Internet Infrastructure Development that May Help Improve Cryptocurrency Adoption as a Legal Tender in Africa

Many people, organizations, and businesses wish that cryptocurrency adoption in Africa was faster than it currently is. At the moment, the adoption rate has increased by 1200% in the past few years and led to significant financial gains among Africans. If more could be done and more Africans could access cryptocurrency, more money could be made and improve the quality of life for more people in Africa.

The main requirement required to get started and to adopt cryptocurrency is the internet. Internet connections allow people to perform online actions and activities and interact with other people located thousands of miles from them. Cryptocurrency utilizes the internet for all its functions. The first thing that people could do to get involved in cryptocurrency is crypto mining. Some people have adopted and started mining cryptocurrency in Africa and are making good money. The process to get started to mine cryptocurrency is to have processors meant to mine cryptocurrency which is connected to the internet, meaning internet access is crucial for people to be involved in crypto mining. The second way people might be involved in cryptocurrency is through cryptocurrency trading. This involves buying cryptocurrency tokens at a lower price and selling at a higher price. Although most people in Africans who invest in cryptocurrency do peer-to-peer trading, they all require an internet connection to make any money. The third reason internet access is important is that people cannot access cryptocurrency when they are offline. Unlike other common currencies and precious materials on earth, cryptocurrencies only exist on the internet. People needed to have internet access to access their wallets and perform any activity concerning cryptocurrency.

The reasons mentioned above have shown that more efforts should be applied before Africa could fully adopt cryptocurrency as a legal tender in the continent. For a currency to be efficient, there are several requirements that the currency should meet, some of them include; the first is it should be portable. Imagine an economy where only one note or coin existed with the lowest value. Buying expensive assets would mean people have to carry bags or trucks of money. Cryptocurrency is very portable since it exists in phones and other devices which people carry every time. The second requirement is divisibility. Currencies should be easily divisible to buy things of different values. The ability for people to divide cryptocurrency tokens into fractions means cryptocurrencies achieve this requirement. The other requirements are recognizably and stability, which are all features of cryptocurrency or can easily be achieved. The problem lies in the last two requirements, general acceptability and accessibility. A currency should be accepted by people in the area or jurisdiction where it operates. If a cryptocurrency is being adopted in the entire continent, people from every country should accept the currency in the economy. This might be an issue if they cannot access the currency easily due to a lack of internet. Most countries have a poor internet connection, meaning that for cryptocurrency to have a 100% adoption rate in Africa, internet access should improve. Some of the internet infrastructure ongoing in Africa include;

Submarine Cable Connection

One of the ways to access internet connections in Africa is through submarine connections. This is where huge internet connection cables are submerged in the oceans and seas across the world with the intention to help countries connect easier and faster to each other. Although African countries are almost at 100% with the submarine connection, one country out of the 38 countries with access to oceans and seas are connected to the submarine connection cables. Djibouti is the remaining country, but the connection is almost done and increases accessibility to the internet in the country.

Fiber Network Connection

One of the latest internet technology developed is the fiber network connection. Although the technology is a little over a decade old in Africa, the infrastructure projects leading to fiber connection have been the most widely adopted. All the countries are connected to the Fiber network, which has led to more people in Africa adopting cryptocurrency due to Africa’s reliable internet and cheap cost.

Cellular Connection

The cellular connection is the other project that is still ongoing and helping to improve internet connection in Africa. A cellular network is the network people can access through their phones wireless to call and for other practices. Most telecommunication companies in Africa sell internet bundles to their customers, meaning people with access to cellular connections can also access the internet. The cellular connection has been the leading internet provider to Africans for several years now. Although this is the case, more cellular connection towers and infrastructure is being developed all over Africa every day. If cryptocurrency is fully adopted in Africa, this will be one of the tools required and promoting cryptocurrency use.

Rural Areas Internet Connection

One of the challenges facing both internet connection and cryptocurrency adoption in Africa is how people in rural areas can access these services. One of the problems is that people are sparsely populated in rural areas, and most internet infrastructure is not profitable in rural areas. Telkom, a company operating in Kenya, came up with a solution that, if adopted all over the continent, the entire population could have access to both the internet and cryptocurrency. The internet balloons float over specific regions where the connection is poor and offer internet connection to people in rural areas.

Private Sector Investment

Private investors carry out the last internet infrastructure development. Many countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and many more have seen the rise of people in the private sector investing in internet connection in urban areas. Apart from fiber connections being undertaken by rich companies, the number of small investors providing Wi-Fi connections to people’s homes and offices has increased in the last few years. As a result, more people have access to an affordable internet connection. For people investing in cryptocurrency, cheap reliable internet is good for them as it increases their profit margins. These projects have been very effective and are the reason why Africa has had a 1200% increase in the adoption rate. If more is done, the cryptocurrency adoption rate in Africa will skyrocket and help in the adoption of cryptocurrency as a legal tender in the continent.