Everyone’s talking crypto for solving sub-Saharan Africa’s payments problems

As global interest in stablecoins explodes, a number of key players are pushing especially hard for more adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa.

On Thursday, the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Africa Program published new analysis advocating more options for crypto users in sub-Saharan Africa. CSIS is a well-known Washington, DC-based think tank.

The authors of the analysis, Judd Devermont and Topaz Mukulu, are extremely optimistic about the future role of crypto, specifically predicting that “Digital currencies almost certainly will become more common in general and in sub-Saharan Africa in particular.” They conclude their analysis with a series of recommendations, including more education and standardization of regulation across the region’s many borders. 

The same day, the G-20-founded advisory group the Financial Stability Board held a meeting for its Sub-Saharan Africa Group. Per its announcement, the group also discussed “the roadmap to enhance cross-border payments (Roadmap), including addressing regulatory and supervisory issues with respect to ‘global stablecoins.’”

The FSB had not responded to Cointelegraph’s request for meeting minutes as of publication time.

Sub-Saharan Africa features a number of countries that vary wildly in technological and economic development. Lacking a common currency or trade laws, borders become barriers to trade and growth. It is also the region that is most expensive to send money to; per think tank Brookings, remittances cost 8.9% of their value. 

Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, has, correspondingly, been the most assertive in regulating blockchain and cryptocurrency usage.

Cointelegraph has previously noted the particular benefits that emerging technologies can offer throughout Africa.