South Africans are less likely to own NFTs compared to their global counterparts, although the popularity of this asset class is growing.
Finder.com’s Global NFT Adoption report of more than 28 000 internet users reveals that 8,3% of South Africans own NFTs, which is just below the global average of 11,7%.
This puts South Africa at 12th place out of 20 countries, behind countries like Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam, but ahead of those like Argentina, Singapore, and Canada.
However, an additional 9,4% plan to own NFTs in the future meaning the adoption rate will hit 17,8% and Finder.com’s cryptocurrency editor Keegan Francis says that’s a conservative forecast.
“It’s still very early days for NFTs in South Africa. Just about a third of South Africans currently know what NFTs are and we expect adoption to grow with awareness.
“Men are currently the biggest adopters, with 10,5% of men saying they own NFTs compared to 6.3% of women.”
The report reveals that the Philippines has the most NFT owners (32%), followed by Thailand (27%), Malaysia (24%), the UAE (23%), and Vietnam (17%).
Japan has the smallest percentage of people with NFTs (2%), followed by the UK and the US at 3% each.
Francis noted that NFT adoption is much higher in countries that have a lower average wage of working citizens.
“In some of these countries, people are quitting their jobs because they can make money trading NFTs or earning them in games.
“If you want to buy NFTs directly then you’ll need to set up a wallet, purchase cryptocurrency, and choose an NFT marketplace.”