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Cryptocurrency adoption worldwide has dramatically risen in 2020 as more people use digital currencies for cross-border transactions or as a mode of payment. This is true in Africa as well as a Ghanaian crypto startup recently reported a massive 3,900 percent rise in the volume of crypto remittances coursed through its platform.
On Monday, Bitsika Africa said that crypto remittances soared to almost $40 million last year compared to just under $1 million in 2019, according to Bitcoin.com. Bitsika Africa is a crypto startup that operates in Nigeria and Ghana.
“We had a really good year at @BitsikaAfrica so I'm very happy to share with you,” Atsu Davoh, co-founder and CEO of Ghanaian fintech, tweeted. “We processed a total of $39,953,115 in 2020.”
According to Davoh, deposits accounted for$18.87 million of the total volume while payouts reached $17.89 million. Meanwhile, internal peer-to-peer transfers soared to $3.19 million for the fiscal year starting January 1, 2020, to January 1, 2021.
The CEO did not reveal the volume of Bitcoin (BTC)-denominated remittances coursed through the platform. Bitsika Africa, which was launched in 2018 Davoh and Samuel, is a social payments platform, a Bitcoin and crypto exchange app, and also a wallet for dollars, CFA currencies, Nigerian naira, and Ghanaian cedi, according to Techpoint.africa.
The platform also saw a massive increase in its user base last year. Davoh revealed that 95 percent of its 96,000 users only registered in 2020. The platform processed a total of 268,430 transactions last year.
“These volumes are from self-determined, autonomous [successful] transactions that users initiated and performed themselves,” Davoh explained. “We did not count system transactions that users did not initiate.”
With its spike in both transaction volume and number of users, Bitsika’s revenue also soared in 2020. The platform reported $1.03 million in revenue in 2020, a massive rise from its 2019 revenue of only $329.
With its impressive 2020 performance, Bitsika Africa is already planning to raise funds this year. Proceeds of the funding round will be used to “get our own licenses in all the markets we operate, start our internship program for the design and tech communities and provide more features in our app to expand our reach in and beyond fintech.”
