Driven by Massive Inflation, Bitcoin Hits N27m in Nigeria

Massive inflation and sliding purchasing power of the Naira, Nigeria’s currency has boosted demand for Bitcoin which rocketed to $35,000 for the first time since May 2022.

As of Friday morning, Bitcoin traded at 27.4 million against naira , extending monthly gains to as much as 30% in local currency terms.

Local crypto exchanges have traded a cumulative $40 million worth of bitcoin in the past 24 hours, as per CoinGecko.

This figure may not include locals trading on global exchanges, such as Binance or Coinbase.

The naira has dropped 0.45% in the past month and 45% in the past six months against the U.S. dollar, while the lira has slipped 2.9% in the month and 31% in the past six months.

An IMF study shows inflation rates in Nigeria rose 25% compared to 2022.

That has likely boosted demand for Bitcoin, a perceived fiat alternative.

Nigeria enjoy a fairly large amount of crypto adoption.

A September report by analysis firm Chainalysis pegged Nigeria as the second-most active country, behind India, in terms of users participating in decentralized finance (DeFi) and crypto trading activities..

In all the famously volatile cryptocurrency has more than doubled in value this year as investors grow excited about the prospect of being able to buy Bitcoin funds that trade on good old-fashioned stock exchanges rather than having to deal with less-regulated and sometimes sketchy crypto platforms

The latest round of excitement is coming as the BlackRock exchange-traded fund for bitcoin appeared on a list controlled by the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp., a Nasdaq-operated clearing house for stocks and ETFs, according to Reuters.