What is the current state of NFT adoption in Africa?
With a population of more than 1.6 billion, Africa is the second-largest continent in the world. However, technology adoption in Africa is still in its infancy. Most of the time, people in western nations become more familiar with technical breakthroughs than those in Africa.
However, Africa is not unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies. Many of the younger African generations have embraced cryptocurrencies as a secondary source of income ever since Bitcoin first gained notoriety. Although many people still find it difficult to comprehend the technology it uses, the fact that it gave people a way to instantly sell something for a profit made it quite popular.
NFTs were widely embraced on the same trend, particularly in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa. Despite this, there are still numerous problems with NFT adoption in Africa that have an impact on the rate of acceptance and use across the continent.
The quick rate of Africans’ adoption of cryptocurrencies is a factor in the growth of NFTs in that continent. According to 2021 research by Chainanalysis, usage of cryptocurrencies increased 1200% in Africa between July 2020 and June 2021, making it the region with the fastest adoption rate worldwide.
This coincided with the period when NFTs were becoming more well known. The record-breaking NFT sales made by digital artist Mike Winkelmann in December successfully increased awareness of crypto arts. The possibility that a person could earn up to $69 million from the sale of digital art attracted interest across the globe, but especially in Africa.
However, unlike other continents, Africa took a little longer to embrace digital art. This was because many people still didn’t comprehend the underlying technology of NFTs or how it could help them. NFTs so lagged while cryptocurrency activities grew significantly. However, the continent caught up following well-known NFT collections like the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and saw quick price increases.
The popularity of NFTs swiftly increased among young people who lacked access to jobs or other sources of income, although many of those who entered the market did so for speculative motives. They made their trades with the expectation that they would make more money in the following month or within a short time than they had paid for the NFT.
Africans are now investing more in NFTs, and not just for the sake of flipping them for profit. A lot of people realized that anyone may benefit from the decentralized economy as blockchain technology spread more widely throughout Africa.
The process of minting NFTs was also discovered to be simpler than anticipated. It was so simple to understand why South Africa and Nigeria were identified as the sixth and twelfth greatest adopters of NFTs, respectively, in a recent Finder poll.
A group of Ghanaian pallbearers who had become internet memes in 2020 capitalized on their celebrity in April 2022. The coffin dance was sold as an NFT by the group’s leader, Benjamin Aidoo, for 372 ETH ($1.046 million at the time). The NFT sale is still the costliest one to date outside of Africa.
A few days earlier, on April 1, in neighboring Nigeria, Adisa Olashile, a phone photographer who mints and sells his works as NFTs, shared images of an elderly drummer that he had taken on Twitter. He claimed he intended to print the images as NFTs, sell them, and give the veteran drummer 50% of the proceeds.
The photographer soon disclosed that he had sold the images on OpenSea for a total of 0.3 ETH, or more than one million naira, per image. He then posted recordings of himself giving the elderly drummer 50% of the money, which he did in front of the drummer’s surprise and awe. Naturally, the thoughtful act caused a lot of attention on social media.
While many praised the photographer for his generosity, several people were curious about how they might also join the NFT train. As more people try to make money in the industry since then, NFT conversations have increased dramatically on Nigerian social media platforms.
African nations, like many others, have not been particularly amenable to the use of cryptocurrencies within their borders. Those who haven’t imposed restrictions on trading have advised their citizens against making cryptocurrency investments. While nations like Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon have limited restrictions on cryptocurrency trade, others like Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia have outright bans.
NFT fans in nations where there are restrictions or prohibitions have found it challenging to conduct trading easily because NFTs are traded using local currencies of the blockchain they are hosted on. Financial institutions are forbidden from doing cryptocurrency-related transactions in Nigeria, for example, and are required to terminate any accounts that were based on such transactions. This effectively encouraged consumers to conduct their trading operations on peer-to-peer platforms.
NFT use and trade in Africa have been hampered by official regulations, but the industry is nevertheless thriving there. In addition to providing a forum for African artists to sell their works, it has enabled thousands of people on the continent to make a living.
However, NFTs have the potential to benefit the continent in more ways than only through providing opportunities. In a region of the world where property ownership is still verified manually, the introduction of NFTs might significantly increase transparency and authenticate ownership. NFTs are distinctive and traceable by nature. As a result, not only will ownership status be retained, but a person who is looking for a property owner will easily find them.
The projects coming out of Africa demonstrate that NFT adoption will pick up steam in the years to come. More initiatives that have the potential to revolutionize Africa and its people will emerge as time goes on.
About us:
NFT Labs is a web3 company exploring big ideas in community, utility and engagement to push the crypto, NFT and metaverse space forward. To learn how your organization can participate in the web3 revolution, write to us at hello@itsmyne.club.
We’re backed by leading blockchain institutions including Longhash Ventures, Antler, Oracles Investment Group, and Shima Capital among others. NFT Labs is also the issuer of the MYNE token ($MYNE), a BEP-20 utility token for Itsmyne and partner applications. MYNE serves as the gateway between traditional social media and blockchain-based social economies.
