of other countries. If a person can give better service or product then, in that case, he is entitled to earn more amount than the person in developed countries and innovations like computer, internet, bitcoin made this possible.

Well said! To those who are yet to really catch on, Bitcoin is a revolution, a game changer and leveler. Africa has had a sordid past, yes! No thanks to past leaders/rulers and colonial masters that till date aid them in looting and milking their countries dry. That is the past! The present is that we now have Bitcoin and cryptocurrency world, God bless Satoshi Nakamoto!

With Bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies, the governments are no longer center staged and no one of them can stop it, though they may want to try. This is a veritable turning point in life, especially those left behind. No doubt many might think otherwise just like the days until Ferdinand Magellan confounded flat world believers by circumnavigating the earth. It is never a hopeless situation unless one is looking with other people's eyes.

Some talks here about some countries being too poor and all that is simply diversionary as any problem identified and given the right attention soon get solved. If we get the poorest man from Zimbabwe for instance, who might well be just a victim of circumstance, educate and empower him on Bitcoin for instance - what it is, how to earn it and all that, the rest of his life would seize to have much to do with the worthlessness of his local currency but instead become hinged on the U.S. Dollar or Euro. I personally do not know the exact conversion rate of BTC/NGN, but I can tell what BTC/USD, EUR/USD, GBP/USD , etc are by the minute.
 
That brings us to what should be done - my take is, first step education and empowerment, outright profit making ventures, should come much later. I am fine tuning my very own strategy, starting with my country, but for Greater Africa, I would be in for a synergy.

The historical conditions of economic, social and cultural backwardness in Africa represent a major challenge for the implementation of bitcoin in that continent. I believe that local governments still need to overcome many educational lags in the population that allow them to leave a subsistence economy to jump to an economy more incorporated into the modern world where accessibility to information technologies facilitates people's access to use bitcoin, otherwise, efforts to incorporate bitcoin into real economy of African nations will end up being quite unsuccessful.

The most obvious answer is african countries being prone towards economic instability. Zimbabwe and its currency hyperinflation of a few decades past gives bitcoin and crypto a window to offer people a reliable method of storing their wealth in the event of poor economic policies leading to currency devluation.

See, the very first thing that we should understand is that Bitcoin is not any magic stick to change any country or the world. However, it is a financial solution to the limitations in fiat system which eliminates the borders of the nation and hence it creates more opportunities and enables anyone from any corner of the world to enhance their market territory without any controls & regulations. A person from these developing countries can take the advantage of this invention.

For a developing country (my country is same that), it is the first thing to expand the Bitcoin information network over the internet or newspapers and television. After doing so, they will know about Bitcoin, learn about it, thus attracting investors and users. The value of Bitcoin is like a metal, will be increasingly expensive because it Gradually scarce and many users.

I don't think that is still that true. Smartphones are increasingly becoming common in Africa. In Kenya, mobile payments (M-Pesa) are already mainstream, even more so than in many "developed" countries.


No.


Not all African governments are corrupt like Zimbabwe or Cameroon. There are pretty efficient ones (Ghana, Senegal, Rwanda, Zambia ...) also Nigeria is improving. But Bitcoin can be a medium to put some pressure on bad governments, that's true.

Africa is an evolving country economically and bitcoin penetration will be high since they don't have the technical expertise to stop its popularity and it will continue to create wealth for its citizen who taps into it. Government of African countries have equally failed in creating wealth having being immersed in cases of corruption and bad governance which makes individuals creation of conducive standard of living a priority which is what bitcoin will do.

Widespread of bitcoin in African countries is good idea. But the major problem restricting it is internet. Bitcoin doesn't require any hard and fast infrastructure but minimum basic requirement is internet. Therefore, I think bitcoin is presently restricted to high class only until internet becomes more common among every class of society.

Is it really bitcoin or are they having a project for there own crypto currency?. Cause what i heard is that some countries are trying to adapt the concept of btc to have there own crypto for it to be circulated either in there own currency or just mine the btc. Because i can is that it is better to make your own btc so you can have your own gold to mine when ever all money are now invested in the web. At least a country wont be left behing with it's own currency.

That is a common misconception, often based on news on the hyperinflation in Zimbabwe. Most African countries are using some form of the CFA franc which is tied to the Euro (see here for a price chart). Sometimes there is a devaluation, but it's very rare, the value respect to the EUR hasn't changed in the last 5 years.

The Ethiopian Birr is constantly devaluating with respect to the USD, but at a very, very slow pace, so the short-term volatility of Bitcoin is much higher. The Naira also is long-term volatile but in the short term relatively stable.

So if mass adoption in Africa is desired, volatility must be addressed in some way. But even now, for remittances it's usable, also as a speculation and saving vehicle for the growing middle/upper-middle class.

Bitcoin's potential for success in Africa is widely recognized in the industry
And able to Change the way we send money to the continent and provide easy access to not having a bank account for money quickly and freely
Which is an alternative currency to anyone but especially useful land and unstable national currency and can reduce the cost of cross-border trade

well for some parts of africa, only those exporters and a number of illegal businesses would benefit from btc features. it can be great for the people there who have access to the internet but as we all know, africa is not yet that established when it comes to online transactions especially the poorer countries

African countries and Africans as a whole can benefit from Bitcoin by using it for foreign remittances and tradingv it's it. I'm aware most finished products are exported to Africa from china , UAE etc. and these can be paid by the African importers with Bitcoin and be able to realize good profits rather than get deductions unnecessarily through dis bank transfers.

Bitcoin can't be controlled by the government so if there is a remittances then it will be cheap in fees. It will help african countries because there will be no corruption in their country if they will use bitcoin because it is fully decentralized and corruption is not possible anymore with bitcoin.