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Cuban citizens show an increased interest in bitcoin.

Cuba is aiming to become the first country in North America to officially recognize and regulate cryptocurrencies for payment
Cuba is aiming to become the first country in North America to officially recognize and regulate cryptocurrencies for payments.

According to data from Google Trends, Cuba now ranks second in terms of Bitcoin interest over the past 30 days. The island nation follows Nigeria, which has remained as the top country searching for Bitcoin on Google since April 2020. The rest of Google’s top five regions searching for Bitcoin comprise the African countries of South Africa, Cameroon, and Ghana. Cuba’s rise in Bitcoin-related searches comes amid reports of Cubans increasingly turning to crypto to circumvent sanctions imposed by the US and gain access to digital financial services.

Payment firms like PayPal and Stripe reportedly do not offer services to Cubans.

As major digital payment firms like PayPal and Stripe are reportedly not available for Cuban citizens, the global pandemic-fueled travel restrictions have made local payments even more complicated. In late October, a local programmer and YouTuber Erich García called on the nation to use the leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin for cross-border remittances, claiming that anyone who wants to send payments to the island should buy Bitcoin and send it through a Cuban crypto exchange called BitRemesas.

Cryptocurrency adoption increases this year amid the pandemic.

The mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies has reportedly grown this year amid the ongoing global pandemic. African countries witnessed a massive growth in crypto adoption this year. The bitcoin trading on Peer-to-Peer platforms witnessed a rapid growth in the last few months, with the African continent now the second-strongest region in the world for P2P volume, just behind the US. The African continent is the only region to post an increase in the seven-day P2P trade in July. Central banks in many countries are also exploring digital currencies to get into the race.

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