The African continent will be able to develop significantly technologically and economically if it opens its arms to the digital asset industry, and for that, local authorities must cooperate with regulators, convincing them of the benefits of cryptocurrency.
This idea came from James Mwangi, CEO of Kenya's largest banking conglomerate, Equity Group Holdings, arguing that African countries must dive into the fourth industrial revolution to catch up with the rest of the globe. For the renowned manager, cryptocurrencies are part of this transformation and can bring certain advantages to the domestic economy, such as “supplement mobile money"
"Africa will benefit substantially from the leap in fourth industrial technologies, and cryptocurrency is one of them. Cryptocurrency can also complement the mobile money wallet, but essentially we need to talk to regulators”, said James Mwangi in an interview with para Bloomberg.
BUT: In just four months, 1,63 billion euros in cryptocurrencies have already been stolen
The financier further noted that mobile money transactions are more popular than traditional payment methods in Kenya. As such, the incorporation of these new types of technology can transform Africa into a competitive market:
“We expect the use of technology, particularly data and artificial intelligence, to be an important foundation for the leap, because we are not talking about existing manufacturing capacity, we are starting over.”
According to the latest figures, a sizable proportion of African residents lack basic access to financial services, which has accelerated the use of digital assets, revealing that 69% of local cryptocurrency owners have invested in the asset class to provide a better life for their families. 48% distributed their wealth to pay their children's future educational costs, while 43% said they wanted to establish a fund to pass on to their relatives.
Cryptocurrency adoption in Africa peaked last month when the Central African Republic has declared bitcoin as a legal tender🇧🇷 Thus, it became the second country after El Salvador where the main digital asset is an official means of payment.
