23 African countries are in different phases of launching a digital currency
Senegal's cancellation of its experiment with an eCFA in 2016 makes Nigeria's eNaira the only active Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in Africa. Half of the countries in Africa are currently not doing anything about CBDC, while a larger share of the other half is currently in the research phase.
Students are the largest crypto-holding group (43.6%), underscoring the youthful nature of Nigeria’s crypto community and their early adoption of digital finance.
Entrepreneurs follow closely (25.7%), showing strong participation from self-employed Nigerians, traders, business owners, and hustlers who use crypto for investment and business flexibility.
Traditional employees make up 17.4%, indicating growing acceptance of crypto beyond informal or youth circles, even among salary earners.
Freelancers and gig workers (5.6%) also feature, reflecting crypto’s role in global online work and cross-border earnings. Unemployed and retired individuals remain a small minority, under 3.5% combined.
About 60% of users make less than $50 per month, showing crypto activity is mostly at a small, retail scale.
The $10–$50 band (36%) is the single largest group, reflecting frequent, low-value trading or incremental investment returns.
Only about 30% of users earn between $50 and $500, suggesting that consistent moderate returns are less common.
Less than 3% of users earn above $1,000 per month, confirming that the Nigerian crypto market remains largely retail-driven rather than dominated by professional or institutional traders.
56.1% of users mostly send crypto, compared to 43.9% who mostly receive it, showing an active transaction culture.
Investing in other platforms or projects leads as the top reason for sending crypto (29.2%), indicating strong speculative and wealth-building motives.
Every 1 in 4 users (25.1%) use crypto for daily transactions like bills and subscriptions, showing rising integration into everyday finance.
Cross-border payments (7.7%) and donations (4.6%) remain small but notable niches, signaling growing utility beyond trading.
