Nigeria has the world’s highest cryptocurrency adoption rating, with 24.2% of adults owning some form of digital currency.
According to the latest Cryptocurrency Adoption Index from financial comparison platform Finder.com, which surveyed 41,645 adults in 22 countries, Nigeria is well ahead of the global average adoption rate of 11.4%.
Of the quarter of online adults in the West African nation who own cryptocurrency, Bitcoin is the most popular with 66.5% of owners having some share of the coin. The second most popular asset is Ethereum at 23.8% and in third place – somewhat surprisingly – is Dogecoin at 21.8%.
In terms of gender, men are more likely to own cryptocurrency than women, with 30.4% of surveyed men holding digital assets compared to only 17.9% of women. This makes men in Nigeria 1.7 times more likely to own cryptocurrency than women, slightly higher than the 1.5 times global average.
The index is of course positively biased towards cryptocurrency adoption in that it only samples active internet users through Google AdMob or Qualtrics research participants.
Even so, the global average of 11.4% of adults being cryptocurrency owners is an impressive figure, speaking to the incredible uptake cryptocurrency has experienced in the past decade.
Nigeria is not just a hotbed for crypto ownership either, the government has long had plans to be an early launcher of a central bank digital currency (CBDCs), with a pilot having gone live in October.
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