Kenya, the home of m-pesa, is lauded as a tech savvy market that builds and adopts innovations quickly. More than 80% of the population has access to the internet; more than 60% of Kenyans own a bank account. However, the adoption of cryptocurrencies has been very slow. There have been reports of many tech startups exploring ways of exploiting bitcoin for remittances and payments. One of the pioneers of bitcoin in Kenya, BitPesa, were forced to change their business model to a platform that allows businesses to accept bitcoin payments. The localbitcoin platform (https://localbitcoins.com/) provides many Kenyans an avenue to trade their bitcoins, though this is very informal.
In my view, some of the reasons for slow adoption include:
- Very few, if any, businesses accepting bitcoin payments
- Government aversion to bitcoin. The Central Bank of Kenya issued a notice asking Kenyans to desist from using bitcoin
- Very few wallets support trades in Kenya. I use the CEX.IO wallet and it only supports bitcoin and ethereum. No LTC or any others
- Network marketing, which many Kenyans are averse to as a result of many con games, is where many Kenyans have heard bitcoin from. This leads to suspicion from many would be takers.
While there is growth in knowledge and use of cryptocurrencies in Kenya, much more needs to be done to increase adoption. Mobile money is a normal thing in Kenya with m-pesa (so much so that m-pesa is now a verb), with many businesses accepting m-pesa payments. Some tech start-ups are building wallets that change bridge bitcoin and m-pesa payment, but they are forced to work with the large mobile network operators and banks to allow transfer of funds to bank accounts.
Kenya is ripe for an explosion of cryptocurrencies. Ethereum could take a significant space in this explosion with a large number of multinationals running projects that require funding. Smart contracts can play a large part here. There are many Kenyans in the diaspora sending remittances back home and with projects back in Kenya as well that can leverage on the smart contracts to ensure funds are only released on satisfactory completion of such projects.
Hey.
I learned about bitcoins from my friends in Zimbabwe. I think in Kenya we dont have alot of information when it comes to crypto currency. I for once only knew about Bitcoin. so i think abit of education and hopefuly get people interested.
True @kamaitha. There is a wealth of knowledge out there plus there are a few people running talks on cryptocurrency. Unfortunately, it becomes difficult to know whether the talk you are invited for is about network marketing or just train give useful information.
most of the talks here in nairobi are about network marketing. not so much discussion about uptake of bitcoin... i think if exchanges make it easier to buy bitcoin in kenya it will change things...
Check this Bitcoin event out. Worth a mention. https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@davgits/nairobi-bitcoin-investment-meetup-november-30th-2017
That is a matter of perception. BitPesa has been around for years and I learnt of BitCoins waay back at around 2009 from a Kenyan
The single biggest hindrance is the ubiquity of mobile payments in Kenya and MPesa being severely opposed to anything that can affect their dominance in mobile and online payments, thus BitCoins