‘3 of 5 Nigerians to adopt digital currency’

Nearly three out of five Nigerians are ready to adopt a global digital currency, since the start of the global pandemic, a cryptocurrency platform, Luno, said yesterday.

In its survey, it said Nigerians also rank higher than the global average of 37% for openness to digital currency adoption.

The survey, which included 15,000 respondents from South Africa, the UK, France, Italy, Indonesia, Malaysia and Nigeria, was first conducted in 2019 and then repeated in 2020.

It also forms the basis of the Luno’s ‘Trust and Uncertainty in 2020’ report which explores how the attitude towards governments, money and the decision making by central banks have changed since last year.

The majority however are anticipating a decrease in their local currency which is leading many to explore alternatives.

Luno’s Country Manager for Nigeria, Owen Odia, stated that the growing interest in cryptocurrencies represents a new openness to look beyond the traditional ways of managing and getting the most out of money.

“With ongoing inflation and other fiscal challenges, we anticipate that more Nigerians will continue to explore different ways of getting the most value from their money.

“The report also revealed that 52% of Nigerians feel their local economy is performing poorly compared to the global average of 36%.

“Confidence in the naira is also quickly diminishing with 44 per cent of Nigerians believing their currency will decrease over the next 12 months, almost doubling from the report’s 2019 figures of 23%,” he said.