Binance partners CAF, sponsors AFCON

In a bid to further bolster its popularity and boost crypto adoption in Africa, Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, will be one of the sponsors of the TotalEnergies African Cup of Nations tournament being held in Cameroon. 

Binance sponsors AFCON 2021

The crypto exchange made this announcement yesterday, where it revealed that it would be the exclusive cryptocurrency and blockchain platform for the AFCON 2021 tournament. 

Binance continued that it would also be partnering with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Assist of the Day / Binance Assist of the Week / Binance Assist of the Tournament, which would be promoted across all social media accounts of the association.

Speaking on this partnership, CAF’s general secretary, Veron Mosengo-Omba, said that the partnership would afford the leading crypto firm to connect with its users and the African community through football.

Binance Director for Africa, Emmanuel Babalola, on his part, said that:

“Football is the most popular sport in Africa, one that unites the entire continent, and as the leading blockchain ecosystem, we are proud to be an official sponsor of the AFCON tournament. This corroborates our mission to take crypto mainstream across the continent.”

Notably, Binance is not the only crypto exchange looking to help increase the industry’s adoption across the world. Several exchanges like FTX, Crypto.com, and Coinbase have entered into varying degrees of strategic partnerships and sponsorships, which would help increase exposure to their services while also drawing more people to the industry.

Crypto adoption in Africa

Crypto adoption is over 800% in the African continent, making it the fastest-growing crypto market in the world, according to one of our previous reports released last year.

The report also noted that the continent’s retail transaction volume was around 7%, while the rest of the world averaged 5.5%. This means that crypto trades in Africa are largely being traded by small-scale investors who are mostly in markets like Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.

Luno, a popular crypto company on the continent, towards the end of last year revealed that 45% of its new one million customers were based on the continent.

Crypto adoption on the continent is largely driven by peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions. Also,  the fact that the national currency of most countries in the region has lost its value due to the coronavirus pandemic and the rising inflation has led many citizens into the crypto space.