Nigeria and Cryptocurrency platform Binance are in talks to create a digital economic zone that will support blockchain technology adoption in the country.
Binance has reportedly been venturing into several markets including opening offices in multiple localities as well as assisting governments in making progress in the crypto and blockchain industries.
The partnership aims to build a digital hub in Nigeria similar to the Dubai virtual free zone according to a statement by the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority.
The new digital economic zone will also help entrepreneurs shift into blockchain technology .
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, is targeting digital technology as a means to help diversify the economy away from crude oil, taking advantage of an increasingly connected and youthful population.
The government of Nigeria this year enacted regulations for trade in digital assets while Nigeria Exchange Ltd. plans to start a blockchain-enabled platform next year to deepen trade at the bourse.
Nigeria’s citizens showed more interest in cryptocurrencies than any other country since the digital assets began to decline in April, according to CoinGecko.
Nigeria has been reacting quite positively towards cryptocurrencies in general. This includes the adopting Bitcoin and fintech and majorly in the digital space. The country already boosts as one of the crypto markets with the fastest growth, its peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading volume exceeded $1 billion between January 2022 and June 2022.
Data from Paxful, a P2P cryptocurrency exchange platform, showed that Nigeria was among Paxful’s most important markets globally when the country’s trade volume in the first half of 2022 ($400 million) was added to that of 2021 ($760 million).
