Here’s How Bitcoin Cash Can Support Nigerians As Shortages In Paper Cash Intensify
Bitcoin Cash: A Viable Alternative To Naira
Nigerians are currently facing severe financial difficulties, as the central bank enforced capital controls of 100,000 Naira (~$200) weekly for ATM withdrawals.
Transacting with cash is the prevalent payment method in Nigeria, and the Central Bank announced new banknotes in circulation and the removal of circulation of older banknotes that were easy to counterfeit.
Yet, the Central bank and the commercial bank sector failed to provide adequate access to the new banknotes, and an absence of cash was spotted.
Riots erupted as people queued up at ATMs waiting for hours to withdraw the weekly limit, as the banks run out of new paper cash.
Within yet another failure of legacy finance, fiat currency is once again proving that trust as a pillar to support a currency is a liability.
Here’s where Bitcoin Cash presents an alternative that offers an example of how P2P Electronic Cash can support an economy.
How Bitcoin Cash Can Assist Nigerians
BBC Africa explains the terrible conditions Nigerians are facing:
All you need is a $50 mobile wallet and an internet connection to be your own bank.
Bitcoin Cash is not controlled by anyone. The network does not ask for KYC, will not cancel your money, and will not freeze your account.
Bitcoin Cash is available 24/7 with instant transactions and fees lower than a penny.
A fixed supply electronic money system with 21 million coins as fixed supply. Designed scarcity that sustains the value of Bitcoin Cash in the long term. Yet, for a cryptocurrency to act as money scalability matters, and Bitcoin Cash solves this issue too.
Low transaction fees of Bitcoin Cash and instant transactions focus on the use case of cryptocurrency in commerce.
Merchants and consumers have this alternative available.
I believe people are still allowed to purchase cryptocurrency in Nigeria, and perhaps it would be prudent to consider having Bitcoin Cash at least as a backup, as a safety when things start getting ugly.
While Bitcoin (BTC) today is considered similar to a savings account even by maximalists, Bitcoin Cash (the version of Bitcoin that works) followed the whitepaper and presented a realistic alternative to “trusted” fiat currency.
Nigerians tried Bitcoin (BTC) massively in the past, but the high fees that often reach $50 make it impossible to use BTC as cash.
The Lightning Network, a layer-2 solution, depends on custodial wallets and carries the scalability limitations of the main chain.
The vulnerability of fiat money is trust. Trusted third parties were always going to dominate the Lightning Network. This is also the message Bitcoin Cash tried to promote in 2015 within the united then Bitcoin community, but censorship prevailed, leading to the 2017 hard fork.
You need money as far as possible from control and manipulation. But you also need money you can afford to use.
Bitcoin Cash fixes this with fees lower than a penny.
You can’t wait for minutes for your transaction to go through. It has to be valid instantly.
Bitcoin Cash fixes this with 0-conf, no RBF, and other developments.
The Bitcoin Cash blockchain scales and is being tested to scale for mass adoption. The community is united in promoting a P2P economy, and developments are constant.
In May 2023, Bitcoin Cash will upgrade and herald a new era, a permissionless P2P economy with CashTokens.
Eliminating trust reduces cost and time demands for consumers and merchants. Bitcoin Cash achieves instant transactions with 0-conf.
Map of Bitcoin Cash merchant adoption in Nigeria:
Nigerians understand money better than westerners.
The financial hardships put the brain to work. What it takes for a 21 million fixed supply currency to work is using it.
Today we can find 50 locations to spend their Bitcoin Cash in Nigeria.
As adoption and usage rise, so will the price of Bitcoin Cash, increasing the purchasing power of its users.
Inflation and hyperinflation terms are invalid in a BCH-driven economy.
The message is clear: Spend and Replace and form an economy using Bitcoin Cash for daily consumption needs and savings.
The velocity of money with strict inflation and supply creates stability and increases the value of your money.
You can become your own bank by controlling the keys to your wallet. The Central Banks have damaged money for too long.
The decentralized crowdfunding campaign of Bitcoin Cash Nigeria was successful (137BCH, ~ $16,000). There’s a lot of room for growth in Nigeria, and hopefully, the group will achieve its targets.
The moment Bitcoin Cash will have 5,000 merchants and 50,000 daily users accepting and using it for payments in an economy like Nigeria, we will be talking about a collective powerful enough to make demands and suggest changes from a different position.
Closing Thoughts
A country of 210 million people needs automation, infrastructure, and money that works. The state manipulation of the Naira and corruption related to monetary policies caused enough problems in commerce and devastated the Nigerian economy.
Bitcoin Cash is a viable alternative to severely manipulated fiat currencies. $BCH — Bitcoin Cash is a beacon of hope for all of Africa and billions of people living in fear of not being able one day to use their hard-earned cash to buy their groceries.
What may seem stable today can easily collapse within a few months following a global financial incident similar to 2008 and 2020.
Related Links: Links to the organized Bitcoin Cash community in Nigeria:
Nurain is always active and ready to support anyone interested in learning more or taking part in Bitcoin Cash adoption in Nigeria. Also, bch.ng has a form accepting suggestions and partnerships.
- Cover on Pixabay
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Platforms:
● read.cash ● noise.cash ● noise.app ● Medium ● Hive ● Steemit ●Vocal ● Minds ● Publish0x ● Twitter ● CashRain
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