Bitcoin Is the Face of Change in Nigeria


Bitcoin is gaining serious strength in other countries. The asset is not just a speculative currency, but a tool to potentially fund change and empower those who do not have access to traditional funding services, as people have seen in areas like Nigeria.

Nigeria Is Getting a Taste of What Bitcoin Can Do

The country is home to the #EndSARS movement, which is aimed at preventing police brutality. As the movement got larger over the years, it became clear that simply talking about it on Twitter and social media wasn’t going to be enough in keeping people aware and in ensuring that the right messages got out to the public. Eventually, funding and financial resources would be needed if the organization were to sustain any sort of presence and keep itself going.

#EndSARS eventually became a huge movement, with massive protests involving thousands of individuals taking center stage in Nigeria. Things like food, hospital bills, medical supplies and water would be needed if protesters were to keep going and ensure change occurred in the country. From there, many people began sending money through local bank accounts to ensure that users had what they needed.

Eventually, however, it looked like this route was enduring several hardships. For one thing, it was estimated that bank payments were being slowed down. In other cases, donation buttons had simply stopped working. The government of Nigeria has maintained the position that it’s not involved, but many people are skeptical of this.

It wasn’t long before bitcoin became the ideal currency for funding the movement, and things have remained this way ever since. The country is among the latest to learn that bitcoin is designed to provide monetary freedom and independence from the likes of third parties and traditional financial institutions that invoke far too many rules for those who are looking to remain untouched and uncorrupted by the system.

Thus far, the movement has garnered nearly $400,000 in bitcoin donations as of late October. While this number may not seem like much on paper, bitcoin has introduced a whole new side to itself in Nigeria and similar regions, and many now see it as a tool that while used for fraudulent purposes, can also be utilized to prevent bad actors from holding too much sway.

Shutting Fraud Out

Ray Youssef – CEO of P2P crypto trading platform Paxful – stated in a recent interview:

Given how it was used to keep funding for the protests alike, the protests inadvertently showcased a use-case for bitcoin in a market where it is increasingly adopted but remains quite synonymous with fraud. It showed Nigerians bitcoin wasn’t just something used by scammers. Now, people are starting to see its real unity. It shows people the full spectrum of what bitcoin can do.

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