According to David Frenkel of Equithy, South Africa continues to rank in the highest population of crypto users on the African continent. And with this increased enthusiasm for the adoption of cryptocurrencies, the government also made Bitcoin a legal tender throughout the region. While this certainly was a major step in the right direction, the truth of the matter is that most people do not use Bitcoin.
While Bitcoin is certainly the biggest cryptocurrency in the market, it is not the one that people rely on when making their transactions. Not only is Bitcoin expensive and very volatile, but it also happens to be a lot slower than most other types of cryptocurrencies available in the market.
Compared to much newer types of cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin has yet to update its tech and improve transaction times. As a result, despite it being the biggest name associated with cryptocurrencies, it is not the most effective one. Luckily, South Africans can use a variety of trading assets instead of the bigger names to improve the effectiveness of how they use their cryptocurrencies.
The Rise of Shiba Inu and Other Smaller Crypto
According to Equithy Senior Account Manager David Frenkel, the popularity of Bitcoin gave cryptocurrencies the legitimacy they needed to succeed. But cryptocurrencies like Shiba Inu are actually important to good crypto ecosystems since they are at least slightly more stable compared to other types of cryptocurrencies. Therefore, for people who want to transfer funds and keep their money in a given crypto for a short time.
Of course, there are other benefits that come with using cryptocurrencies like Shiba Inu that include many of the optimizations of the current market. So along with having a much faster system, it is also much cheaper. Ethereum, along with being another big name in the crypto space, does offer much faster transfer speeds, but only for people who pay for it.
Ether uses an auction system for transfers where people can pay gas fees to transfer their funds. The highest bidder gets to send their transfers first, which usually includes paying significantly more than the actual value of the transaction.
Other Types of Cryptocurrencies Popular in South Africa
Compared to the United States and other Western countries, South Africa’s traders are focused more on the usability of a token than its overall value. While that is not to say that some invest in cryptocurrencies for their next big payday, a larger majority simply want to replace their fiat currency with tokens. A good example is the most popular token in South Africa at the time, DODO.
One of DODO’s claims to fame is its much better infrastructure that protects people’s data, has faster transfer speeds, and is cheaper to transfer with. All of these factors combine to make for a more usable cryptocurrency.
To conclude, Equithy Senior Account Manager David Frenkel has seen that cryptocurrencies like Shiba Inu are popular specifically because they are stable and and can transfer funds at a much lower prices.