The large crypto exchange is withdrawing from Uganda, but continues to strive for the African market.
After the market-leading crypto exchange Bitcoin Circuit had to close its branch in Uganda in October , there is now good news from Africa for the trading platform, because its Binance P2P service is successfully showing itself on the second most populous continent in the world.
In a related blog post, Binance highlights the growth of peer-to-peer trading services in the region
Binance P2P is said to have traded an equivalent of 280 million US dollars in African currencies since March. Originally, the program only started with the Nigerian naira (NGN).
Binance also points out that the program enables crypto traders in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt and Morocco to earn “between 30 and 350 US dollars a day” by selling crypto currencies to their compatriots. In another blog entry, Binance had previously advertised that it is „easy to do your own crypto trade“.
The reference to the success of its own P2P service in Africa is against the background of the statements made by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao in May.
At that time, „CZ“ had described the African market as “ still untouched „, where there were great opportunities but also great challenges
„We see the entire African market as a crucial market,“ said Zhao in this context. And further: „At the moment it is not that easy to buy cryptocurrencies in Africa, which is why we are trying to improve the situation.“
Chris Maurice, CEO of Nigeria-based crypto exchange Yellow Card, contradicted Zhao’s assessment in an interview with Cointelegraph in July. Rather, he means that cryptocurrencies are already quickly establishing themselves in Africa:
„The crypto industry is growing very quickly here across the continent, and especially in Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana and Kenya.“
The data also support this thesis, as according to a September report by Chainalysis crypto market researchers, the amount of small crypto transactions in Africa increased by more than 50% over the course of the year.
This is all the more interesting as cryptocurrencies have great potential to make cross-border payments in Africa much more efficient and cost-effective.