Lagos (AFP)

When 27-year-old Nigerian Chigoziri Okeke bought his first bitcoins in 2016, it was to make a simple online payment.

Five years later, he has the equivalent of $ 50,000 in cryptocurrency.

"After my first purchase, the price of bitcoin climbed to around $ 400-500 per unit," he told AFP.

"And I was told that before, it was worth a dollar. It motivated me to invest a small part of my salary in cryptocurrency."

Today strangled by the economic crisis due to Covid-19, more and more Nigerians are investing in virtual currencies, hoisting Africa's first economy among the world leaders of bitcoin users.

More than $ 400 million was exchanged for cryptocurrencies in Nigeria in 2020, making the West African giant of 200 million people the third largest user of virtual currencies in the world after the United States and Russia, according to a study by the firm specialized research team Statista.

"It's not surprising," said Andrew Nevin, economist and country director of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"The naira is a very unstable currency", he continues, referring to the regular devaluations of the national currency which loses its value with each oil crisis, which represents 90% of its inflows in foreign currencies.

- Shortages of dollars -

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), strangled by shortages of dollars in state coffers, regularly blocks payments abroad, preventing Nigerians from shopping online or paying for their studies at universities in the whole world.

While the naira continues to fall and inflation gallops, bitcoin continues to climb: + 90% since the start of the year.

In Nigeria, in addition to being financially interesting, bitcoin is particularly attractive to young people, who used it in particular during the major demonstrations against police violence last October, to organize the revolt and raise funds.

The under 30s are half of Nigeria's population and constitute a huge pool of potential users.

"Nigerians are generally far ahead of everything technology, and young people are ready to adopt alternative payment and investment methods, especially in a context where there are many obstacles to entrepreneurship", Charlie Robertson, economist for Renaissance Capital, explains to AFP.

Adekunle Ahmed, a student at the University of Lagos, did not have a job, like a third of the Nigerian workforce, when he converted to a cryptocurrency trader in 2019.

To finance his studies, he set up a small business of market operators.

He employs two brokers specializing in virtual investment and hopes to expand his activities into real estate investment.

“As an entrepreneur, you have to know how to diversify your activities. I want to create jobs and I already have the capital to do so,” says the young man.

- "Anonymous and invisible" -

The CBN regularly warns users of bitcoins of its volatility, it has frozen accounts stocked with bitcoins, accused of financing floods of illicit money, online scams or money laundering in this country plagued by corruption .

She recently banned all local banks from trading in virtual currencies, causing an outcry from her youth.

But nothing helps.

Everything passes through the cracks of "real world" controls, but "cryptocurrencies are essentially speculative, anonymous and invisible," the CBN concluded.

"The authorities should see virtual currencies as a solution to the dollar shortage, not a threat," said Olusola Amusan, a Nigerian researcher for the development of artificial intelligence based in Dallas.

"Countries should create a legal framework for cryptocurrencies and train young people to trade in these currencies," he adds.

While the easiest-to-use platforms operate like traditional banks, with centralized data on which the State can act, the bitcoin network is based on a decentralized structure: users interact with each other and the transaction is verified by the whole. network and not a state-regulated bank.

Platforms therefore simply offer to connect interested buyers and sellers, without having to collect personal data that would allow the State to control transactions.

The constant evolution of these innovations could convince more and more Nigerians to turn to these currencies, especially if the country sinks further into the economic crisis.

"Humans will always find a way to get around the regulations," smiles Olusola Amusan.

© 2021 AFP