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I have been thinking of a new way to saving emergency funds and basically any money that I cannot afford to lock up in a long term investment because I might need it soon.
So here's the deal, this is money that is supposed to be accessible on short notice, and it is advised that it is kept it in an account that is not easily accessible so you don't get tempted to spend it, either a savings or mutual funds account.
But as is common knowledge these days, you are better off keeping your money under your pillow because the savings rate in Nigeria right now is next to nothing, let us not even try to compare it with inflation rates. You will just cry.
There is also the fact that the naira keeps losing value every day, so in summary, saving in Naira is not a good idea if you have other options
The easy solution would be to save in dollars right?
Or any other foreign currency.
Or any other foreign currency.
But then with the many restrictions and rules around dollar accounts in Nigeria today, you are better off holding your dollars in cash, but even that is not ideal for many reasons security being top of mind.
There also the fact that you will have to go through a lot of gymnastics when its time to spend your money. In this scenario, trying to earn interest on your dollars is even out of the question.
So what do I plan to use now?
Stablecoins
Stablecoins
Stable coins are cryptocurrencies that have pegged their price/market value to another currency or a commodity like the US dollar or gold
The long and short of all this is that unlike other cryptocurrencies that are very volatile the value of stable coins is always going to be the same. There are a lot of stablecoins but the most popular are USDT, BUSD, and USDCoin
They are all pegged to the value of the dollar, so at every point in time, the value of 1 of this is always equal to one dollar.
So buying this is almost the same as buying dollars only that you are holding digital currencies.
So instead of saving in Naira, you could save in any of these cryptocurrencies
So instead of saving in Naira, you could save in any of these cryptocurrencies
You could buy BUSD from @binance and @BundleAfrica
USDT from @QuidaxAfrica and @binance
And USDcoin on @buycoins_africa and @binance
USDT from @QuidaxAfrica and @binance
And USDcoin on @buycoins_africa and @binance
You can buy from all these platforms easily in Naira so accessibility is not a problem.
I think there are a lot of advantages to holding stablecoins as opposed to holding naira or holding dollars in Nigeria, some of which are
You are protected from the ever depreciating nature of the naira
You can sell you stablecoins and withdraw to naira whenever you need them, even at 2 am
You can send money to anyone in any part of the world, so far they have a crypto wallet and a way to convert the coins to their fiat currency.
You don't have to worry about the many restrictions on dollar accounts in Nigeria.
In the future, a lot of these platforms will have cards that will enable you to spend your crypto without stress (Binance already has a card, I am not sure if it is available for us in this part of the world).
Now to take things further a bit, @binance and @BundleAfrica actually have features that can help you earn interest on your crypto.
They both have flexible and fixed savings options, the flexible option allowing you to withdraw your coins whenever you need them, and the fixed option requiring that you leave your funds for a period of time.
This is something you would typically not get from holding dollars. Except on @PiggyBankNG
This is a glimpse of what @BundleAfrica offers
And this is what @binance offers
As with everything in the world, I would advise that you take out time to research and understand any step you want to take.
Especially when it comes to money
Especially when it comes to money
This is just a result of me wondering for months how to save in a way that does not involve naira and also avoids the many complexities of having a dollar account in Nigeria.
Gracias 
