About a third of the customers queuing at La Maison du Bitcoin in Paris are investing in Bitcoin so they can send it to their relatives in Africa.
La Maison co-founder Manuel Valente put it this way: “In most countries in Africa, there are many more mobile phones than bank accounts, and all a person needs to get Bitcoin into their account is a mobile phone.”
After the recent coup d'état in Zimbabwe, the price of Bitcoin in the region has risen to twice what it is today in the rest of the world. For people who live in countries with poor economic conditions, it is much easier to transfer money by avoiding banks and local currencies, the value of which is permanently reduced due to inflation.
Unfortunately, there is no exact information about the exact number of bitcoins that were transferred to the accounts of residents of countries with developing economies. On the other hand, this is part of what attracts people to Bitcoin - the complete anonymity of transactions. As events in Zimbabwe have shown, the most popular cryptocurrency in the world is becoming more in demand at a time when public trust in government institutions is rapidly declining.
“Bitcoin is the safest option for people who, for whatever reason, have stopped trusting their government,” said Alistair Milne, co-founder of the Digital Currency Fund. “At the moment, in many countries, there is an increased need for assets that are not available to banks, which are going bankrupt in those regions at every turn.” Zimbabwe abandoned its own currency in 2009, the same year Bitcoin was born. Currently, the country uses the US dollar, South African rand and cryptocurrencies. People buy and sell bitcoin on a secure network that does not rely on government or bank support.
Alex Tapscott, chief executive of NextBlock Global Ltd., called government attempts to control cryptocurrency transactions akin to “trying to pound water.”
According to https://www.bloomberg.com
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