There is a popular saying that says that amid the crisis all kinds of solutions arise to solve the needs, we have seen this in many countries where inflation, bad economy, war, or political crises, have made them take measures to protect themselves economically. And the measure that is booming at the moment is to take refuge in cryptocurrencies.
Nigeria is the perfect example of surviving the crisis with cryptocurrencies, is one of the first countries in the world to use cryptocurrencies in their daily economy, so much was the use that the local currency the Naira was devalued by leaps and bounds, so the government launched its own CBDC the eNAIRA, with which they intend to boost the country's economy. But so far the use of cryptocurrencies to escape from a failed economic system has not stopped.
But in Africa, other countries are going through serious economic problems and are also seeing cryptocurrencies as a viable solution to their problem, for example, Zimbabwe is one of the countries with the worst inflation in the last decade if we remember the images that circulated on the internet of Zimbabwe banknotes that looked like a monopoly and where the entire population was multimillionaire but in fiction.
The citizens of Zimbabwe, seeing that the government's measures had no effect in curbing the explosive inflation, decided to seek refuge in other stronger currencies such as yuan, African rands, rupees, euros, US dollars, pounds, and any other currency, but as the global crisis affects all fiat economies and makes these currencies also see a weakening effect. Zimbabweans have embraced cryptocurrencies to such a great extent that the government is beginning to take seriously the decision to adopt bitcoin as legal tender which in addition to easing the inflationary crisis is also expected to help the country's economic growth.
Charles Wekwete, permanent secretary and head of the office of the president and the cabinet's e-government technology unit, confirmed that these measures are already being discussed with the country's businesses. And although these measures are still at the consultation stage, they have been well received by the population. However, the Zimbabwean government has accepted the digital economy framework as part of the National Development Strategy 1, which is a measure to boost the digital economy in a joint government and business effort.
As crypto adoption on the African continent expands at a rapid pace, in the last year Africa's cryptocurrency market has grown $105.6 billion and is one of the fastest-growing emerging continents. This is mainly because for so many years the infrastructure has made financial services less accessible, but with the cryptocurrency sector, it is much easier as it only requires an internet connection and a smartphone.
The fact that Africa is taking full advantage of decentralized technology shows that it could be the first continent to fully embrace cryptocurrencies, which would give it a full global boost. So it is very likely that in the next few years we will see more countries like Zimbabwe that could be in the same situation could follow in their footsteps and become sovereign crypto nations with bitcoin or another currency as legal tender.