It is no surprise that Africa is often described as ‘the future’. The African youth have the potential to define geopolitics, world economics, and foreign policy in the decades to come.
Remittance flows to low and middle-income countries reached $550 billion in 2019, surpassing foreign direct investment and official development aid. What is more, these are only recorded volumes; the actual size of this market is a lot bigger if you include flows in the informal sector. Despite this impressive growth – the report also highlighted the fact that the cost of sending remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be far higher than any other region in the world. Sending $200 cost an average of 14% in 2021. That is significantly higher than the global average of 6.04%.
As is apparent – one of the world’s largest remittance markets is also the most inefficient. These inefficiencies are costing Africans over $6bn every year. This has incentivised an increasing numbers of African consumers to use alternative means when it comes to sending money back home to family or loved ones. Enter cryptocurrency.