I first heard of cryptocurrency back in 2016. It was quite a new concept to a lot of us on the African continent at the time. I was working in the communications department of a tech company and I remember some young programmers at the office trying to explain this new concept to me. They tried to get me to buy Bitcoin at the time, but I had such huge scepticism about it, and rightly so because a beast of a ponzi scheme called “MMM” was also rampant across the continent at the time.
You see, 2016 was such a significant year for me in many regards. I made significant decisions in my career and personal life that year, and I had good reasons to not throw money carelessly into something I knew next to nothing about. Also, around the same time, the Central Bank of Nigeria also issued warnings about cryptocurrencies, cautioning Nigerians to be weary of schemes and investment offerings that really had no tangible substance one could hold on to. And so, I held back and put cryptocurrency away from my mind at the time.
Two years later, in late 2018, cryptocurrency found me out again by way of an interesting News and Journalism project called ‘Civil’. It was designed to be a community-owned network of newsrooms leveraging blockchain technology to advance sustainability for trustworthy journalism and support global news industry. My platform Africa-OnTheRise was selected as the first African platform to be onboarded onto the Civil Registry and there I met crypto again.
By 2018 I only had a little more knowledge about cryptocurrency than I did back in 2016 when I first heard about it. But that little more knowledge was enough for me to get on the Civil Registry and get my first crypto wallet. The Civil project and platform designed its own token ‘CVL’, and it was going to be the primary token for transactions and activities on the network. Unfortunately, Civil shutdown in June of 2020 leaving me with dashed hopes and about $10 worth of Ethereum intended to be used as gas fees for transactions on the network.
I had hoped for the best with Civil and was a bit disappointed to see it shutdown. It had such big dreams and intentions for the News and Journalism industry, to address concerns that are still valid even today. However, the world as we know it can often be such an unpredictable place.
I soon moved on from Civil and focused on other endeavours, but the news of Bitcoin and Ethereum’s exploding prices got too big to miss or ignore. This was 2020 now and more people were talking about cryptocurrency and I was even seeing billboards and ads of crypto exchanges in my city. With all the buzz, I still did not feel sure enough to spend my money purchasing crypto, but I suddenly remembered my wallet from 2018 and was shocked to discover that my little Ethereum had increased in value from about $10 to almost $50. This was the game changer for me. A five times increase in value within a two-year period was sufficient to get me to consider putting skin in the game.
So, I am no longer a sceptic, but there are still challenges that have limited my participation and involvement with cryptocurrency, chief of which is the latest clampdown on cryptocurrency exchanges in Nigeria. However, I am finding legit ways of building and growing my small portfolio in the hopes that the ban will be reversed soon enough, and my dear government can realise that it can make cryptocurrency work in line with its agenda and not see it as a threat to progress and financial security.
My journey has only begun, and I am learning every step of the way to make the best decision per time, whilst making sure the future does not leave me behind. This is my story, what is yours?
If you enjoyed this article, check out my other posts here: Crypto in Africa and here: Discover Africa
