Festive Liquidity Loop: How crypto becomes a financial lifeline for the unbankable

EVERY year, as the festive season approaches, millions across Africa enter a period of heightened financial pressure. Families prepare to travel, host, give, and support loved ones, while prices rise, obligations multiply, and January school fees loom in the background.

But at the exact moment when financial needs intensify, access to traditional banking narrows. Banks close early, credit approvals slow down, and risk thresholds tighten. For individuals who are already unbankable — those with informal incomes, no credit record, or considered too high-risk — this seasonal shift is more than inconvenient. It is destabilising.

Yet there is a parallel story unfolding beneath the surface. A story of adaptation, resilience, and financial innovation. A story where crypto — not as speculation, but as a utility — quietly steps in as the most accessible and reliable liquidity source for the unbankable during the festive season.

This is the Festive Liquidity Loop:

• A financial system that slows down when consumers speed up
• The festive season exposes a long-standing structural problem
• Traditional finance is not built for seasonal liquidity spikes

Banks wind down operations to close their books for year-end. Branches reduce staff, turnaround times extend, limits become stricter, and support channels slow to a crawl.

But for consumers — especially the unbankable — December is the period when liquidity is needed most urgently:- transport for family travel

• groceries, gifts, and events
• cross-border remittances
• once-off financial support for relatives
• saving for January’s school regrowth.

This creates a systemic mismatch:

• Financial demand rises just as financial access declines
• Crypto Fills the Seasonal Liquidity Gap
• Crypto operates on a different logic.

There are no banking hours, no holiday closures, and no slow approvals. It is borderless, decentralised, peer-driven and available 24/7.

In festive periods, this makes crypto functionally superior for individuals who are excluded by the traditional system. It becomes:

• a remittance channel
• a short-term cash flow tool
• a wealth protection mechanism
• a peer-to-peer liquidity network

Stablecoins, in particular, play a critical role. They behave like digital dollars — fast, portable, and inflation-resistant — allowing unbankable consumers to store value safely through the season.

Crypto becomes the money that moves when banks cannot. As this pattern becomes more pronounced, unbankable consumers naturally ask:

1. How do I safely access crypto if I don’t qualify for a traditional bank account?

Access now requires only a smartphone and data. Reputable platforms offer simplified onboarding and secure wallets that allow people to receive, store, and send crypto without formal documentation. Safety fundamentals:

• - Never share private keys
• - Only transact on trusted platforms
• - Keep recovery phrases offline
• - Avoid unknown OTC traders

This creates a basic but powerful digital finance toolkit.

2. Which crypto options are best for fast, low-cost festive transactions? Stablecoins such as USDT and USDC offer stability and speed, protecting users from volatility while enabling instant settlement. Mobile wallets, P2P marketplaces, and regional OTC desks provide the fastest, lowest-cost channels for moving money during December.

3. How can I convert crypto back into cash when banks are slow or closed?

Liquidity remains available through:

• P2P cash exchangers
• Retail crypto agents
• OTC providers
• Voucher-based cash-out systems

These networks remain active during holidays, enabling consumers to cash out instantly—even on public holidays.

What risks should I watch out for, and how do I protect myself? Festive seasons bring opportunistic scams. The unbankable must guard against:

• fake investment schemes
• impersonator OTC traders
• unrealistic exchange rates

Protection principles:

• only use trusted vendors
• confirm rates before transacting
• use stablecoins to avoid volatility
• keep passwords secure and offline

Crypto is safe when the user is informed.

5. How do I use crypto to protect myself from January debt? Three key strategies create resilience:

• Store festive savings in stablecoins to avoid overspending or inflation
• Use crypto savings products where available
• Leverage instant transfers for school fees, travel, and emergencies

This reduces reliance on mashonisas, high-interest loans, and last-minute borrowing.

The emergence of the Festive Liquidity Loop highlights a critical insight. Financial inclusion is not an annual policy project — it is a seasonal, behavioural, and situational need.

When pressure peaks, people innovate. Where banks retreat, communities build their own financial rails. And where the traditional system excludes, crypto includes.

This is not a rejection of banks — it is a rebalancing.

It is evident that the future of financial inclusion is hybrid. Formal banking on one side, and fast, flexible, consumer-shaped digital finance on the other. The festive season simply makes this future impossible to ignore.

For fintech innovators, banks, regulators, and policymakers, the message is clear: Crypto is no longer an optional curiosity. It is becoming a seasonal economic stabiliser — a tool of dignity, mobility, and access for millions who cannot depend on traditional systems during December.

The question is no longer whether crypto has a role in financial inclusion. The question is whether we are bold enough to design systems that embrace the reality consumers have already discovered.The unbankable have spoken — there is a new money for high-pressure seasons, and it moves at the speed of life.

* Sebaga Manyeula is a recognised Key Opinion Leader in Africa’s fintech and digital assets space. A passionate advocate for financial inclusion, she is also the founding patron of the Give to Live Foundation, which supports abused women and children across Africa.

** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, IOL, or Independent Media.

Get the real story on the go: Follow the Sunday Independent on WhatsApp.