100,000 merchants in Nigeria accept Bitcoin as payment for goods and services

Despite the free fall in Bitcoin prices over the past 48 hours, the cryptocurrency remains extremely popular. In Nigeria, Bitcoin has been embraced by consumers and businesses alike. While most view Bitcoin as an investment vehicle, it is also a valuable tool for bypassing costly traditional remittance solutions. The future of Bitcoin in Nigeria looks bright.

Nigeria, like most countries in Africa, has a strong reliance on affordable money transfer services. Bitcoin offers a perfect solution in this regard. With its global availability, Bitcoin is often used for cross-border payments without paying outrageous fees. In addition to this, the cryptocurrency is also being used for online transactions.

Nigeria is very interested in Bitcoin

The economic problems Nigeria is currently experiencing have fueled the demand for Bitcoin in the country. As previously reported, the demand for Bitcoin in Nigeria continues to rise, with the price of the currency exceeding $1,250. The country's legal currency, the Naira, depreciated by more than 40% in the first half of 2016, and things are not looking good. At the same time, it is basically impossible for mainstream consumers and most businesses to use Naira to exchange other foreign currencies. The country has experienced its worst recession in decades, prompting people to turn to alternative financial solutions.

Interestingly, Bitcoin gained popularity in the country mainly due to the MMM pyramid scheme. Although the scam itself was evil, a large number of Nigerians benefited from the project. At the same time, 3M promoted the use of Bitcoin in the country. However, now that companies have legitimate reasons to invest in Bitcoin, things look very promising.

Consumers are also investing in Bitcoin as a way to hedge against future Naira devaluation. Currently, Bitcoin transactions and investments are tax-free in Nigeria, and holding this cryptocurrency is safer than cash or funds in a bank account, but the real advantage of Bitcoin lies in its low transaction costs. Currently, more than 100,000 Nigerian merchants accept Bitcoin as a payment method for goods and services .

Although this is a very positive trend, we must remember that the Bitcoin market is still volatile. The events of the past few weeks have shown that the Bitcoin market is still volatile. The risk of investing in Bitcoin is still high, but it is still higher than other investment opportunities. It is really good to see that Bitcoin has such traction in Nigeria, especially with the recent plunge in Bitcoin prices hitting the market.