I joined a conversation about cash usage on X, with some defending its role in providing freedom and privacy, and others calling it obsolete. What often gets missed, especially from a Western perspective, is how 80-90% of transactions in places like Africa are still cash-based, mostly for small, frequent payments. The real issue isn’t just scalability (like LN), it’s how to onboard the 1.4 billion unbanked into Bitcoin before CBDCs replace cash.

I proposed a Sats2Cash model as a bridge, using human ATMs to handle instant Bitcoin-to-cash bill payments without needing to create offers or meet in person. Someone suggested Vexl, which is solid for privacy-focused P2P trades, but it still requires creating offers and in-person meetings, which makes it hard (if not impossible) to scale quickly enough to achieve mass adoption before CBDCs take over.

For context, at Paxful in 2021, we handled 391k P2P cash trades with £64m in volume, and the average trade size was ~$163. Cash was the fastest-growing payment group in terms of number of trades, but this average trade size is still much larger than the small, everyday cash payments that dominate regions like Africa. Vexl, despite their privacy, will likely face similar issues due to larger trade sizes and slower onboarding.

Additionally, because Vexl is free, it will limit network growth, as there are no financial incentives for users to expand it. By contrast, Sats2Cash incentives intermediaries (human ATMs) with tips, especially in regions like Nigeria, where users traditionally pay a premium to buy Bitcoin.

This is why targeting smaller, frequent payments and creating fast onboarding is crucial. P2P marketplaces like Vexl and Paxful can’t scale fast enough, and without reaching mass adoption before CBDCs, it may be too late for Bitcoin to be adopted for everyday use.

Read more on this approach here: https://medium.com/@stephenkassi/bitcoins-role-in-cash-heavy-economies-revolutionising-financial-inclusion-for-the-unbanked-6e5cffbc4dc4

I hope someone finds it useful.

#Bitcoin #FinancialInclusion #Unbanked #Micropayments #CashIsKing #Cash #CashPayments #Fiat #Sats2Cash #LN #Africa