ACR#17: The Holy Grail

Mar 27, 2023

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What’s the news?

MetaMask is partnering with a notable web3 infrastructure firm, MoonPay, to enable Nigerian users instantly buy crypto assets through bank transfers within the MetaMask mobile app and the Portfolio Dapp.

“Nigeria is among MetaMask’s top markets globally, ranking third in mobile active users. It is also among the top ten countries regarding visitors to metamask.io over the last month,” according to the press release.

What does this mean?

The main story here isn’t Metamask supposedly “making it easy” for Nigerians to buy cryptocurrencies through bank transfer.

The news was sold as a great thing for Nigerians, but after using it I realised it’s simply a peer-to-peer (p2p) on-ramp that every crypto exchange already supports in the country with an unnecessarily higher foreign exchange rate and transaction fees than others. The p2p exchange is actually powered by an African crypto exchange, Yellowcard, who already provides an easy on-ramp and off-ramp fiat to crypto on the continent including Nigeria.

It could be a great addition to the MetaMask suite of features, but I don’t see the advantage ahead of the existing alternatives in the market for an average user.

Now, to the part I think is more interesting.

MetaMask is arguably the most used crypto tool with over 30 million monthly active users. In a user report from 2021, Nigeria didn’t feature in the top 15 monthly active users on MetaMask, fast forward a year and the country is one of the biggest geographies on Metamask.

That’s not surprising and surprising at the same time!

Surprising because the application is difficult to use and set up. I once spent over 2 hours on a zoom call trying to help people set up MetaMask on their mobile phones and helping them understand how to protect their seed phase and other security measures. I didn’t think so many people (potentially millions) could be willing to go through all that stress to get into the crypto space and use it constantly.

Not surprising because I used to train lots of people in Nigeria just a year ago on how to set up a Metamask and use certain applications, including older men and women in their 50s and 60s. A lot of those people wanted to use yield generation platforms to save in USD stablecoins to protect their money from inflation and also to make money from NFTs. MetaMask was the most popular tool to access those services.

If MetaMask, a foreign product that wasn’t that easy to use, could generate that much adoption, there’s definitely a huge opportunity for products that make the onboarding experience way better and seamlessly connect with the popular platforms & services people already want to use in the country.

What else?

E-naira Usage Soars in Nigeria on Cash Shortages

Nigeria’s CBDC, eNaira, is finally showing a sign of life nearly two years after its launch. Since Nigerians are now faced with no other payment option due to the cash crunch currently ravaging the country, they are embracing the earlier ‘cast away’ eNaira. This is reflected in a reported surge in the number of transactions executed and wallets opened.

DCG-owed crypto exchange Luno replaces CEO and seeks outside investment after layoffs

The CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Luno, which operates in Africa, is stepping aside and handing the reins to its head of operations, the company announced Wednesday. It comes as Luno's parent company, crypto-focused venture capital firm Digital Currency Group, continues to reel from turmoil in the crypto market.

Pan-African Bank, ABSA, Set to Join Contour Blockchain Network to Enable a Digitized End-to-End Letter of Credit Solution Across Africa

Contour Blockchain Network has announced that Pan-African ABSA Corporate and Investment Bank (Absa CIB) is finalizing negotiations to join the network.

Product of the week

Busha Spend

Busha is an African crypto exchange. Apart from its simple and easy-to-use interface, another feature that sets the native exchange aside is its Spend function where users can spend cryptocurrency directly from their wallet. With the feature, they can buy airtime, data and shopping vouchers, and earn instant cash-back rewards on all transactions.

Personality spotlight

Emmanuel Ebanehita

Emmanuel Ebanehita is a marketing, PR and sales strategist. He works with the largest crypto exchange, Binance, as the West African marketing director. He’s been instrumental in driving crypto adoption through Binance in Africa, driving growth through strategic campaigns per region.