Africa Crypto Week in Review: Bitget Making Moves in South Africa, Coinbase Boosts P2P Payments in Nigeria, Millions of Moroccoans are HODLers

Crypto exchanges Coinbase and Bitget are making significant moves into the African market, focusing on Nigeria and South Africa. These developments come as crypto owners in Morocco are increasing daily despite the country’s restrictions on the sector.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s DeFi scene will grow rapidly in the next three years. Here’s a rundown on what you may have missed on the continental crypto landscape this week:

South Africa Crypto News: Bitget to support Rand payments, DeFi scene growing 

International crypto exchange Bitget is partnering with South African service provider Call Pay to support Rand payments in the country. Bitget is entering the partnership to expand to emerging markets as part of its broader vision. 

This partnership will ensure users can make fiat-to-crypto deposits using the Rand. Bitget is looking to offer more incentives, like discounted fees, to onboard more users and expand into the South African market. The Seychelles-based exchange has also opened offices in countries like Kenya to gain a greater foothold in the emerging African market.

Over time, South Africa has become one of Africa’s most vibrant crypto markets. A new study by the country’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority estimates that the country’s decentralized finance sector will grow to $180 million in the next three years. 

The study focused on crypto service providers and is intended to help the regulator better understand them. DeFi is a broad term covering various forms of blockchain enterprise. It has created a secondary market on the blockchain beyond just offering a speculative crypto asset. As of late February, over $97 billion of assets were locked in various DeFi protocols.

Nigerian Crypto News: Coinbase expands P2P services, Government sues Binance

Coinbase has partnered with Onboard Global to make peer-to-peer payments in Nigeria. 

This collaboration marks Coinbase’s entrance into the Nigerian market. The modalities of this partnership will be more evident with time. Nonetheless, it is a significant milestone for Coinbase, which is largely unavailable across Africa.

Nigeria has the largest population in Africa is fertile ground for crypto entrepreneurs. An unstable currency and a vibrant informal economy make it especially ideal for crypto adoption. Coinbase relishes expanding this market when the sector is ready for a boom.

Meanwhile, even after their recent comeback, the government is suing Binance for $81 billion, saying the exchange violated their tax laws and contributed to devaluing the Naira. The global exchange has denied these allegations and will appear on trial on Monday to answer charges of money laundering. 

Last year, one of Binance’s executives, Tigran Gambaryan, was detained for over six months. Government authorities said Binance operated without a license, avoided paying tax as a foreign company, and engaged in money laundering.

Morocco Crypto News: Millions are HODLers Despite Ban

French crypto brokerage firm HelloSafe has claimed that about 6 million Moroccans own crypto. This figure is even though the country’s regulatory market is generally unfriendly. Morocco officially banned crypto in 2017, but this ban has done nothing to stop the adoption of decentralized cryptocurrencies. 

The country may now be forced to reconsider its stance as there is a reality of a large informal sector within the country. Restricting crypto completely is virtually impossible, given its peer-to-peer nature. Tracking the country’s policy stance following this development will be fascinating. 

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The post Africa Crypto Week in Review: Bitget Making Moves in South Africa, Coinbase Boosts P2P Payments in Nigeria, Millions of Moroccoans are HODLers appeared first on 99Bitcoins.

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