By Binance Africa said on Wednesday that financial literacy programmes for young people will determine how much of Africa’s population benefits from the growth of digital assets over the next decade, as the region’s crypto market continues to expand.
The blockchain platform, a unit of global exchange operator Binance, said it is expanding free educational courses through Binance Academy to teach budgeting, saving and basic money management before introducing users to cryptocurrency and blockchain concepts.
“Financial literacy is not a side project for us, it is the foundation that everything is built on,” Larry Cooke, a Binance Africa executive, said in a statement.
Africa has the world’s youngest population, and young Africans are projected to account for 42% of the global youth population by 2030, according to data compiled by the U.S.-based Population Reference Bureau.
Financial literacy levels across the region remain low, however. Only about 27% of adults in Sub-Saharan Africa are considered financially literate, well below the average in higher-income economies, according to a 2025 analysis citing the S&P Global FinLit Survey.
Cooke said that gap reflects how rarely budgeting, saving and other basic money skills are taught in schools, and argued that addressing it is a prerequisite for any broader adoption of digital assets.
“The rise of AI has shown us how quickly technology can move from unfamiliar to unavoidable,” Cooke said. “Digital assets are heading in a similar direction over the next decade, and the countries that prepare their youth early will be the ones that benefit most.”
Sub-Saharan Africa is currently the third-fastest-growing cryptocurrency market in the world, according to blockchain analytics figures cited by Binance. More than 8% of crypto transaction volume in the region last year involved amounts under $10,000, a share the company said was above the global average, pointing to use by individual consumers rather than large investors alone.
Binance said much of that activity involves cross-border payments and efforts to protect savings from currency volatility, including small businesses and traders settling payments with suppliers in other countries without relying on traditional banking channels.
“This is not a distant trend, it is already happening here,” Cooke said, adding that the company’s focus is on sustaining that momentum “empowering people across the continent.”
Binance Academy, the company’s education arm, offers free courses in multiple languages aimed at people with no prior background in finance or technology. The curriculum starts with fundamentals such as budgeting and saving before introducing blockchain and digital asset concepts, the company said.
“If a young person in Accra or Nairobi understands how money works before they ever encounter a digital asset, they are in a far stronger position to benefit from where this technology advances to next,” Cooke said.
Binance Africa said it plans to continue investing in financial education initiatives across the continent, framing financial confidence, rather than access to trading platforms alone, as the key factor in determining who benefits from digital finance in the coming decade.
Digital assets have drawn increasing attention from African regulators and businesses in recent years as mobile money and cross-border payment platforms have expanded across the continent. Several African governments, including Nigeria and South Africa, have introduced or tightened rules governing cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has previously faced regulatory scrutiny in several African markets, including a dispute with Nigerian authorities in 2024 over unregistered operations and alleged tax liabilities, which the company has said it is working to resolve.
