2nd Africa Bitcoin Conference ends in Accra

THE second edition of the Africa Bitcoin Conference that seeks to educate people on Bitcoin and get Africans to embrace its use for economic transformation on the continent has ended in Accra.

Organised by the Africa Bitcoin Community (ABC), the conference brought together over 500 participants from African countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, Nairobi, among others to discuss the potentials of bitcoin in helping achieve financial freedom on the continent.

In an interview with some selected media, the Convener of ABC, Farida Nabourema, said the objective of the conference was to gain an understanding of how Bitcoin was impacting the continent and devise ways to increase its adoption.

She explained that despite the increasing adoption of bitcoin, its awareness level is still low.

“She said Bitcoin was a form of technology that opened doors to an imaginable level of innovation in many sectors such as healthcare, education, legislation, record keeping and the financial system. 

So that technology at the core of it we have developers that are improving as they have increased security and privacy and this has seen the way transactions are performed across the world, the way information is thought and possibly the way knowledge is shared across the world,” she said.

According to her, Bitcoin as a crypto currency had become the fastest leading currency on the continent now due to its accessibility and convenience and had accumulated over 200,000 per cent growth rate in the past 10 years.

“Though, the growth rate will slow down at some point, due to the volume of people mining on it, it will increase tremendously in value, continue growing at a very steady rate and you’ll see less volatility,” she added.

The crypto market is witnessing its best performance since April 2022, with Bitcoin crossing the $41,000 mark.

According to experts, the growing confidence in the crypto market is driven by expectations of the US Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in 2024 and the eventual approval of a Bitcoin ETF, which could boost the price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency.

The digital asset has skyrocketed this year, rising nearly 150 per cent, with expectations growing that US regulators will allow the creation of ETFs.

Bitcoin’s $41k surge has the potential to significantly influence funding for African startups, with a range of effects contingent on various factors and the broader economic context.