IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/114710.html

Decentralised finance and cryptocurrency activity in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Ozili, Peterson K

Abstract

This paper presents a discussion of decentralized finance in Africa. It presents some statistics and data on decentralized finance in Africa. Thereafter, the potential benefits, challenges and regulatory issues associated with decentralized finance in Africa are discussed. Recently, there has been an increase in the use of cryptocurrency, decentralized finance applications (dApps) and decentralized financial services (DeFi) in several countries. These innovations facilitate the delivery of financial services using smart contracts. Decentralized finance (DeFi) encompasses all financial services that are built on public blockchains, based on open protocols and removes intermediaries from the financial intermediation process. There is significant cryptocurrency activity in Africa while decentralized finance (DeFi) is relatively new and unpopular in the African continent. There is low interest in decentralized finance in Africa. The benefit of DeFi to African countries include increased liquidity for small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), new opportunities to raise additional capital to fund capital-intensive activities, it will usher in an era of smart contracts that are negotiated bilaterally without needing an intermediary, it will encourage peer-to-peer trade between economic agents in several African countries, it will enhance the efficiency of the Pan-African Payment Settlement System (PAPSS), and encourage more trade between individuals and corporations under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), amongst others.

Suggested Citation

  • Ozili, Peterson K, 2022. "Decentralised finance and cryptocurrency activity in Africa," MPRA Paper 114710, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:114710
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/114710/1/MPRA_paper_114710.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peterson K. Ozili, 2018. "Impact of digital finance on financial inclusion and stability," Borsa Istanbul Review, Research and Business Development Department, Borsa Istanbul, vol. 18(4), pages 329-340, December.
    2. Chen, Yan & Bellavitis, Cristiano, 2020. "Blockchain disruption and decentralized finance: The rise of decentralized business models," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 13(C).
    3. Ozili, Peterson Kitakogelu, 2018. "Impact of Digital Finance on Financial Inclusion and Stability," MPRA Paper 84771, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Petar Radanliev, 2024. "The rise and fall of cryptocurrencies: defining the economic and social values of blockchain technologies, assessing the opportunities, and defining the financial and cybersecurity risks of the Metaverse," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 1-34, December.
    2. Ghaemi Asl, Mahdi & Ben Jabeur, Sami, 2024. "Tail connectedness of DeFi and CeFi with accessible banking pillars: Unveiling novel insights through wavelet and quantile cross-spectral coherence analyses," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PB).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sujeeth Ungratwar & Dipasha Sharma & Satish Kumar, 2025. "Mapping the digital banking landscape: a multi-dimensional exploration of fintech, digital payments, and e-wallets, with insights into current scenarios and future research," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-22, December.
    2. Sunghun Chung & Keongtae Kim & Chul Ho Lee & Wonseok Oh, 2023. "Interdependence between online peer‐to‐peer lending and cryptocurrency markets and its effects on financial inclusion," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(6), pages 1939-1957, June.
    3. Carè, Rosella & Boitan, Iustina Alina & Stoian, Andreea Maria & Fatima, Rabia, 2025. "Exploring the landscape of financial inclusion through the lens of financial technologies: A review," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    4. Abayomi Muiz Tairu & Alabi Oluwatosin Junior & Temitope Emmanuel Akindele & Sanusi Akeem, 2025. "The Role of Blockchain-Based Smart Contracts in Enhancing Financial Transparency and Efficiency in the Emerging Market," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science (IJRIAS), vol. 10(9), pages 509-524, October.
    5. Driss Omerani & Aicha Hssaine, 2025. "Évolution de la Fintech : une analyse bibliométrique de la base de données Scopus (2015-2025)," Post-Print hal-05441212, HAL.
    6. Vuković, Darko B. & Hassan, M. Kabir & Kwakye, Bernard & Febtinugraini, Armike & Shakib, Mohammed, 2024. "Does fintech matter for financial inclusion and financial stability in BRICS markets?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    7. Rabab Ali Abumalloh & Mehrbakhsh Nilashi & Keng Boon Ooi & Garry Wei-Han & Tat-Huei Cham & Yogesh K. Dwivedi & Laurie Hughes, 2024. "The adoption of metaverse in the retail industry and its impact on sustainable competitive advantage: moderating impact of sustainability commitment," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 342(1), pages 5-46, November.
    8. Dongjing Chen & Xiaotong Guo, 2023. "Impact of the Digital Economy and Financial Development on Residents’ Consumption Upgrading: Evidence from Mainland China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-25, May.
    9. Osakwe, Christian Nedu & Ogunmokun, Oluwatobi A. & Elgammal, Islam & Kwarteng, Michael Adu, 2025. "Individuals' attitudes and their adoption intentions of central bank digital currency: Combining theories and analytics for deeper insights," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    10. Rishika Khetan & Varda Sardana & Shubham Singhania & Jagvinder Singh, 2025. "Financial stability through a global perspective: an in-depth integrative review," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 16(8), pages 2912-2929, August.
    11. Ruixin Su & Tong Zheng & Yuzhao Zhong & Weizhou Zhong, 2023. "Role of Digital Inclusive Finance for High-Quality Business Development: A Study of China’s “Five Development Concept” Policy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-21, August.
    12. Cristina Chueca Vergara & Luis Ferruz Agudo, 2021. "Fintech and Sustainability: Do They Affect Each Other?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-19, June.
    13. Guillaume Edou Tchidi & Wei Zhang, 2025. "Mediating effect of financial inclusion on FinTech innovations and economic development in West Africa: Evidence from the Benin Republic," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 1032-1048, April.
    14. Song, Quanyun & Li, Jie & Wu, Yu & Yin, Zhichao, 2020. "Accessibility of financial services and household consumption in China: Evidence from micro data," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    15. Liuwu Chen & Guimei Zhang, 2024. "Research on the impact of digital financial inclusion and environmental regulation on industrial structure upgrading-based on spatial Durbin model analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(11), pages 1-26, November.
    16. Wang, Yi-Ran & Ma, Chao-Qun & Ren, Yi-Shuai, 2022. "A model for CBDC audits based on blockchain technology: Learning from the DCEP," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    17. Gallego-Losada, María-Jesús & Montero-Navarro, Antonio & García-Abajo, Elisa & Gallego-Losada, Rocío, 2023. "Digital financial inclusion. Visualizing the academic literature," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    18. Decai Tang & Ziqian Zhao & Jiannan Li & Valentina Boamah, 2024. "Research on coupling coordination degree of digital finance and economic resilience in the Yangtze River Economic Belt," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 120(15), pages 14279-14309, December.
    19. Peterson K. Ozili & David Mhlanga & Rym Ammar & Marwa Fersi, 2024. "Information Effect of Fintech and Digital Finance on Financial Inclusion during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Global Evidence," FinTech, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-17, January.
    20. Jamil, Abd Rahim Md. & Law, Siong Hook & Mohamad Khair-Afham, M.S. & Trinugroho, Irwan, 2023. "Financial inclusion and economic uncertainty in developing countries: The role of digitalisation," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 786-806.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:114710. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.