Kenya will scale up crypto adoption in 2022, says Luno GM

Marius Reitz, Luno‘s general manager for Africa, has projected that Kenya will lead the cryptocurrency market on the continent in 2022.

Reitz said this in his prediction for Africa’s crypto market released on Thursday.

He said Africa took the centre stage in 2021 with a 1200 percent surge in cryptocurrency adoption.

According to Reitz, Kenya’s crypto industry is booming with the potential to scale up adoption this year.

He said while Nigeria moved against crypto trading last year, Kenya ranked as the world’s leader in P2P trading volumes for the second consecutive year.

“Kenya ranks as the world’s leader in P2P trading volumes for the second consecutive year, Reitz said.

“The country’s crypto industry is booming with a rapidly emerging crop of companies building blockchain-based solutions and considering its young population, high heels of mobile connectivity and familiarity with digital payment solutions like mobile money, it’s firmly positioned to emerge as East Africa’s leading crypto hub in 2022.”

The Luno CEO added that cryptocurrency would serve as an alternative means of handling cross-border transactions and remittance associated problems on the continent.

“According to World Bank, total remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa surpassed $45 billion in 2021 — but with the severe lack of foreign currency reserves across Africa stopping companies from receiving international payments and remitting their profits, many businesses could look towards cryptocurrencies as an alternative means of handling cross-border transactions,” he added.

“The key strength of cryptocurrencies in this area lies in the open and decentralised blockchain networks that support them, which allow money to be easily transferred between parties without all the lag times and exorbitant fees no matter who or where they are.

“Similar to most aspects of the crypto industry, progress in this area will be heavily dependent on a favourable regulatory climate and should this materialise, cryptocurrencies could emerge as a major asset for companies with extensive operations throughout Africa.”

He, however, expressed that Africa will gain more as the continent remains the most promising region for the adoption of cryptocurrencies.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect Luno‘s GM for Africa’s comment on the state of cryptocurrencies on the continent.