Economic uncertainty appears to have spurred a significant spike in the number of South African citizens engaging with bitcoin and cryptocurrency. As of this writing, South African Google searches for bitcoin currently comprising the highest in proportion to country among the top 66 countries by search traffic.
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South African Searches Relating to bitcoin Surge
The popularity of bitcoin appears to be continuing to grow in South Africa despite the recent declining performance of the leading cryptocurrency.
As of this writing, South African Google are the highest in proportion to the size of searches generated by high search-volume nations, with the average number of monthly South African searches for “bitcoin” over the last 12 months currently estimated at between 100,000 and 1,000,000. South African peer-to-peer bitcoin trade volume also appears to be rising, with weekly rand-value of trading exceeding 20,000,000 (approximately $1.7 million USD) for the first time since January this past week.
Mati Greenspan, a market analyst for major social trading and asset brokerage, Etoro, recently attested to the platform experiencing a significant in the number of South African bitcoin traders, stating that “In South Africa, the number of new users trading bitcoin through eToro rose by 671% from January to the end of November last year over the same period in 2016, more than the 574% overall growth.”
Rising South African bitcoin Investment Attributed to Fears of Looming Economic Disruption
Many analysts are attributing the growing South African interest in cryptocurrencies to perceptions that president Cyril Ramaphosa’s radical land reforms may comprise a catalyst for economic instability.
President Ramaphosa’s recent acceleration of his policy of forcefully redistributing white-owned property to black citizens who do not possess farmland has prompted concerns from leading international rating agency, Moody’s. Despite the concerns, many are expecting that South Africa may be able to narrowly avoid receiving a fourth credit rating downgrade in less than a calendar year due to a reduction in the cost of insuring the nation’s sovereign debt against default using credit-default swaps.
Mr. Ramaphosa recently issued a seeking to assure Moody’s that the “accelerated land reform will unfold within a clear legal framework and without negatively affecting economic growth, agricultural production, and food security.”
Do you think bitcoin is becoming the go-to asset for citizens living in nations marred by economic difficulties? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
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Another survey has revealed that the business world is eager to start using bitcoin to save on transactions costs and reduce dependence on entrenched systems. However, many companies are still concerned that holding bitcoin will make them a target for hackers.
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Survey Says Yes to bitcoin
The Neustar International Security Council, a global forum of cyber security experts launched by Neustar, Inc. (NYSE:NSR), has revealed great willingness to open up to bitcoin in the business sector. A survey found that 80% of companies have an interest in using cryptocurrency for transactions. Additionally, 48% of survey respondents said that the use of cryptocurrency could be a way for their businesses to generate income through delivering increased value.
On the negative side, 80% of respondents feared an increased risk of DDoS attacks should they be known to hold bitcoin, and 26% of said there was a greater risk to business by cryptocurrencies used for ransom attacks. Similar research news.bitcoin.com reported on found that despite security concerns, 50% of large UK businesses already hold stockpiles of cryptocurrency for various reasons.
Cyber Criminals Deploy Ransomware to Extort bitcoin
It appears that one of the main concerns of businesses with using bitcoin is that it will attract attention from hackers using ever sophisticated attacks such as . Rodney Joffe, Head of NISC and Neustar Senior Vice President and Fellow, : “Ransomware and DDoS attacks continue to be seen as the leading threat to companies due to the sheer volume, complexity and potential severity of an attack. That said, not too far behind as the second greatest concern to businesses moving forward is financial threat.”
“Armed with plenty of tools, such as compromised IoT devices, it’s likely that we’ll see hackers make use of ransomware and DDoS attacks to cause major distractions. At the same time, we’ll likely see them put a focus on stealing large amounts of financial data, which may include traditional currencies, or the increasingly popular cryptocurrencies – such as bitcoin. By developing a more cohesive security strategy, organisations can hone in on their most vulnerable data, processes and models, protecting their critical information in the short and long term,” Joffe added.
Do you think more businesses are likely to adopt bitcoin and if so, why? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
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