Insight: Sub-Saharan Africa Records Highest Usage of Self-Custody Wallets vs. the Rest of the World – Here’s Why

TL;DR

• According to Chainalysis, self-custody wallets received 32.3% of all crypto value in Sub-Saharan Africa between July 2025 and June 2026, the highest share of any region
• Cross-border P2P transfers made up 70.9% of that value.
• Regulatory shifts, exchange vulnerabilities, and privacy needs have pushed African users towards personal wallets.
• If the trend continues, it could limit regulators’ visibility into crypto transactions. 

The Numbers

Sub-Saharan Africa is the fastest-growing crypto market globally. Chainalysis reports that between July 2025 and June 2026, the region’s economy grew 13.4% to $101 billion.

The report also shows that Sub-Saharan Africa has a stronger preference for self-custody wallets than any other region in the world. Approximately a third, or 32.3%, of all transaction value in Sub-Saharan Africa goes directly to personal, self-custody wallets. This represents the highest proportion of self-custody wallet usage recorded in any region worldwide.

Chainalysis notes that the bulk of this came from cross-border P2P transfers, which accounted for 70.9%. Domestic P2P accounted for 18.5%, and service-to-personal wallet transfers accounted for 10.7%.

Self-custody Versus Exchange Wallets

To understand this shift, you first need to understand the difference between self-custody (personal) wallets and CEX wallets. 

Most people make crypto transactions through a centralised exchange and its wallet. It is more convenient and beginner-friendly. However, the platform holds your private keys, and you trust the company to keep your funds safe and available.

Self-custody wallets, on the other hand, require more hassle and at least some familiarity with the crypto ecosystem. However, it comes with full ownership of the wallet and your keys. Nobody can lock you out, but nobody can help you recover your funds if you lose access either.

Why Sub-Saharan Africa Leans Into Self-Custody

In its report, Chainalysis says “limited access to custodial services and regulatory uncertainty” may explain Sub-Saharan Africans’ preference for self-custody.

Nigeria, for instance, has had a rocky relationship with crypto. Following the crypto boom of the early 2020s, the Central Bank of Nigeria restricted banks from serving crypto exchanges. This “ban” lasted from 2021 to 2023. In 2024, regulators briefly cut off access to several international platforms.

None of this stopped people from using crypto. The P2P ecosystem grew exponentially. Users familiarised themselves with DEXs and self-custody wallets. The country, despite the restrictions, became the largest crypto market in Africa.

This period of regulatory uncertainty also coincided with a wave of fraudulent crypto exchanges, as well as the collapse of legitimate exchanges. Exchange security and trust became another reason to switch to self-custody.

The collapse of FTX in 2022, the hack and subsequent collapse of Patricia in 2023, and the CBEX scam of 2024 could have all contributed to the push for self-custody. 

More recently, Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, suffered a hack that led to about $6.3 billion in losses. While the company reassured users that their funds were safe, the largest crypto exchange in the world suffering the largest crypto heist ever has intensified calls for self-custody.

Users in Sub-Saharan Africa who have seen access to funds disappear overnight have good reason to want funds in a wallet that no platform or regulator can “switch off.”

Ironically, in this year’s rankings, Nigeria handed the title of largest crypto economy in the region to South Africa. The drop, Chainalysis says, was driven by a 45% drop in DEX activity and a 17% drop in P2P transactions despite growth in CEX activity. 

It is no coincidence that the drop in DEX activity also coincides with clearer regulations and an increase in the development of centralised exchanges within the region. 

What it means for Africa’s crypto ecosystem

A self-custody-heavy market is a P2P-heavy market, and this one moves a lot of money across borders. While that’s good for access and embodies what many consider the true spirit of DeFi, it makes activity harder for regulators and tax authorities to see. This also complicates AML work, since no exchange sits in the middle to collect customer information.

South Africa’s draft cross-border rules show how this tension plays out. To combat capital flight and the circumvention of strict exchange controls, South African regulators released a manual in August.

Amongst many things, the proposed rules would have let individuals move crypto from regulated exchange wallets to self-custody wallets, but not vice versa.

After strong industry pushback, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said that regulators would move away from the proposed rules and revise the draft.

The demand for self-custody is also reshaping crypto infrastructure development. Tether and Shiga recently launched self-custodial products for Africa and the GCC. Stealth Money launched Bitcoin self-custody wallets in Nigeria in  December 2025. 

That suggests the future may not be a choice between self-custody and exchanges, but regulated platforms that let users keep control of their keys.