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Is Bitcoin Africa’s New Language?

It looks like the African continent is gradually adopting a new language; Bitcoin and although it might among the last places to embrace this new craze it is actually picking up faster than other developed places.

This craze is a type of currency created by an unknown person going by the name Satoshi Nakamoto in Japan in the year 2009.

And although there are developed countries like Australia that are skeptic about this new currency, there are those countries in Africa whose banks have come up to warn their publics about this new unregulated currency as the Africans especially the millennials are jumping on the band wagon. For example, Kenya, Tanzania and Ugandan finance regulators have come out to warn the masses to be careful.

Why Africa’s young are jumping onto Bitcoin

Unemployment; the very high unemployment rates ravaging the continent as a whole is one of the endless list of reasons as to why the youth are getting involved in this new craze. Most of the young graduates are jobless and seen on media regularly demonstrating against their governments’ cold shoulder when it comes to this issue. For example the youths in Zimbabwe once wore their graduate gowns while hawking petty merchandise on the streets of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe showing their dissatisfaction.

Even those lucky enough to get jobs usually say that the salaries or wages are never enough as most earn just enough to pay a few bills without important benefits like transport, health insurance and housing benefits. Therefore, many think of side hustles like they are called or side income generating activities.

Financial insecurities and uncertainties are pushing Africa’s millennials to try out their lack especially with high levels of inflation in some countries causing the young people to have no security with their legal tenders. For example Zimbabwe people gladly welcomed Bitcoin with open arms because of the bout of inflation it was having. Bitcoin is said not to be influenced by any currency, not even the US dollar!

The exorbitant taxes that discourage even the most determined and enthusiastic of them all from venturing into legal self-employment ventures like businesses. In most African countries like Uganda, the taxes are so high in that they double the entire value of the merchandise. This makes Bitcoin welcoming and enticing since there are middle men like financial institutions and banks thus no expenditure for the services.

The downside of Bitcoin

It is advised that you invest what you can afford to lose. And some of the young people who have joined bitcoin explain that their beginnings came with bitter lessons as after making profits they were happy about also lost some considerable larger sums tripling or doubling what they profited.

Bitcoin offers anonymity where the trader is not identified meaning that merchandise cannot be traced back to the seller making it a dangerous game with the law.

African countries currently involved in Bitcoin include;

By Angela Kyolaba