An updated list of platforms you can use for crypto transactions in Nigeria in 2024

The Nigerian crypto industry has experienced a stormy year. The most recent of the series of upheavals was two weeks ago when a popular crypto exchange, OKX announced that it is withdrawing its services in Nigeria, citing unfavourable regulatory conditions in the country.

Recall that the Nigerian authorities have been clamping down on crypto exchanges and crypto peer-to-peer platforms in the country citing allegations of foreign exchange market manipulation and tax evasion. Also, the authorities have been in a prolonged legal battle with the largest crypto exchange in the world, Binance, which led to the detainment of two of the exchange’s executives. 

When the imbroglio got to a head, Binance had to disable its p2p trading feature and other exchanges like OKX (which eventually announced its departure from Nigeria two weeks ago) and KuCoin followed, bowing to regulatory pressure. Although Richard Teng, Binance CEO had earlier claimed he was working closely with the Nigerian government to resolve the situation, he later announced that the Nigerian authorities were demanding bribes from its detained executives to make the money laundering trial initiated against them go away.

Due to the mounting regulatory challenges, some local crypto exchanges like Luno had to cease operations. Apart from regulatory clampdown, several crypto exchanges, especially native ones have closed shop for diverse reasons.

The domino effect of the Terra and FTX collapses of 2022, the crypto bear market that went on for too long, lack of funding and inability to attract customers in the Nigerian market are some of the factors behind the shutdowns.

Some Nigerian crypto companies had to lay off staff, restructure/pivot, or shut down completely. While some blamed exposure to FTX, some blamed unfavourable market conditions, while one attributed its struggles to a reported hack of customers’ funds. 

Nevertheless, there are still some platforms that Nigerian crypto enthusiasts can use to complete transactions in 2024. In this article, we have put together a list for your consideration: 

Bitmama 

Led by Ruth Isalema, Bitmama is one of the leading native crypto exchanges in the country. Despite the regulatory clampdown, Bitmama is still active in the market and its mobile application and website is still very available for usage in the country. 

On Bitmama, users can buy Bitcoin and a handful of other digital assets with different payment options and convert local currency to digital assets on the platform’s marketplace.

Quidax 

Quidax is also one of the long-standing native crypto platforms in Nigeria. The company has weathered many challenges and it continues to offer services to the Nigerian crypto market, despite regulatory constraints.

There are over 60 cryptocurrencies to buy and sell on Quidax including BTC, QDX, and USDT. With the easy-to-use interface, the exchange remains a top choice for Nigerians to make crypto transactions.

Yellow Card 

As a Pan-African exchange with presence in around 15 African countries, Yellow Card is among the standing crypto exchanges in Nigeria. Yellow Card allows Nigerian users to buy cryptocurrencies with naira, sell and withdraw directly to their bank account, with no fees.

The platform has one of the easiest to use interfaces among crypto exchanges in Nigeria.

Binance & KuCoin

Binance, the largest crypto exchange in the world and KuCoin has always taken the leading positions in terms of popularity in the Nigerian crypto market. So it didn’t come as a surprise when the clampdown kickstarted with the two exchanges. 

Due to the unresolved issues with the Nigerian authorities, the exchanges still haven’t reinstated their peer-to-peer trading features. However, Nigerian crypto traders can still access the platforms’ applications (not website) to perform basic and advanced crypto transactions. 

Bybit 

In a situation that can be likened to – flourishing in hard times, Bybit is a crypto exchange that has largely benefited from the crypto clampdown in Nigeria. This exchange that has been in the Nigerian market for a while has always struggled for market share, due to dominance of Binance and Kucoin.

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But fortunately for Bybit, since p2p features are no longer available on Binance and KuCoin, Bybit has become the go-to platform for Nigerian crypto traders for p2p and other crypto transactions.

With an app interface similar to Binance, Bybit is gradually becoming a darling of Nigerian crypto users. 

Gate.io

This is one of the longest-running platforms in the crypto industry. Gate.io was more popular among highly technical traders, but recent developments have made it an attractive choice for p2p traders, as it’s now one of the few global exchanges still running a p2p market in Nigeria.

The p2p interface is quite simple and the platform takes Know Your Customer (KYC) firewall seriously. It’s one of the standing exchanges for Nigerians to perform crypto transactions.

Telegram 

Telegram used to be just a messaging app like WhatsApp. However, the platform in recent years has started incorporating Web3 features.

Apart from having a native blockchain – The Open Network (TON), Telegram houses almost all Tap-to-earn game applications that has become the web3 rave in 2024.

Most importantly, Telegram users can now have an inbuilt wallet on the messaging app, where they can own, store, buy/sell and trade digital assets via banking channels. Also, Telegram users can access a p2p platform where they can trade select digital assets with other users.

With Binance, OKX, and KuCoin p2p gone, this Telegram p2p platform is becoming popular among Nigerians.