At a recently held web3 event in Lagos, Nigeria, Ethereum’s cofounder Vitalik Buterin was asked about his projections for blockchain products coming out of Africa. Buterin paused, scratched his chin for a few seconds, and in what seemed like an eureka moment, said, “Wallets!” Wallets significantly affect the way people experience blockchain technology—and in climes like Africa, where access to digital ecosystems remains mobile-first and driven by user experience, wallets that will gain continent-wide adoption have their work cut out for them; they must be mobile-driven and designed to offer users a seamless experience. Perhaps, that explains why Trust Wallet is one of the most used wallet products in Africa, despite not having a marketing budget for the region. NODO spoke with the CEO of the global wallet product, Eowyn Chen, who believes that Africa is a crypto hotbed everyone should be bullish on.

“I was in Nairobi sometime this year, and would like to come to Lagos sometime soon,” Chen said enthusiastically on a call with me. I could tell, immediately, that these countries were not random names on Chen’s travel wishlist, but strategic locations in Africa where crypto adoption continues to witness steep adoption—and where, also, Trust Wallet-esque products could gain the most market traction.

Kenya, for example, recently found itself at the centre of Worldcoin’s global attempt to issue digital IDs. Founders of the crypto-linked project told BBC that Kenya’s over four million crypto-native population drove the decision to set up shop in the East African country. Also, Nigeria's prominent position on the global crypto adoption index solidifies its status as a crucial market for any international player looking to expand across Africa. “Nigeria consistently ranks top five in terms of our global usage. A lot of folks seem to really like us here,” Chen revealed.

Wallets: a financial inclusion strategy

Africa’s financial inclusion challenges have become repetitious across technology and business media. Half the continent remains unbanked, and for women, the statistics are worse. However, over the past decade, the concept of financial inclusion has been carved into a creed that many governments and private players have sought to align with. For many businesses, creating opportunities to bank the unbanked through their mobile devices is how to create a win-win solution, For some, like the over 90% of Kenyans using M-PESA, it has worked; but in several other African climes, not so much.

Chen believes that Trust Wallet has the potential to contribute to the financial inclusion gospel in Africa. According to her, wallets’ ability to bypass centralised institutions confers a unique advantage that connects more Africans to the global financial markets. “[Financial inclusion] is the vision we all in this space want,” she said. “That’s why we talk about being your own bank, practising self-custody, and accessing a financial infrastructure that wouldn't get abused by a centralised entity.”

Interpreting Chen’s vision in an African reality will look like this: traders across hyper-local markets, where traditional banks are notoriously absent, download Trust Wallet’s product and exchange value in any preferred digital currency. No cash, no bank, no intermediary. But how well this will fly in African settings will depend largely on the continent’s mobile and internet penetration, both of which, ironically, can be described as either increasing or low, depending on the narrative being spun.

NODO can independently verify that already, stablecoins including USDT represent an overwhelming proportion of how Africans interact with crypto, based on indirect data from Trust Wallet’s community. Carving this into Chen’s wallet-driven inclusion narrative will mean that even the most financially excluded Africans can leverage stablecoins for day-to-day transactions. “We’ve made our product so intuitive and basic for everyone, including Africans at all levels, to navigate easily,” said Chen, describing how her firm’s easy-to-use product is a strong value proposition for the African community. “As an added advantage, Africans can have their monies stored as inflation-resistant digital assets.”

Bullish on Africa

As Liza Toyin, the communications and marketing lead of Nestcoin, a pan-African web3 investment/holding company, shared her crypto story at the last Web3 Lagos Conference, one thing stood out for many folks present: crypto speculation is, for many Africans, the centrepiece of onboarding into the crypto space. Chen calls this the speculative state of a crypto native’s journey in the web3 world, and admits that she’s had her fair share of crypto speculation. “But as it is with games, eventually, you level up. You move from just getting financial gains through speculative trading to wanting to really understand the intrinsic value of tokens. That’s when you begin to trust yourself to hold assets through a self-custody app like Trust Wallet.”

Chen is betting that more and more Africans will graduate in their understanding and appreciation of crypto and web3 technologies, enough to look past coin speculation and price volatility. This, to her, is what the maturity of an African web3 ecosystem typifies. “More people will become comfortable with self-custody and handling their coin security by safeguarding their wallet keys. Responsibility has a way of making people take things more seriously; that’s how it worked for me,” she said.

Speaking to the market opportunities that she sees in Africa’s web3 ecosystem, Chen described the huge potential that tokenising real-life assets can offer. “How can we make real estate more liquid in Africa by tokenising huge properties around the world? That’s a big play for blockchain utility in Africa, added to the utility of cross-border payments,” she said.

In truth, the tokenisation of assets continues to hold significant promise for Africans, as it fundamentally reduces the barrier to entry for retail investors and project-specific enthusiasts. Nelson Elemi, whose startup, TrendX, uses blockchain tech to tokenise tangible and intangible assets, concurred with Chen’s perspective. ‘‘Tokenisation will be the next big offshoot of Africa’s web3 ecosystem,” he said in a chat with NODO.

Crypto vs. African governments

The vast majority of Africans using crypto know well enough that it comes with potential risks, which may include faceoffs with government agencies or a sudden blockage of bank accounts, courtesy of regional central banks. Such was the experience for Bola Fikayo, 22, who woke up to a blocked account in 2021, following an anti-crypto order by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). A trip to rectify the issue at the bank ended with Fikayo's arrest by the police, with no evidence of criminal activities tabled.

Nigeria’s new administration may have promised to respond better to crypto and blockchain adoption, but the ecosystem is not in a hurry to believe promises now, especially as crypto largely remains outlawed in the country, just as it is in about 39 other African countries.

Cryptocurrency Regulations in Africa, Blockchain Africa Report, 2022

Meanwhile, Chen asserts that clampdown activity by any government remains limited against decentralised products like Trust Wallet. “Much of the regulatory activity around crypto is fear-driven, as governments tend to be more risk-averse than opportunity-seeking. But it should not be so. If we were to play any part in this whole political thing, we’d educate and influence the government entities and leaders who are reasonably optimistic and are truly thinking for their country's benefits and the future,” she said.

Since its 2018 acquisition by Binance, Trust Wallet has continued to grow its presence in Africa, following the steps of its parent company to introduce blockchain education programs, fiat to crypto on-ramp service (through MoonPay), and blockchain proselytisation programs (through Trust Squad). “Binance took away our immediate need to make profits and set us up for global impact, which is exactly what we’re doing in Africa,” Chen said, proudly.