In a comprehensive report, the African continent ranked among the regions experiencing high crypto adoption. The report illustrated that the presence of the crypto-savvy community has inspired mass adoption of digital assets.
Even though Africa might lack a well established financial system that links the region to the global market, the continent has witnessed a growing interest in crypto-related activities. Speaking exclusively at the “Hashing It Out” Episode 28, the founder of Fonbnk, Christian Duffus, shared the challenges faced when onboarding the African to the crypto sector.
Onboarding Africans to Crypto Sector
Elisha Owusu Akyaw hosted the show to gather crucial information on the complexity of onboarding Africans to the digital space. Addressing the interview questions, Duffus provided a detailed report on the innovative strategies that can be used to bring the masses to the crypto sector in third-world countries.
The executive backed the plans with practical ideas supporting Africans’ onboarding to the crypto industry. In his address, Duffus underscored the need to invest in education and adopt a comprehensive legal framework on crypto to attract large audiences to the Web3 sector. Recent statistics demonstrated that over 350 million people in sub-Saharan Africa were unbanked.
Curbing Financial Gaps in Africa
The report illustrated that a large number of Africans lived with no financial security. The high number of unbanked population has challenged key financial players to bridge existing financial gaps by providing opportunities to Africans living in extreme poverty.
In 2019, Duffus joined other investors pursuing ways to improve financial inclusivity in Africa. The executive launched Fonbnk, aiming to provide exclusive on-ramps and off-ramps services to people in developing countries.
The launch of Fonbnk aimed to bring the masses to the Web3 sector. At that time, Duffus anticipated the digital payment sector to experience growth, just like the high adoption of mobile money in Africa.
Challenges Facing African Financial Sector
The executive noted that the Africans were slowly transitioning to the digital industry after observing that people traded their items on social media. In his findings, Duffus noted that Africans used their WhatsApp and Facebook accounts to buy and sell goods and services.
Duffus admitted that the shift to digital payments inspired him to create Fonbnk to support transactions in local fiat. The exciting journey of Fonbnk has supported the further development of on-ramp sector.
Some notable changes on the Fonbnk on-ramp platform comprised digital assets such as airtime. The Fonbnk team has differentiated its products by allowing users to convert their airtime to digital credit.
Surprisingly, the airtime enables users to access the internet and make calls easily. Duffus admitted that Africa constitutes a large population with no internet connection, which undermines the expansion of the financial sector.
In 2018, a study showed that approximately 24.4% of Africans were connected to the internet. The study validates an earlier report that illustrated that Africa was ranked among the countries where the internet is most expensive.
Duffus argued that lack of internet connection contributed to the rise of the unbanked population. The executive emphasized the significance of improving Web3 to support the growth of the financial sector.
In the subsequent interview question, the host demanded Duffus’ opinion on the future of African crypto. The executive explained that adopting favorable regulations holds the future of crypto.
The official remains optimistic that soon Africa will adopt suitable regulations to support growth of digital sector. Duffus anticipates that more decentralized applications will be introduced to the African market in the coming months.
The Fonbnk boss anticipates that more on-chain products will soon be launched. He expects the products to be tailored to meet the growing African demand for crypto asset.
In February, Swipelux fonder Filip Kollert outlined the barriers that have limited the onboarding of people to Web3. Kollert regretted that complexity, poor user experience, and lack of information prevented the users from exploring the Web3 ecosystem. Also, lack of interoperability and security concerns have undermined the onboarding of masses to Web3 Kollert added.
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