According to Joe Corbin of Stone Bridge Ventures, a strong bullish attitude towards cryptocurrencies throughout the African Continent has led to impressive growth of over 1200% in a single year. Not only have more people throughout the content been more open to using cryptocurrencies, but companies in the region and local governments have also accepted it as the future.
However, with the surge in the popularity of cryptocurrencies within the region, different countries within have found that certain crypto assets are more popular than others. While the current crypto wave may have started with major players like Bitcoin and Ethereum, the truth of the matter is that most traders have moved on to much smaller types of trading assets like Dogecoin.
In fact, one of the biggest cryptocurrencies in South Africa is Shiba Inu, which is a spin-off of the meme Dogecoin. Better yet, recent reports on popular cryptocurrencies throughout African countries show Bitcoin is only popular in one country, and other big players like Ethereum and Cardano are nowhere to be seen. This change shows that many people are looking for more accessible crypto to dip their toes in with.
Higher Transfer Fees and Slower Transfers
Joe Corbin of Stone Bridge Ventures speculates that a likely reason why so many newer users are shifting to smaller cryptocurrencies like Shiba Inu has a lot to do with transferring fees and speeds. Ethereum and other major crypto projects, while being more stable, can be expensive when sending funds from one account to another.
Ethereum transfer prices, also known as gas fees, can vary significantly depending on the time of day. More importantly, the price hikes can sometimes be worth more than the transaction itself. Furthermore, since the highest bidder can send their funds first, traders are forced to either pay the same amount in gas fees or wait for the prices to fall.
On the other hand, Bitcoin can be a lot faster than Ethereum, but it is also much slower. The original infrastructure cannot sustain the sheer number of requests coming through on a daily basis, which is why wait times are longer.
A Lower Buy-in and Less Fluctuation
One of the core reasons why many traders prefer investing in assets like Shiba Inu, according to Joe Corbin of Stone Bridge Ventures, is because it has a much lower buy-in and significantly less fluctuation in prices. Therefore, not only can traders easily buy these tokens at a reasonable price, but people will not have to worry about their tokens being worth substantially less within a matter of hours.
This seems to be a common concern throughout the region, as all of the other tokens popular there are either stablecoins or small projects that do not see much fluctuation. In fact, the most popular in South Africa, DODO, is popular thanks to its incredible technological capabilities.
To conclude, Stone Bridge Ventures Senior Account Manager Joe Corbin’s investigation of why specific cryptocurrencies are popular in the country shows that the major factors are stability, technological superiority, and improved transfer times.
