Crypto adoption is accelerating in the developing world, especially in regions with a history of financial instability, like sub-Saharan Africa and Asia Pacific
In Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, a software coder bills her client in London and is paid in bitcoin …
Financial Times
Context & Ripple Effects
The Lagos payment example gives a practical use case for the earlier African crypto boom, which had already shown faster growth in smaller monthly transfers. It connects adoption to cross-border work and payments rather than solely to asset trading.
Later coverage reinforces that pattern: everyday, sub-$1,000 payments accounted for an unusually large share of regional activity, while Nigeria remained among the countries leading grassroots adoption in 2023.
First-order effects
The Lagos coder and her London client gain a bitcoin-denominated route for settling a cross-border software payment, placing crypto directly in a work-payment flow.
Nigerian users and businesses transacting in small amounts become the immediate base for crypto services built around routine payments rather than large-ticket trading.
Second-order effects
Payment providers and exchanges serving Nigeria face demand for reliable conversion and transfer services as low-value, everyday use grows alongside cross-border work.
The growing retail use case sharpens the tension with formal oversight: later coverage records an IMF call for more crypto regulation across Africa as governments confront wider usage.
Third-order effects
If everyday payment use persists, crypto's position in African markets will be judged less by speculative enthusiasm than by whether regulated financial rails can match its cross-border utility.
The trend: Crypto adoption in developing markets is moving from a trading-led narrative toward a contested role as infrastructure for small-value and cross-border payments.
Nigeria, Togo, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania in the top list for crypto adoption. Cryptocurrencies: developing countries provide fertile ground https://www.ft.com/... #africa #cryptocurrecy
it seems there's alot we don't know about crypto-currencies in africa (and emerging markets in general) eg, why kenya has a higher rate of crypto-currency adoption than nigeria despite very different macro-economic environments https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
In developing countries which have a history of financial instability or where the barriers to accessing traditional financial products such as bank accounts are high, #bitcoin use is fast becoming a fact of daily life. #Bitcoin secures their future. https://www.ft.com/... https:…
Asia accounts for half of all crypto-users. There are more bitcoin bros in Africa than in North America. This is fascinating by @Jonthn_Wheatley @AdrienneKlasa https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Important read on crypto currencies in many EM/frontier economies including some useful data “Emerging markets are fertile ground for cryptocurrencies, often because their own are failing to do their job.” -high cost transfers an important driver https://www.ft.com/...
“In Lagos a software coder bills her client in London and is paid in bitcoin, sidestepping a costly banking system and the naira currency's miserly official exchange rate” Good @FT overview on how Bitcoin is on the rise in a huge way in emerging markets: https://www.ft.com/...
Sometimes dismissed as a fad in advanced economies, crypto holds more appeal in countries with a history of financial instability https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...