Crypto in Africa

Consider this article on the importance of private property rights for the building of personal wealth. It's from a German think tank in 2003: 

"This paper investigates the quality of property rights and long-term economic growth in an international cross-section of countries in 1975–1995. The empirical tests indicate that the impact of private property rights on growth is positive and simultaneously determined. Correcting for the simultaneity bias reveals a regression coefficient which is quite remarkable: A doubling in the index of the quality of property rights leads to a more than doubling in per capita incomes."

Now, read this article on how property rights (don't) work in Africa. The author starts by observing: 

"One of the biggest obstacles to wealth creation and greater economic prosperity in Africa has to do with land ownership. Overcoming this obstacle will require better data collection, aggregation, and transparency."

The author ends by proposing blockchain as a solution to documenting who owns which land parcels. The solution the author proposes isn't wrong. It will absolutely work. But the author is still thinking in 20th century terms. Cryptocurrency blockchains certainly do provide the ability to create a universally accessible, unhackable database of clear land titles. But crypto is actually superior to the land title problem. 

To see why, add in this article on why the Nigerian banking ban on crypto isn't working:

“A lot of people are taking advantage of the [decentralized finance] industry right now, it’s giving equal financial opportunities for all, irrespective of nationality or whatsoever,” Chung said. “A lot of people are jumping into different yield farming programs, I know quite a number of people who got DeFi loans to run their businesses,” he added. 

Ray Youssef, CEO of Paxful, a service that enables users to buy and sell bitcoin in a peer-to-peer fashion, believes the biggest factor of crypto’s popularity in Nigeria has been “the intense drive and business aptitude of the Nigerian youth.” 

“Entrepreneurship is baked into their DNA,” Youssef told CoinDesk via a spokesperson.

Cryptocurrency isn't just something that can track land ownership. Cryptocurrency is its own asset. By using cryptocurrency, the youth of Africa are taking control of VIRTUAL LAND. "Not your keys, not your crypto" is the crypto-verse motto. From an ownership perspective, there is no difference between owning crypto coins and owning virtual land in something like Pavia - both coins and Pavia plots have absolutely clear title that cannot be seized by anyone. Either asset gives the owner clear and perfect control of the asset. Cryptocurrency is providing clear property titles to crypto coins, which are, themselves, an asset class. Crypto can be bought, sold, traded and loaned against just like any other asset. It appreciates, just like any other asset. It is a fungible property asset that cannot be seized as long as it is held in a private wallet.   

Given how screwed up all other property rights assets are in African countries, crypto is the key to wealth accumulation. Wealth is going to explode in Africa because of crypto ownership. And Africa is more likely to make this happen than anywhere else because it has a higher percentage of youth than any other region and it therefore has the highest need for clear private property titles. Crypto in Africa isn't just about documenting land ownership, crypto *IS* land ownership.