Bitcoin could be the engine for African growth which will definitely fuel the continent's great leap forward. It will be a sweeping knowledge and technology jump that is expected to happen within the next five years according to Hermann Djoumessi, CEO of Africa Digital MarketPlace. He also believes the continent holds huge potential in its youth and coupled with the right education, beautiful things could happen.
Presently there are startups busy building businesses–to disrupt Africa's large remittances market; or creating bitcoin exchanges; or establishing crypto-wallet apps.
‘’The technology is available for all and while it can be difficult to master or understand at first, people have to jump into the unknown’’
PAPER MONEY IS EXPECTED TO DISAPPEAR
In a continent where inflation is replete, the expert sees Bitcoin as a safe zone for Africans to protect their wealth. In June last year, a study of ten African Countries with high inflation rates had South Sudan recording an unthinkable inflationary rate of 295 percent. Egypt had the lowest with 12.3 percent. Governments in the African continent are notoriously noted for destroying the wealth of its people through money printing. Djoumessi thinks the end of paper money is near, predicting the process will begin in Africa and the Middle East. According to Djoumessi; "Bitcoin should be the “fly to safety” currency for all. However, one needs to remain careful and needs to start to understand that paper money as we know it is about to disappear. Therefore, one needs to have and carry a mix of cryptocurrencies and should always play one against another when times changes.”
He adds: “It's money, it's bound to fluctuate, to go up and down, to boom and bust later. It is a new paradigm, where we are going to have to educate ourselves and understand the different systems around. Definitely, Africa will be the first continent to abandon paper money altogether or the Middle East with governments like Dubai, UAE adopting Blockchain technologies.”
Adoption Pace:
Adoption in the continent is irritatingly slow but we can conquer that hurdle through trust, evangelisation and connections. "A purely “commercial” operation has never reached the mainstream. You have to communicate to reach deeper," Djoumessi asserted. “It is strange to believe that algorithms would do the job of convincing human beings! People need to be talked to. It doesn't matter how smart is your software!" However, African Governments can be a hindrance to adoption, just like they have been to economic and financial freedom: Many hazards will come in the way of the deployment of the new technology. One is energy, the second is data centers, the third is infrastructure, financing, education, etc. There is a lot of work to be done, for sure.
Flight to safety
Furthermore, part of the job of crypto advocates is to convince governments as well about Bitcoin, not just the masses, and ultimately technology will be on the side of the cryptos. In situations where nations resist it, Capital flight to other economies will observed. "The risk is that they might fly elsewhere and enrich someone else's economy. Cross-border crypto “flight to safety” will disrupt neighboring economies." "The future of Bitcoin in Africa is bright. The entire continent will be using cryptocurrencies as an instrument for growth. Cryptocurrencies will surely fuel the tech boom in Africa." (The CoinTelegraph, 2017)