South Africans and other developing nations among top NFT adopters globally

What

South Africa places 12th for non-fungible token (NFT) adoption globally, a survey revealed 

Why

NFTs have had a major resurgence in the latter half of 2021, with some digital art pieces fetching millions of dollars in the NFT marketplaces

What next

The survey further revealed that 9.4% of South Africans surveyed planned to own an NFT in future 

The story 

South Africa has the twelfth-highest NFT adoption rate in the world, according to the latest survey results by data company Finder. These findings were based on a survey of 28,000 people in 20 countries. South Africans between the ages of 18 and 24 are the most likely to have NFTs (11%), while men (10.5%) in South Africa are more likely to own NFTs than women (6.3%). 

The Philippines came out tops with 32% of respondents indicating they own NFTs, followed by Thailand (27%), Malaysia (24%), the UAE (23%) and Vietnam (17%). A mere 3% of respondents from the UK and the US owned NFTs. 

The survey highlighted a trend of NFTs becoming particularly popular among lower income earners, as people leave their jobs to trade NFTs or play NFT play-to-earn games. Based on the percentage of Nigerian responders indicating they were interested in buying NFTs in future (21.7%), Nigeria is expected to have the biggest growth in NFT adoption from 13.7% to 35.4%. Other countries that are expected to see a marked growth in NFT adoption include Peru, Venezuela and the United Arab Emirates, according to the survey.