TL;DR:
- Streamer iShowSpeed paid $1,500 in USDT for jewelry after being unable to use Apple Pay.
- Nigeria cements its status as Africa’s crypto giant with $92.1 billion in annual transactions.
- While PayPal and Apple Pay face technical barriers, Tether dominates 60% of the regional P2P market.
USDT adoption in Nigeria is proving to be resilient, as demonstrated by a viral video of streamer iShowSpeed shopping in the African nation. The footage shows the content creator purchasing jewelry worth $1,500 using Tether’s stablecoin after a local merchant rejected Apple Pay.
The viral video was shared by Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, proving that cryptocurrencies have achieved what traditional fintech has yet to accomplish. While platforms like PayPal struggle with account locks and technical failures, the crypto ecosystem offers instantaneous, borderless transactions.
Currently, Nigeria ranks sixth in the global adoption index, serving as the epicenter for digital assets on the continent. Data from Chainalysis indicates that the use of stablecoins for everyday purchases is proportionally higher in Nigeria than in markets strictly based on the U.S. dollar.
Stablecoins: The Engine of Africa’s P2P Economy
The stablecoin segment is showing unprecedented growth, reaching a market capitalization of $312 billion so far this year. In this context, the adoption of USDT in Nigeria and other African countries represents 60% of the total peer-to-peer (P2P) trading volume.
Unlike closed banking systems, stablecoins facilitate remittances and protect citizens from the extreme volatility of the local currency, the naira. Consequently, the country’s crypto transaction volume accounts for nearly half of the total for the entire Sub-Saharan region.
In summary, Tether’s agility overcomes the infrastructure limitations that hinder competitors like Apple Pay or Google Pay in Africa. The iShowSpeed case is merely a symptom of a massive transition toward a digital economy where USDT has become the standard of trust.
