Probably one of the words that many Nigerians sigh in pain when it is mentioned is inflation. It involves the increase in prices of goods and services as time goes by and yet the value of our own money continues to decline. In Nigeria we have witnessed inflation nibbling away in our everyday life. You could get garri cheap yesterday, today it has doubled and tomorrow it could be even higher. The wages are stagnant, and yet the prices of food and transport costs as well as that of rent continue to increase. Most of us have the sense that we are working hard and yet money is moving faster than us.

People are trying to find a means to save their money that would not become cheap over the years. Previously, some of them used to store their savings in dollars, pound currencies or euros, as they are more stable than the naira. Some would put money in land, gold or properties. However, in the combat of inflation nowadays, there emerges a new combatant, the cryptocurrency.

The cryptocurrency or crypto, as most people refer to it, is the form of money in the digital world that is not regulated by any central bank or government. The best-known are Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Binance Coin. Crypto can be printed in almost unlimited amounts as compared to our naira where the government can print a lot. An example is the number of Bitcoins which can exist and is restricted to 21 million only. One of the reasons that makes people view it as a good method of safeguarding themselves against inflation is its scarcity.

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Severe shortage is the first cause. Most of the time inflation occurs due to the excess printing of money. When the economy is weak in Nigeria, the government prints more naira so as to settle the debts. The more money that is created the fewer are the points of value. This is not possible with crypto especially with Bitcoin. Their printing cannot be arbitrarily increased just by waking up. This gives it high resistance to inflation.

Second, crypto is non-border. It can be applied in any location across the globe. This is potent to the Nigerians. Freelancing, trading or online work now enlists many people earning in crypto. They are no longer paid in an amount of naira that depreciates daily; they are paid in crypto which regularly maintains or even gains value. This aids them to avoid the full blast of inflation.

Third, crypto is portable. When there is an economic crisis, individuals rush to other assets such as gold. However, gold is heavy, hazardous and cumbersome to transport. You can hold Crypto on your phone or in your head should you commit your wallet keys to memory. This makes it safer and more feasible in the protection of wealth in the situation of inflation.

Fourth, crypto makes people have financial freedom. In Nigeria we are familiar with how banks fail us sometimes. Transactions hang. Prices are soared. Withdrawals are capped. In terms of crypto, you are the bank. No one can block your account and prevent your payments. This is one type of freedom that is worthwhile in times of inflation when everyone is tending to rush to ensure their money.

Enough with that, a lot of Nigerians are already using crypto to combat inflation. People were flooding into Bitcoin and stablecoins such as USDT (Tether) when the naira began losing value at an accelerating rate. Stablecoins are digital currencies pegged to the value of the dollar. As an illustration, 1 USDT = 1 US dollar. Therefore, when your naira is falling every day, you would have an opportunity to exchange it into stablecoins and save its value.

That is why Nigeria is one of the crypto-adoption leaders. The use of crypto is survival and not trendy among many young Nigerians. It acts as a buffer against inflation and a means in which we can plug in to the global economy when our local system continues to fail us.

However we cannot be mistaken. Crypto is no magic bullet. There are also large dangers in it. The first is the volatility of prices. Although crypto such as Bitcoin is effective in acting as a hedge against inflation, the values tend to fluctuate drastically as well. It could be up today, and down tomorrow. Putting all your savings in crypto without knowledge about the risk is going to make you suffer more than benefit.

Second comes the issue of government regulation. Nigerians have experienced a government whose attitude to crypto has been very hostile. When it comes to crypto currency, at one point, banks had been forbidden to facilitate its transactions. Although the people continued to trade by other means, it is risky to have no clear regulation. In the event that the government decides to tighten its grip, ordinary spectators can be deprived or punished.

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Third, there are scams and frauds everywhere. Much crypto is fake and the Ponzi schemes due to the newness and partial regulation of crypto are aiding these fake platforms in perpetrating scams involving people. Nigerians have lost billions of them in crypto scams. Lack of proper education misleads many individuals who become trapped in unfavorable situations in the desire to avoid inflation only to get into worse situations.

Fourth, it has the problem of access and knowledge. Not all people know crypto or have means of using it. Most elder Nigerians are yet to stop using cash. Some people do not even understand how the wallets, keys, and blockchain really operate even among the young people who have heard of Bitcoin. They are defenseless because of this lack of knowledge.

Does crypto combat inflation then? You can ask me what the honest answer is: yes, but with caution. Crypto will become a powerful instrument to fight inflation provided that it is used properly. It is not an absolute substitute to our currency yet it may serve as a store value and form of escaping the worst consequences of inflation.

Among the Nigerians, the purpose of the crypto is already evident. It will make us have choices. Crypto, and in particular stablecoins, provides security in the case of high inflation and a weak naira. It helps us to be attached to the dollar without having an account in America. It lends us authority to save, trade and earn in the manner that the inflationary naira can never succeed in stripping us off.

And yet we have to watch as we do. Cryptocurrency is not a short way to becoming a millionaire. This is not an assurance. It is an instrument, and like all instruments, it has to be managed with intelligence. The answer is education. Before we invest we have to learn, do research and understand. Instead of fighting crypto, the government should regulate it in the manner that makes people safe but not hinder innovation.

Inflation will not be leaving any time soon. In the case of Nigeria, and most others, it can even be worse. This implies that an increasing number of individuals are going to use crypto as a shield. The question here is will our government agree with this reality or continue to fight.

Money is evolving towards the future. Crypto is not a fad, it is that future. It has proved that it could assist the normal people to fight inflation and retain wealth. The use of crypto will also increase, particularly in such nations as Nigeria where inflation rates are high.

In my mind, as a woman in Nigeria and seeing prices increase daily, I will see crypto as an opportunity and a challenge. Hope since it provides me a solution to the trap of inflation. Challenge in the sense that it requires knowledge, discipline and wisdom that it be used effectively. As long as we are responsible about this, as long as we educate ourselves and make good use of crypto, it can be perhaps our greatest tool against inflation.