Binance's CZ reveals his thoughts on crypto in Africa

Africa has long been one of the most difficult regions to live in the entire world. Its harsh climate, poverty, the lack of food od clean water, as well as many other issues made it difficult to survive, let alone prosper. However, Africa also suffered because its people were mostly underbanked, or even completely unbanked. With no great opportunities to make a profit, the banks simply do not bother with it.

This made a perfect opening for the crypto industry to provide an alternative, and finally offer better living conditions by allowing people to earn digital money. And this is why some of the greatest names in the crypto industry are setting their sights on the continent, noticing opportunities where no one else did.

Binance CEO sees potential in African countries

The latest example of this is Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the CEO of crypto exchange Binance. He recently spoke about it during his latest AMA session on Zoom. Zhao has had his sights on Africa for quite some time now, and his crypto exchange is already opening up its new satellite trading platform in numerous African countries. Some examples include Uganda, where Binance expanded to back in 2018. Other examples include Nigeria, as well as South Africa.

Zhao said that Binance had users from Africa from the early days, and that they were quite active. This was a clear sign that Africa needs a reliable crypto exchange, and that it represents an untapped market.

Zhao even went on a tour, visiting Uganda, Togo, Nigeria, and Ethiopia in early 2018, when he tried to learn more about the market, its potentials, as well as what it needs. Over the next two years, Binance branched out all over Africa. Along the way, it also used its charity arm to help the countries, and its incubation service to help its startups.

The world’s interest in Africa grows

Many others have noted the same, stressing that Africa is ripe for technological innovations. Twitter’s own CEO, Jack Dorsey, sees huge potential in Africa. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak and a controversial attempt to remove him from the position of CEO, he even planned to move there.

Akon also did a lot with his project, Akoin, to try and help Africa and its citizens, even developing plans to launch entire smart cities. As for Binance, it already launched its fiat-to-crypto exchanges in countries around the world. However, there is still room for growth. Meanwhile, even though South Africa has a few successful crypto exchanges, the rest of the continent could certainly benefit from a new exchange, but also other services, like Binance’s Bundle.