FX.co ★ How are things with cryptocurrencies in Africa?

Despite yesterday's sharp collapse of ether and bitcoin to the monthly lows recorded earlier this week, traders quickly bought them out, allowing us to count on building a larger upward correction. But before we talk about the technical levels and the trading plan, I want to tell you that the cryptocurrency industry continues to develop by leaps and bounds. Yesterday I talked about how cryptocurrencies are actively in demand in Afghanistan, and now it's time for Africa.

The Triple A study indicates about 53 million cryptocurrency owners on the African continent — 16.5% of the global total. The study results demonstrate that Nigeria, with more than 22 million owners of cryptocurrencies, currently accounts for more than a third of the total number of owners. Nigeria ranks fourth in terms of the number of cryptocurrency owners. Meanwhile, the United States ranks first with 46 million cryptocurrency holders. India and Pakistan are the next countries, with 27.4 million and 26.4 million crypto owners, respectively.

Although Nigeria ranks fourth in cryptocurrency ownership, the country is considered a world leader when it comes to people who are starting to get interested in cryptocurrencies and search for the keywords "bitcoin" and "crypto" on Google. Triple A data also shows that South Africa is the African country with the next largest number of cryptocurrency holders, at 7.7 million people. This figure is almost 12.5% of the population. Kenya ranks third in the number of cryptocurrency owners in Africa: 6.1 million, or 11.6% of the country's population. Egypt and Tanzania complete the top five countries in Africa with the largest number of cryptocurrency owners, with 2.37 million and 2.32 million holders, respectively.

Most recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria announced that it is reducing transaction fees for the e-naira platform by 50% — a move that the bank claims will increase the volume of transactions on the Central Bank's Digital Currency platform (CBDC). The regulator also believes that the wider introduction of CBDC will increase the volume of international trade in Nigeria. In addition, the report states that Nigerian companies that have signed an e-naira trading contract have the opportunity to increase the volume of their respective e-commerce transactions by 50%.

As for today's technical picture of bitcoin, buyers managed to return to the $20,000 level yesterday and are now seriously aiming for further recovery to the $20,540 area. Considering what a bull market we are currently seeing, especially after the pleasant prices after the recent correction, demand will likely only increase. The bulls' focus is now on the near-term support of $20,540. In the case of a breakout in this area, you can see a spurt up to $21,140. To build a larger upward trend, you must break above the $21,840 and $22,520 resistances. If the pressure on bitcoin returns, it is obvious that the bulls will try to protect the support of $20,007. Its breakdown will quickly push the trading instrument back to $19,520 and pave the way for an update of the $19,100 level.

Ether also shot up very strongly after another attempt by bears to take over the market. The immediate target of buyers in the current conditions is the resistance of $ 1,605, which is impossible to get above for two days in a row. Its breakdown will lead to a change in the market direction to an upward one, which will open up the possibility of updating longer-range targets - $1,667 and $1,743. When the pressure on the trading instrument returns, buyers need to position themselves around $ 1,530 again, since only this will allow them to keep the market under their control. A break in this area will push the ether back to $1,476 and $1,418.