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Binance to launch Africa crypto awareness tour as adoption ramps up

With a 1,200% increase in received crypto volume between 2020 and 2021, the accelerated adoption of digital assets in Africa has captured the attention of multiple companies and organizations looking to take part in this growing market.

Set to take place in June, the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Awareness Tour (BCAT) is a Binance-powered ongoing awareness campaign that has been spreading knowledge and trying to cultivate a strong crypto community in Africa. By reaching out to university students, mostly in southeast Nigeria, the campaign hopes to increase crypto adoption among Nigerian youth, the predominant age group in the country.

The main event will take place on June 4 at the Amadeo Event Centre in Enugu, Nigeria. Other stops on the tour include Uganda, Ghana and Cameroon.

Binance launched the BCAT tour in 2019 and claims to have reached over 60,000 Nigerians. This year’s event focuses heavily on concepts related to play-to-earn, the Metaverse and nonfungible tokens.

Despite being the smallest crypto economy in the world in terms of market penetration, Africa is adopting digital assets at a faster clip as locals look for alternatives to weak financial infrastructure and a lack of payment onramps. Remittances, peer-to-peer payments and savings have emerged as major adoption drivers for local residents, according to data from Chainalysis. Similar to Argentina, many people in Africa see Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies as an escape from government policies and inflation.

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BCAT Africa 2022 is also looking to fulfill the need for a common crypto conversation space, especially in a place where most central banks have either forbidden or strictly regulated cryptocurrencies, which drove many Africans to peer-to-peer systems, which have grown in popularity.