Nigerian cryptocurrency adoption continues to rise despite a regime crackdown, with peer-to-peer (P2P) trade volume for Bitcoin (BTC) posting its second strongest week on record concluding month.

According to data from Google Trends, Nigeria still ranks No. i by search interest for the keyword "Bitcoin" as of this writing. P2P Bitcoin trading denominated in the Nigerian naira has also steadily increased in 2022, with Nigeria ranking behind only the Us equally the 2d-largest market for peer-to-peer BTC trading, according to Useful Tulips.

The growing Bitcoin adoption in Nigeria has helped Sub-Saharan Africa emerge as the leading region by P2P volume, with the region posting $18.8 million in weekly volume to beat out North America's $18 million this past week.

Weekly P2P book by region (USD equivalent): Usefultulips.org

A confluence of political and economic crises has spurred local crypto adoption, including social repression, currency controls and rampant inflation.

Tensions in Nigeria have escalated since October afterward massive public protests opposing police brutality and the infamous "Sars" police unit of measurement swept the nation.

The EndSars protests saw protestors attacked with tear gas and water cannons, with more than l civilians killed in total, including a dozen who were shot dead by police armed with alive ammunition on Oct. 20.

The government crackdown saw economic repression, too, with social organizations supporting the protestors with nutrient and medical aid quickly finding their bank accounts frozen. Amongst the violence, protestors increasingly turned to cryptocurrency in order to place their economic activeness outside of the government'south reach.

Adewunmi Emoruwa, the founder of Gatefield — a public policy organization whose accounts were suspended for providing grants to journalists covering the protests attributed Nigeria's contempo hostility regarding crypto assets to October'south protests, telling The Guardian:

"I call up that EndSars is like the key goad for some of these decisions the authorities is making. It acquired fear. They saw, for example, that people could decide to featherbed government structures and institutions to mobilize."

An anonymous source challenge to correspond a social organization whose banking company accounts were targeted during the turmoil also told the publication that their grouping has been able to pay members' salaries with crypto despite the financial embargo.

"We proceed some securities in crypto — not too much simply enough, sort of equally an insurance policy," they said. "When the ban happened we were, thankfully, able to pay salaries."

In February, the government banned licensed banks from processing cryptocurrency transactions in an try to crack down on digital nugget adoption.

Nevertheless, Nigeria's steadily rise P2P Bitcoin volumes suggest the country's growing crypto user base has largely been driven underground in a bid to admission crypto assets from exterior of the government's purview.

Marius Reitz, the Africa general managing director of crypto trading platform Luno, told The Guardian that Nigeria's ban has merely made cryptocurrency trading harder to monitor, stating:

"A lot of trading activity has now been pushed hush-hush, which means many Nigerians are now depending on less secure, less transparent over-the-counter channels, equally well as Telegram and WhatsApp groups, where people trade directly with each other."

The government'due south moves to repress crypto take also received internal criticism, with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo publicly rebuking the ban in February.

Related: Why is Bitcoin $86K in Nigeria? Here'south why the BTC premium is huge in some countries

Despite the country's hostility toward decentralized crypto assets, Nigeria is currently exploring the development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

In late July, Nigeria's fundamental bank revealed plans to begin trialing its CBDC from Oct. 1 of this year.