Cryptocurrencies proved to be an invaluable tool for those who don’t have access to traditional financial services (“the unbanked”) or suffer from insane monetary policies of local governments – a perfect description for the majority of Nigerians. But with the exception of cryptocurrency mining and a crypto paying job, you still need to get coins somewhere.
And a p2p marketplace Bitpapa is that place.
Why crypto is so popular in Nigeria It is estimated that over 30% of Nigeria’s more than 200M population have owned crypto by now. According to the Statista Global Consumer Survey, this country was the global leader in terms of cryptocurrency adoption in 2021. In its Into the Cryptoverse Report of 2022, global exchange KuCoin talks about 35% of adult Nigerians who used crypto in the last six months.
Most importantly, this phenomenal cryptocurrency adoption had been well underway long before the bull market of 2021. Bitcoin’s rise to popularity among locals started in 2016 when Nigeria’s central bank (CBN) introduced strict capital controls in an effort to curb the use of the US dollar throughout the country. They didn’t see Bitcoin coming.
Crude oil exports remain the main pillar of the Nigerian economy, but the irony is that since 2015 Nigeria has been receiving more money through remittances than from the sale of oil. In such circumstances, the advent of Bitcoin as a value transfer vehicle was a matter of time – as well as the cryptocurrency operations ban imposed by the CBN on January 12, 2017.
With the Zimbabwean dollar and its spectacular collapse as an illustrative example, it is easy to see why crypto has gained so much traction across the entire continent. The national currency of Nigeria, Naira, loses 10-20% of its purchasing power every year, and that says a lot as to why so many Nigerians have been moving into crypto in the last few years.
Indeed, 13% official inflation rate in Nigeria for 2020 is a far cry from 550% in Zimbabwe, but there's definitely more to come. Add to the mix limited access to basic financial services in the country and Bitcoin becomes king here.
The throne is never empty.
Bitpapa comes to town The story about cryptocurrency adoption in Nigeria is neither unique to this nation nor specific to African countries in general. In fact, anywhere across the globe people suffer from inflation and abuse of authority. This led to the advance of p2p marketplaces, extremely popular in places with uncertain regulations and lack of legal clarity.
Bitpapa has been in this business since 2018, and like other p2p marketplaces, it facilitates a free conversion of cryptocurrencies into fiat and vice versa. Unlike centralized exchanges, you don’t need to make a deposit in your local currency to buy crypto here. And you don’t need to go through an identity verification process, either.
If you want to buy Bitcoin, you pay the seller directly by transferring the payment to his account or card while the seller’s cryptocurrency is held locked in escrow for the entire duration of the trade.
This approach eliminates the risk of losing money due to the seller's ill intent. He can’t run away with his coins after the buyer has paid him. On the other hand, the escrowed coins are released by the seller only when he confirms the receipt of the money from the buyer. Thus, the seller is also protected from a malicious buyer.
It is easy to see that, unlike centralized exchanges, the marketplace doesn’t participate in the money transfer from the buyer to the seller, and cannot possibly rip you off or freeze your funds. And as soon as you receive the coins from the seller, you are free to withdraw them to an external wallet as you see appropriate.
Bitpapa designed an extremely convenient trading platform that features an easy-to-use web interface, a handy mobile app, and a smart Telegram bot. With these, you can exchange BTC, ETH, TON, XMR and USDT for an array of fiat currencies. You can also use the service as a free multicurrency cryptowallet for storing your coins.
And the good news is that the service is now available in Nigeria as well as a few other African countries.
What’s in it for Nigerians?
Bitpapa brings together English-speaking buyers and sellers from Nigeria who are now able to protect the purchasing power of their savings by switching from the ever depreciating Nigerian Naira to Bitcoin and other cryptos. More advanced users can build sophisticated trading strategies with Bitpapa and take advantage of crypto’s everyday volatility.
Converting Naira to crypto is as simple as selecting the cryptocurrency (for example, Bitcoin) and the fiat currency (Naira) in the Filter form, choosing the seller of coins from the list of sellers according to your personal liking and preferred payment method, then conducting a trade with the seller.
You can buy crypto on Bitpapa with such payment methods as Chipper Cash, gift cards from a bunch of outfits, bank transfers. Ultimately, you can use any payment method that allows you to prove the payment to the seller. If you don’t find the desired method, let the Bitpapa support team know and it will be added in less than no time.
Bitpapa plans on holding both online and offline events dedicated to raising cryptocurrency awareness among Nigerians, creating job opportunities for local talent, implementing reward and loyalty programs for active Nigerian traders, etc.
Bottom Line The smart use of cryptocurrencies allows you to make money from both short-term price fluctuations and long-term strategic growth, whichever comes first. Moreover, by building a solid stash of digital assets and carefully managing it, you can turn the tables on monetary authorities themselves, hellbent on taking the purchasing power from you.
Bitpapa aims to offer the right tools to avoid the traps of pervasive currency devaluations and do away with financial slavery for good.
This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.
© 2022 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.