List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Africa

Bitcoin adoption in South Africa

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• published: 11 Oct 2016
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South Africa is known as the Rainbow Nation, 11 official languages and many different cultures. A magnificent country and birthplace of Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist, who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. South Africa is the largest economy in Africa having just leapfrogged Nigeria who have just moved into recession. The country is rich in natural resources and is a leading producer of platinum, gold, chromium and iron. From 2002 to 2008, South Africa grew at an average of 4.5 percent year-on-year, its fastest expansion since the establishment of democracy in 1994. In recent years, successive governments have failed to address structural problems such as the widening gap between rich and poor, low-skilled labour force, high unemployment rate, deteriorating infrastructure, high corruption and crime rates. Since the recession in 2008, South Africa growth has been sluggish and below African average. The South African economy advanced an annualized 3.3 percent on quarter in the three months to June of 2016. Inflation is above targets set by the Reserve Bank and confidence is low. Political and financial turmoil is rocking South Africa and Finance Minister Pravin Gordham, was issued a summons on fraud charges - 11 Oct 2016 – Rand plunge 3% within minutes of the breaking news. Governing Party ANC loses Metro’s to opposition DA in recent elections; Unrest at Universities and Junk status in December looming which could spell hard times for South Africans. With regards to the digital economy there is a growing cryptocurrency market and active Bitcoin trading. Main stream media reporting by Carte Blanche, News24, Finance24 plus others regularly. Active networking groups offering Network marketing contracts and gifting schemes. Bitcoin mining, besides the difficulty level, electricity is expensive however, small scale mining evident - mostly mining alt coins to sell in exchange for bitcoin. Internet user base in excess of 34% - over 60% of internet traffic generated on the African continent originates from SA. Most advanced telecommunications infrastructure in Africa, which has contributed to the largest 3G and 4G coverage (94% and 34% respectively). Cellphone and Data costs remain high. High profile South Africans on the move - Vinny Lingham – recently launched Civic which has a huge task in combating identity fraud in the USA. Exciting business indeed as identity theft is extremely high world wide. Llew Claasen was appointed executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation in 2016. Upcoming event - Blockchain Conference 1 – 3 March 2017 - Johannesburg. Book your ticket here http://blockchainafrica.co/ There are a few established exchanges and over the counter platforms in operation - Local Bitcoins which is an OTC Platform connecting Buyers and sellers and in February and March of 2016 – over R17 Million rand weekly was traded on the platform (Roughly 18% of all trading volume on Localbitcoins WORLDWIDE). There are very active independent traders in South Africa with unaccounted for volume distributed peer to peer without going through a platform or exchange. Altcointrader is also a buying and selling exchange dealing in alternative coins as well as bitcoin. BitX is a Singapore based global platform with offices in Cape Town and founded in 2013 - they also have offices in other African countries. So what are our assumptions - South Africans are open and eager to learn more about Bitcoin and the world’s new digital economy. It is incumbent on every Bitcoin Believer to spread the word on the power of bitcoin. Bitcoin education and guidance is needed to help eradicate poverty in South Africa. We suggest South Africans diversity their Investment portfolio with Bitcoin to benefit from the devaluation of the Rand and increase in value of Bitcoin. If a person had purchased bitcoin in June 2015 and just held on to their bitcoin, it would have grown in value by 322% by June 2016! No other currency or asset is out performing Bitcoin. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for a free bitcoin education and connect with us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bitmediacommunity/ If you are interested in knowing about bitcoin adoption in other countries, check to see which ones we have covered on our YouTube Channel. Tell us which country you want next!