Exploring the role of Crypto in Ghana's Economic Recovery (Fintech Fridays with Binance Africa Ep.5)

[00:00:00] Hello everyone, welcome to the Fintech Fridays series on the Sound of Accra Podcast where we

[00:00:04] unpack economic topics and affairs across the African continent. I'm your host, Adrian Daniels.

[00:00:10] This special series on Fintech Friday is the fifth of a 12 part series where we explore blockchain

[00:00:16] technology and cryptocurrency in a lot more detail. Special thanks to our sponsor Binance Africa.

[00:00:23] Binance is the world's leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure

[00:00:27] provider of a financial product suite that includes the largest digital asset exchanged by volume.

[00:00:33] Trusted by millions worldwide, the Binance platform is dedicated to increasing the freedom

[00:00:38] of money for users and features and unmatched portfolio of crypto products and offerings

[00:00:43] including trading and finance, education, data and research, social good, investment and incubation,

[00:00:50] decentralization and infrastructure solutions and more.

[00:00:54] For more information, visit www.binance.com or for more information,

[00:01:01] disclaimers, risk warnings and links, please check the podcast description section below.

[00:01:06] In today's episode, we are joined by Yandine Nomveti, Operations Manager over at Binance Africa.

[00:01:12] We'll be exploring the role of crypto in Ghanas Economic Recovery.

[00:01:15] We'll discuss things like empowering SMEs including how cryptocurrency presents a

[00:01:21] unique opportunity for Ghanan SMBs to access global markets without the burden of high interest

[00:01:26] traditional banking, fostering financial inclusion and innovation. Hedging against inflation

[00:01:32] that also includes with the depreciation of the Ghanan city, stablecoins offering a

[00:01:37] safer savings alternative potentially stabilizing finances for individuals and businesses alike

[00:01:43] and we'll also be looking at things like educational accessibility including looking

[00:01:48] at platforms like Binance Academy which are great resources for supporting the understanding

[00:01:53] and implementation of crypto technologies paving the way for financial democratization

[00:01:58] and increased economic participation. References used for today's episode

[00:02:02] will all be found in the podcast play description section below. Let's get straight into it.

[00:02:07] Hello everyone, welcome back to the FinTech Friday series with Binance Africa. I would

[00:02:14] like to welcome back Yandine Nomveti back into the show. She's the Operations Manager for Binance

[00:02:20] Africa. Yandie, how are you doing today? Hey, Adrian, I'm doing well. Thank you. Summer has

[00:02:28] finally decided to arrive in Cape Town, South Africa. I know we've spoken a few times over

[00:02:33] this year and I complained about the cold but things are looking better so I'm great.

[00:02:39] Thank you. I hope you're well too. Yeah, fantastic. Yeah, just had a trip in

[00:02:44] spent some time in Zimbabwe. So I believe the seasons are more closer to South Africa so it was

[00:02:51] quite interesting just to hear about the seasons that they have but yeah, it was lovely weather.

[00:02:56] Working some projects out there too and yeah, should be on the move soon

[00:03:01] but yeah, glad to see the weather shaping up as well. I think you know, I think

[00:03:05] worldwide and general we are getting towards the autumn-winter point so

[00:03:09] some parts of the water going to get more colder for sure.

[00:03:13] Yeah, fantastic. All right. So yeah, I want to get into today's conversation.

[00:03:19] So in today's conversation we want to explore the role of crypto in Ghana's economic recovery.

[00:03:25] Now, I want to kind of start the conversation on a couple of bits of news

[00:03:32] just to kind of get the conversation started. So recently I just checked and I saw that the

[00:03:37] the Guardian City to the British pound is one pound to 21 Ghana cities which is at

[00:03:43] absolutely all time high. We may have discussed this in previous interviews,

[00:03:48] or I may have discussed this in previous Fintech Friday episodes, solely episodes

[00:03:53] but on top of that it's quite interesting because Ghana's central bank,

[00:03:57] so yeah, so they launched a gold coin to boost domestic savings and manage

[00:04:02] liquidity and the coins are going to be available in October and then they're also

[00:04:07] going to be priced based on the London Buyer Market Association auction.

[00:04:11] So I think these are all efforts to strengthen the city because you can see that the city

[00:04:15] continues to depreciate against the pounds, it continues to depreciate against the US dollar.

[00:04:21] So the Guardian currency is depreciating against the dollars, the pounds,

[00:04:25] all these different currencies. So just want to kick off this conversation by

[00:04:30] just trying to hear your initial thoughts on where you see the Guardian City against popular foreign

[00:04:38] currencies of the world. Yeah, so I mean me to your point definitely have seen

[00:04:45] the city sort of depreciates against the value of other Western countries.

[00:04:52] I think this is like a typical sort of narrative we're seeing globally in the sense.

[00:04:57] I mean, all of these themes seem to be ringing true, particularly on the continent but even in

[00:05:02] the Western world in terms of the depreciation of currency, higher cost of living, hyperinflation

[00:05:11] etc are all things that are sort of key issues and key themes at a global level.

[00:05:17] However, I guess it is perpetuated even further in the context of a lot of countries on the

[00:05:22] continent where already our currencies were quite of low value compared to Western currencies.

[00:05:30] It's an interesting place to be, there's the conversation around well, I'll be at the bottom,

[00:05:38] is there an upside after this, top down will the bottom last etc. What's great,

[00:05:44] I'm always one who sort of looks at the glass half full is that all of these things are cyclical

[00:05:48] and eventually things the tide should eventually turn and the gunning governments at a monetary

[00:05:54] and fiscal level are really doing the work. So you've mentioned the gold reserve issue,

[00:06:02] I think they've also just come out with some really progressive thoughts and initiatives

[00:06:09] and progress around crypto regulation which via stablecoins people could also then hedge

[00:06:17] against inflation. That's one of the main sort of use cases when it comes to crypto

[00:06:22] and so yeah, I think it would be a lot more doom and gloom if the government at a monetary and

[00:06:30] fiscal level were just sitting on their hands but there is a lot of progressive action happening

[00:06:36] which is exciting. It's just about when those fruits will end up bearing the rewards

[00:06:43] is the question and when we sort of go towards that upturn of the cycle as opposed to being

[00:06:50] at the very bottom which is what it feels like right now. Yeah, it feels like

[00:06:56] the city's been declining for quite some time and we're all just wondering when it's going to

[00:07:02] be on an upward scale again and it seemed that this is another fur of the dice in terms

[00:07:10] of to try and turn around the value of the city with the gold reserve and also looking at blockchain

[00:07:18] as well where in the past where of course they've had that injection from the IMF, what was it,

[00:07:24] two, three billion dollars and then they've done other things to try and turn the city around

[00:07:30] but it seems like there's still some struggle to stabilise their city so perhaps crypto could

[00:07:39] be the one that comes to the rescue to try and turn around the value of the city but

[00:07:46] let's actually move into that actually so looking at what the government has been planning to do,

[00:07:52] I think we've discussed this in the past and I've discussed this in the past,

[00:07:55] the central bank digital currencies. I think with crypto in general it's a great alternative

[00:08:02] to the the Ghanian city and currencies in general and I think we'll talk about that a bit

[00:08:08] more but in terms of what's your thoughts in terms of looking at how central bank digital currency

[00:08:16] could maybe be the answer to the Ghanian government's current difficulty right now

[00:08:26] with where the Ghanian city is today? Yeah so the point of I guess clarification is I don't think

[00:08:33] that crypto will probably like necessarily help the devaluation of the Ghanian city but I think it is

[00:08:40] a good haven for folks to have a bit of savings or potentially flee to an inverted commas

[00:08:52] in the wake of a depreciating currency right so when we are in a hyper inflationary period

[00:09:00] based on the trends that we see internally at Binance we've seen quite a lot of adoption when

[00:09:05] it comes to stablecoins. The PayPal USD stablecoin reached a billion dollar market cap with transaction

[00:09:13] counts nearing all time highs and a lot of that adoption is actually being driven by emerging

[00:09:18] markets, the African continent, your South Asia, South Asian markets etc so I don't know that

[00:09:26] crypto is a solve to like the devaluation of a local currency but I think it does offer a bit

[00:09:34] of security for individuals who are looking to maintain their purchasing power or you know have

[00:09:41] a hedge against inflation and currency depreciation. In terms of what like a CBDC you know does for

[00:09:48] local currency you know in the medium and long term we unfortunately don't have too many examples

[00:09:54] of this at a global level and I guess it's always the the conversation or the debates around you know

[00:10:03] is it good, is it bad, is it having a cent like what's the point of it being a crypto token if

[00:10:09] it's centralized etc. What I think it does is that it definitely like at least displays

[00:10:17] the progressive and like innovative nature of you know a country like Ghana right to

[00:10:24] may you know outside of its you know rich exports be left out of significant conversations at a global

[00:10:30] level and so a country like Ghana you know really sort of pushing the boundaries and innovating

[00:10:37] at that level I think in terms of you know sort of PR if you will for a country is great.

[00:10:45] I think in terms of just increasing accessibility and financial inclusion

[00:10:50] you know it could be an interesting you know sort of concept to explore as well

[00:10:57] you know if you think about the sort of the unbanked population isn't easier for them

[00:11:02] to access currency on their mobile phone and transact that way versus you know the traditional

[00:11:07] financial system as we currently know it and then I think also just enhanced transparency

[00:11:12] right so unfortunately corruption you know at a continental level like on the continent

[00:11:19] something that plagues a lot of our countries so yeah very very sad but you know I guess

[00:11:27] the benefit of the blockchain is that it's super transparent you know you have people that pay taxes

[00:11:33] etc and you know at the end of the day folks want to understand where their hard-earned money is

[00:11:38] going particularly once it's in the hands of the government and I think that level of transparency

[00:11:43] also then you know would foster trust in the government and you know I guess the macro

[00:11:49] or longer term benefits of that can be debated but I think like those are the core themes around

[00:11:57] CVDCs you know a local currency will always be a local currency right so it will be affected by

[00:12:03] macro factors and the macro environment but in terms of innovation I think it's great

[00:12:11] in terms of transparency I think it's great and you know people can always sort of then access

[00:12:17] and probably move a lot easier between local currency and stable coins or other crypto tokens

[00:12:23] if they'd like to again something that you know Binance and that's the the business that we're in

[00:12:29] is something that we facilitate so yeah I think I don't know that it would solve devaluation

[00:12:35] but I think it definitely says a lot for the level of innovation that's taking place in Ghana

[00:12:41] particularly needing a charge on the continent for sure absolutely that was a fantastic response

[00:12:49] Arntor thank you so much Yandy yeah I think you're right I mean it may not necessarily help to improve

[00:12:56] the value of the Ghani city by looking at CVDCs but I think what it will do is it'll bring a level

[00:13:02] of transparency and security that hasn't been there before so that maybe this may help to

[00:13:09] reduce corruption this can help to you know increase and improve transactions amongst

[00:13:14] you know the country and maybe across the continent and this may this may all kind of contribute to

[00:13:20] improving the economy and maybe in turn it might even help the value of the city in a long run

[00:13:25] you know in indirect ways so I totally agree with what you're saying I think this is all

[00:13:30] maybe a step in the right direction but I also agree with regarding what you mentioned about

[00:13:36] stable coins so encouraging citizens of Ghana to perhaps look to stable coins as maybe you

[00:13:44] are more kind of safer way or maybe a more predictable way to kind of hedge their money

[00:13:51] or to be able to put maybe a safer way to maybe put their money a safer container if you will to put

[00:13:57] their money into where the value is not very volatile it's being kind of very stabilized

[00:14:05] so people can also look at those kind of stable coins and maybe perhaps consider putting

[00:14:10] their money into stable coins rather than the city which keeps going up and down

[00:14:15] and I know you mentioned you know Binance plays their part in the stable in the stable coin

[00:14:20] infrastructure could you tell us I don't know if you could tell us a bit more about B&B chain

[00:14:25] so B&B chain was you know essentially created to facilitate and enhance development for

[00:14:33] you know particularly crypto builders within the ecosystem again I think that's actually

[00:14:39] a great question and it's something that's kind of forgotten in ways you know around the fact that

[00:14:46] Binance is not just a place to buy sell and trade crypto you know it's more than just an

[00:14:52] exchange it's we we consider ourselves an infrastructure provider I think it also goes

[00:14:58] far to say like we are over and above being an infrastructure provider you know Binance is

[00:15:05] very key ecosystem enabler you know it's you'd be hard pressed to find any other major exchange that

[00:15:15] doesn't accept you know crypto transactions happening on the B&B chain by virtue of you

[00:15:22] know the magnitude of Binance right so it's a network it's an ecosystem enabler you know

[00:15:29] your crypto engineers and developers can build on B&B chain for a variety of different decentralized

[00:15:36] apps or apps that would sort of be applicable you know to their use case again like just super

[00:15:44] you know cutting edge and an innovative you know and really like being a source of

[00:15:52] yeah an ablim enablement for innovation is essentially why B&B chain was created and

[00:15:58] it's something that like we're still very you know proud of we're always also looking to invest in

[00:16:04] you know new ecosystem players you know via our venture capital arm as well which happens on the

[00:16:12] B&B with the B&B chain team yeah I'd say like B&B chain is our hub for development and innovation

[00:16:20] I'd say like Binance is the boring side that's where I'm and B&B chain really is yeah

[00:16:26] innovation ecosystem enabler people can build on it and apply their use cases you know to

[00:16:33] to their communities from there and I guess that's like the exciting thing about cryptos I think

[00:16:38] we're still yet to figure out and find out all of the use cases and I think like bringing it back

[00:16:44] to you know sort of the the Ghanaian context is you know you spoke about the devaluation

[00:16:49] of the city but I think it's also important to um you know emphasize that like the outlook

[00:16:55] for the country is like a lot more like optimistic you know IMF like recently revised Ghana's growth

[00:17:01] forecast upward from 2.8 percent to 3.1 percent and you know the foreign exchange reserves has also

[00:17:08] increased and you know business sentiment has improved so there's quite a lot of you know

[00:17:14] optimism as I think it's not all doom and bloom and again I think like perfect storm if you will

[00:17:22] for you know innovators entrepreneurs to really start building and like thinking about

[00:17:29] you know what the future looks like because you know the economy does look primed for

[00:17:34] significant success probably will happen a bit longer term but the outlook from the global

[00:17:39] community is looking really great um and it's you know it's it's high time potentially that

[00:17:45] you know that you start thinking about okay you know how do I integrate crypto into if I

[00:17:50] want to build a fintech startup or how do I integrate AI or you know let me think about

[00:17:55] biotech like there's so much innovation happening and it would be great I think like this platform

[00:18:00] is also amazing right like having something like a fintech Friday is like really democratizing

[00:18:05] you know people's access to those concepts and like getting them thinking about how they can apply

[00:18:10] that to their lives and like I guess not be not get left behind you know in the advancement

[00:18:16] of advancement and development of Ghana as a whole

[00:18:22] absolutely well um what a contribution there Yandi I really do agree with everything you said

[00:18:27] and I think it's a good takeaway to talking about how we can empower SMEs in Ghana

[00:18:33] with cryptocurrency because we did talk about how consumers can be empowered by

[00:18:41] you know helping to avoid high inflation rates by looking at cryptocurrency especially

[00:18:46] stablecoins as a way to you know hedge their funds their money but I think it's also important to

[00:18:51] consider how you know we can support the economy in Ghana with the businesses who contribute a lot

[00:18:58] to the economy with how they could potentially use cryptocurrency to help their businesses because

[00:19:03] I guess as much as we've talked about the devaluation of the city in Ghana of course there's

[00:19:09] other challenges in Ghana such as a lot of small very small businesses being unbanked or

[00:19:15] small to medium-sized businesses maybe being able to have access to a bank but the interest rates are far

[00:19:21] too high so cryptocurrency is that nice little middle grounds where it's something they have

[00:19:27] access to and also maybe they may not necessarily be high interests if it does involve interest in

[00:19:33] terms of lending money lending funds borrowing funds from a bank so what would be your your

[00:19:41] point of view in terms of cryptocurrency in Ghana and also how Binance you know could play a part in

[00:19:48] this in terms or how Binance does play a part in this in terms of helping SMBs utilize cryptocurrency

[00:19:55] to maybe help them gain access to funds in addition to creating innovations which is

[00:20:03] something I think we've already explored yeah that's a great question um yeah I think you

[00:20:10] know SMEs are really sort of the best um or one of the best target audiences when it comes to crypto

[00:20:17] particularly in a market like um Ghana right like you think about the high level of tourism that

[00:20:24] happens during December I'm still yet to make my way out to Ghana during what I see you know people

[00:20:33] send on to you know what's a beautiful country en masse right and it's not like that that level

[00:20:40] of traffic isn't decreasing um and the question for me is always like okay cool um you know it'd be

[00:20:46] great if you know SMEs could accept or like how many of these SMEs can accept you know crypto

[00:20:53] because that would really sort of make transactions so much easier for tourists right

[00:20:58] they don't have to convert into local currency um and you know I guess sort of you know take the hit

[00:21:04] from whatever rates changes happen at that point you know carrying cash you know Ghana's a pretty

[00:21:10] safe country but carrying cash also you know carries risks etc and so paying with crypto is

[00:21:17] something that you know is a way that you know SMEs really sort of open themselves up to

[00:21:22] a global audience without necessarily having to go jump through hoops you know to open a

[00:21:28] dollar bank account or you know have presence in another country right like I'll just use

[00:21:34] it like the UK for example um luckily at Binance we do enable the onboarding of businesses of any

[00:21:44] size really um and you know once they've been onboarded they can you know accept payments

[00:21:49] via Binance Pay which is you know one of our key products um what's interesting about Binance Pay

[00:21:55] is that you know it's seen really high adoption so we saw last year our transactions saw um by 71

[00:22:03] percent so passing 77 billion dollars that's at a growth level and Binance Pay users grew by

[00:22:10] 70 percent so we're seeing like a lot of um users you know going above and beyond just holding

[00:22:18] their crypto for investment or to hedge against inflation but like the payment use case is there

[00:22:23] um you know anecdotally uh you know I spent a lot of time in South Africa and we're seeing a lot more

[00:22:28] merchants here also accept crypto so like one of our biggest you know supermarket retailers accept

[00:22:34] crypto and you know some of the feedback that I've gotten from friends internationally who are

[00:22:38] obviously crypto users is that's super convenient right like I can buy groceries in South Africa

[00:22:44] without having to exchange my pounds or dollars or euros to RAND um which sort of is super convenient

[00:22:54] um so I think like that's the one use case and like the obvious one I think the second one that

[00:22:59] you touched on again because you know for small enterprises small to medium enterprises rather

[00:23:05] access to funding or finance can really be inaccessible like completely inaccessible

[00:23:12] you know um banks always feel more comfortable I guess lending money to more established enterprises

[00:23:20] you know your global enterprises that have global presence and that leaves small to medium

[00:23:25] enterprises completely out of the conversation and also then like hinders their growth um you

[00:23:31] know like speak to any person who's been successful in business and they'll always be like yeah

[00:23:36] debt is your best friend leverage that's true the reality is like who has access to that leverage

[00:23:43] like who has access who can access that level of debt that can 10x or like 100x their business

[00:23:50] um and so like with crypto although I don't think we've reached that level yet we're like

[00:23:55] the loan use case or like the loan concept or like debt or leverage it was like fully

[00:24:02] fleshed out and that like the user experience is also friendly um you know there are mechanisms like

[00:24:09] you know initial coin offerings or token based fundraising that you know provide an alternative

[00:24:14] way to raise funds without relying on professional banking institutions um which kind enables small

[00:24:21] to medium enterprises um again I think on this like I definitely encourage people to do

[00:24:26] their own research I think like luna which crashed in 2022 was kind of based on a similar model and

[00:24:33] that didn't go very well for that if I can remember that project yeah yeah um and a lot of it was

[00:24:41] sort of decentralized finance leverage etc so like I would encourage folks that are looking to

[00:24:47] get involved with like fundraising or or loans via tokens to do their own research

[00:24:53] it is a whole other world you know like it's an amazing world it's super accessible it's like

[00:24:58] one of the things about crypto that I'm like that really sort of encapsulates and highlights

[00:25:04] when we speak about access to finance um decentralized finance is that like if you had

[00:25:09] these tokens you could loan them to x person and via the blockchain you know your in the

[00:25:16] amount you've learned is safe um their mechanisms in way like to ensure that you are able to

[00:25:22] get your funds back um and that like completely democratizes and like really decentralizes finance

[00:25:27] and like gives anyone access to mechanisms and tools like loans like leverage etc and and so again

[00:25:35] like that's another way in which I swole to medium enterprises could um really tap into

[00:25:40] blockchain and crypto to to drive growth um it is something that requires a bit more research

[00:25:45] uh I think we have a lot of um material about this on Binance Academy but

[00:25:50] yeah I think like that those are like two of the ways in which um you know Binance

[00:25:56] is sort of helping to enable business innovation and growth um there's a lot like there's there are

[00:26:01] so many more ways um I think it would be really cool if you do have any small to medium size

[00:26:06] enterprise like business owners listening to this like they could sign up to Binance as a Binance

[00:26:11] pay merchant I mean if it makes sense for them of course I would be really stoked like when

[00:26:16] I eventually make it out to Ghana to see people accepting um or like to see businesses

[00:26:20] in Binance pay because yeah the Ghanaian tourism you know industry is just soaring right now and

[00:26:28] I think it's a really easy and accessible way for businesses to take advantage of

[00:26:33] that tourism aspect um through crypto and you know really they could accept any currency

[00:26:39] in the world and I think that's a powerful statement for any business to be able to make

[00:26:44] particularly in a high tourism um environment wow that is a it's a loaded answer um it's a loaded

[00:26:52] contribution Yandy but um of course everyone has the opportunity to listen back to this pause

[00:26:58] and play and you know just take everything that they can but of course we will um list all of

[00:27:04] the key references and the tools in the podcast description below especially the Binance one

[00:27:10] so thank you Yandy for highlighting those because those tools and resources because that's really

[00:27:15] important especially for the small business small to medium size businesses and not entrepreneurs

[00:27:20] that are listening to this podcast um and I think it's really incredible because we are in such a

[00:27:25] day and age where there's a you know the internet is such a beautiful place where democracy

[00:27:32] you know exists and you know just using going using vehicles such as fundraising you

[00:27:38] know I think is fantastic and and also we also easily forget that Africa you know is a whole

[00:27:44] continent so as much as you know maybe not being able to get a bank loan maybe tough I think the

[00:27:52] power of cryptocurrency for cross border transactions I think that alone is very very

[00:27:57] powerful and once you can get access to crypto currency um I think doing trade of different

[00:28:03] countries across Africa is going to be or is really fantastic um but thank you so much

[00:28:08] Randy for that contribution um I just want to close out with final thoughts um if you have

[00:28:13] any final thoughts in regards to um cryptocurrency and looking at cryptocurrency in terms of

[00:28:22] you know garner's economic recovery we'd like to hear any final thoughts if you do have any

[00:28:28] otherwise we're going to close out today's episode yeah um I guess my final thoughts um again like

[00:28:34] always I just want to be super realistic as as possible right so um you know crypto definitely

[00:28:41] isn't a silver bullet um I hope I didn't come across that way you know conversation I think

[00:28:48] there's still a lot more like hurdles overcome there's so much more education you know that

[00:28:53] needs to take place about it as as a tool as a currency as a way to transact and I think like

[00:29:00] platforms like these are great in terms of facilitating that um yeah so you know crypto isn't

[00:29:06] isn't a silver bullet but I think there's there's room to embrace it um I think there's room

[00:29:11] to use it to your advantage whether you are an individual that's really stressed out about

[00:29:17] you know if you have savings and you are uncertain about the future of of the city you

[00:29:22] could potentially hedge your savings against inflation and maybe consider stable coins as a

[00:29:28] way to save I think if you're a business uh you know again like if you import raw materials like

[00:29:34] and you're struggling to figure out how do I pay this person in India for my you know textiles

[00:29:43] so it's a is an avenue to think about um and and obviously you always

[00:29:49] try to educate yourself by an anti-canon me and but yeah I guess that's the message is crypto

[00:29:56] is not a silver bullet but there's a lot of opportunity that exists in it and yeah just

[00:30:00] encourage folks to um explore if they ever need to make a transaction with anyone across borders

[00:30:05] ask yourself can crypto solve this problem for me most likely yes um and always hedging

[00:30:12] against inflation um is you know one of the key use cases as well and that's all from me

[00:30:17] many thanks to our guest Yandi Nomveti operations manager of our Binance Africa for her contribution

[00:30:22] to this episode you can connect with her on LinkedIn and you can find more about Binance

[00:30:27] by checking the links in the description below thanks again for listening to another episode

[00:30:32] of FinTech Fridays with Binance Africa see you in the next episode