of Ghanaians
own cryptocurrency
It is estimated that over 700,000 people, or 2.16% of Ghana’s total population, currently own cryptocurrency.
Ghana is one of the African nations that extensively relies on mobile money transfers to facilitate and advance financial inclusion across the nation. According to the Payment Systems Oversight Annual Report, there were more than 48 million active mobile money accounts as of December 2021.
The nation’s inflation rate has been rapidly increasing. The rate hit a record 54.1% in January 2023, from 50.3% a month prior. The Ghanaian cedi has also depreciated sharply against many currencies, in particular the U.S. dollar since the start of 2022. The cedi has declined more than 55% between January and October 2022, among the steepest declines of any currency in the world this year. Because of this, and notably because of the pressure on the Ghana cedi, the average Ghanaian is under a lot of financial stress, which is likely to lead to the widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies in order to reduce the danger of future value losses.
The State of Crypto: Africa report indicates that disinflationary crypto assets that enjoy digital scarcity are one option for citizens to escape the economic crisis in Africa. That report shows that stablecoins pegged to fiat currencies such as the US dollar have historically outperformed African currencies and shows that African users are much more interested in a US dollar-backed stablecoin compared with other cryptocurrencies.