When the Central Bank of Nigeria clamped down on cryptocurrencies in 2021, many would have thought that would be the end of crypto adoption in the country. However, the fifth most populous nation worldwide remains highly interested in cryptocurrency, despite the ban and crash of the market in April.
The market crash led to a significant slump in trading activities. Additionally, leading investors saw their funds go down the drain while crypto companies oversaw a massive lay-off in their establishments to cut costs. However, a recent study from Google Trends highlighted the nations’ growing curiosity and interest in crypto after the April crash.
The research was based on popular crypto search terms often reflecting increased interest in the crypto market. The search history of each nation was then compiled to give an overall search score. The countries at the top of the list appear to be most eager to buy the dip.
According to CoinGecko, Nigerians became more interested in crypto after the market collapse in April. Additionally, the Nigerian population searched the term “cryptocurrency,” “invest in crypto”, and “buy crypto” the most among the 15 countries that were part of the research and had a total search score of 370.
The following two Google trend charts show the data for “invest in crypto” searches in Nigeria compared to the world. The search density for the term has seen similar interest rates after the April downfall in Nigeria, while the worldwide search density constantly declined in comparison.
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Why Nigeria and Other Countries Adopt Cryptocurrency
The West African country currently has the biggest economy in Africa. However, Nigeria has been plagued with poor financial services and irregular monetary policies, weakening its local currency. As a result, inflation is rising, and there is a need to look for better economic alternatives.
In April, nearly 17.36 million Nigerian crypto investors allocated over half of their assets to cryptocurrencies. Nigerians started using crypto as a viable alternative to store and transfer assets to avoid inflationary pressures and poor financial services.
In addition, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) stood as the second most crypto-curious nation with a search score of 270, while Singapore clinched the third spot with a search score of 260. Notably, the United States stood in 12th place with a search score of 157.
Some of the most searched crypto assets include Ethereum and Bitcoin. Interestingly, Ethereum searches outscored Bitcoin in fourteen of the fifteen countries, with Singapore leading the chart with a score of 59.
Read more: Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) – What are They, and How do They Work?
