Busha is one of several African startups offering crypto-backed loans. The emerging product, which borrows some features from the traditional finance sector where lending is a profit centre, could expand core services to crypto users that are overlooked in the broader secured lending market.
It could signal a maturing crypto market, especially if the startups are actually deploying their own capital into loans, rather than simply intermediating and sourcing liquidity from other global lending protocols, such as US-based Morpho. But as some African crypto lenders target the broader mass market, they face a bigger challenge: expanding the product beyond people who already hold crypto.