Billionaire Tim Draper says Africa can leapfrog to Bitcoin

American billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper says Africa could move straight from traditional currencies to Bitcoin ahead of the rest of the world, pointing to the continent's young population and its fast adoption of mobile money.

Draper made the comments in a conversation with Olubunmi Fabanwo, the founder of the Africa Blockchain Festival, ahead of the event's 2026 edition in Nairobi from Oct. 15 to 17.

"I think Africa can leapfrog the rest of the world by jumping from fiat currency to Bitcoin, and make all money in software before the rest of the world catches up," Draper said.

He said Africans were already using Bitcoin to make payments and to connect with the global economy. "I'm very excited about what Africa's done. Africa's been a big part of the Bitcoin economy," he said.

Draper argued that the same conditions that left many Africans outside the formal banking system could now help newer technologies spread faster there. The continent built much of its digital finance on mobile phones rather than bank branches, and millions of people send and receive money without a conventional bank account. Draper said blockchain could go well beyond cryptocurrency trading, with uses in payments, business operations, financial reporting and record keeping.

Draper is one of Silicon Valley's best-known Bitcoin advocates. He founded the venture firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson in 1985 and was an early investor in companies including Hotmail, Skype, Baidu and Tesla. In 2014, he bought about 30,000 bitcoins seized by US authorities from the Silk Road marketplace at a government auction, and he has since made a series of bold public predictions about the cryptocurrency's price.

His Africa exposure includes Nigerian payments company Paga and the Savannah Fund, a venture fund focused on African startups. Draper said he would keep looking for African founders to back. "I'm very happy to continue to look and potentially invest in entrepreneurs who are doing extraordinary things, not just for Africa, but maybe from Africa to the rest of the world," he said.

His comments come as Kenya builds out its rules for digital assets. The country's Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 came into force in November 2025. It sets up licensing for companies offering crypto wallets, payment processing, exchanges, brokerage and investment advice, with oversight split between the Central Bank of Kenya and the Capital Markets Authority.

The Nairobi festival will bring together investors, founders, technology companies, regulators and policymakers under the theme "Capital, Code, and Continuity: Building Africa's Permanent Digital Economy." Organizers say the event is meant to connect African startups with international investors and give policymakers and industry a forum to discuss how the continent's digital economy should develop.

Fabanwo said the growing contact between African policymakers, entrepreneurs and investors showed how quickly the industry was moving. "The core of it is trust and freedom," he said.

He said Africa's young population was eager for faster progress. "As young people, we're bursting with energy, we want things to happen as quickly as possible, and we're excited about the future," he said.

Draper's call for Africa to embrace Bitcoin runs against the position of many of the continent's central banks, which have warned about the price swings and fraud risks tied to cryptocurrencies. Kenya's new law reflects a middle path, bringing crypto businesses under regulation rather than banning them.