Chiamaka, a former product manager at a Nigerian cryptocurrency startup, has sworn off digital currencies. The 22-year-old has weathered a layoff and lost savings worth 4,603,500 naira ($9,900) after the collapse of FTX in November 2022. She now works for a corporate finance company in Lagos, earning a salary that is 45% lower than her previous job.
“I used to be bullish on crypto because I believed it could liberate Africans financially,” Chiamaka, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym as she was concerned about breaching her contract with her current employer, told Rest of World. “Instead, it has managed to do the opposite so far … at least to me and a few of my friends.”
Chiamaka is among the tens of millions of Africans who bought into the cryptocurrency frenzy over the last few years. According to one estimate in mid-2022, around 53 million Africans owned crypto — 16.5% of the total global crypto users. Nigeria led with over 22 million users, ranking fourth globally. Blockchain startups and businesses on the continent raised $474 million in 2022, a 429% increase from the previous year, according to the African Blockchain Report. Young African creatives also became major proponents of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), taking inspiration from pop culture and the continent’s history. Several decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), touted as the next big thing, emerged across Africa.
Now, however, much of this buzz seems to be a thing of the past. “People sparingly talk about NFTs and DAOs,” Olabinjo Adeniran, a marketing manager in the blockchain industry, told Rest of World. “You can’t just draw a monkey and sell it for a thousand dollars anymore … As for DAOs, many had no use case. The obsession with launching tokens makes them fall under the speculative side of crypto, which is dead.”
Several crypto-related startups across the African continent have been struggling to survive.
In 2023 alone, a lack of funds has led to the acquisition of at least one Nigerian crypto exchange company, while another crypto paym
