Binance partners with TikTok sensation Khaby Lame to promote crypto awareness

Binance has been on an aggressive charm campaign in an effort to drive home the global adoption of cryptocurrency and Web3.

From a huge five-year anniversary event in Paris to signing a deal with Cristiano Ronaldo to help the world’s most famous footballer create NFTs, the global crypto exchange has left no stone unturned.

The company also inked a deal with Senegalese TikTok sensation Khaby Lame, to push content that demystifies cryptocurrency to his 142.7m followers.

TikTok, created in 2016 by Chinese company Byte­Dance, was the most downloaded app in the world in Q1 2022, surpassing Instagram with 175m downloads.

Lame became the most followed TikToker in the world at the beginning of the month. He remains hugely popular in his home country and across the continent, which begs the question of whether his new crypto content will help move the dial for blockchain technology in Africa.

It’s a mixed bag for cryptocurrency in Senegal. The government launched a national digital currency, the eCFA, which failed to garner significant traction among citizens, and various startups and companies have entered the country to deepen the reach of cryptocurrency.

On the other, digital literacy rates are low compared to other African countries and while the official language is French most of the population speaks Wolof, which is a local language that has very little material on blockchain – although maybe meta’s new No Language Left Behind AI program will make a difference if it succeeds in making more African languages available in translation on the web.

Nigeria’s recent launch of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) called the eNaira has also been a let-down.

Over to you, Lame. Let’s see if the smile can help. 

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