AFRICA’S CRYPTO ASSET MARKET SOARS

ONE OF FASTEST-GROWING TRADE SECTORS IN WORLD IS DRIVEN BY YOUTH

MANY experts believe the emerging crypto-economy will provide youth with the necessary platform to identify new opportunities and job possibilities within blockchain technology and the crypto industry.

The arrival of blockchain technology on the global economic scene is changing how we do business. A 2019 survey by KPMG, of international executives, found that the business value added by blockchain will surpass $176 billion (R269bn) by 2025.

In finance, blockchain has spawned the crypto-economy. Led by tech-savvy youth, Africa has become one of the fastestgrowing markets for crypto assets. A youth-led revolution Operating within a jobs market that offers limited opportunities and uncertain future employment prospects, the entrepreneurial drive of many young Africans has been effectively channelled into the cryptocurrency market, emerging throughout Africa.

Africa’s booming bitcoin economy has attracted many international sector giants. For example, having seen significant growth in digital currency transactions throughout African territories in recent years, largely driven by users under the age of 35, global peer-to-peer marketplace Paxful believes that the bitcoin economy carries with it the ability to reach a multitude of African citizens, and in doing so, looks set to harness the combined power of youth and tech as a dynamic means of propelling African economic development forward.

Founded by two young entrepreneurs, one of whom is from Egypt, Paxful is committed to helping people use their entrepreneurial skills to identify new opportunities. “Education is critical to promoting enterprise development in the bitcoin economy,” says Ray Youssef, co-founder and chief executive of Paxful.

To this end, Paxful helps entrepreneurs and small businesses gain access to the global bitcoin market. The company invests in a variety of educational programmes to support the development of the bitcoin economy in Africa.

Paxful’s efforts include an entrepreneurship programme called the Paxful Peer Program, aimed at helping young entrepreneurs learn more about opportunities within the digital economy and peer-to-peer finance.