How to buy Bitcoin with Mobile Money in Africa
Update: BVNK is now focussing on providing core banking infrastructure for digital assets and fiat to financial institutions directly, and are working closely with regulators and governments to help usher in new finance.
At BVNK we are always trying to make using cryptocurrencies as easy and as simple as possible. To help with this, we will be publishing a series of tutorial articles on how to get started with BVNK.
Tutorials
Opening a Bitcoin account on BVNK
Buying Bitcoin on BVNK
Buying Bitcoin with Mobile Money (this article)
Buying BVK Token on BVNK
How to send or receive Bitcoin
Currently, our focus is Africa and to be able to enable users there to buy cryptocurrency, we had to look further than cards or bank transfers. Enter Mobile Money.
We now support:
- M-pesa
- Airtel Money (Uganda & Ghana)
- MTN Mobile Money (Uganda & Ghana)
- Tigo Cash (Ghana)
Before you can buy Bitcoin with Mobile Money, you need to have signed up for a BVNK account. If you haven’t already got a BVNK account, you can follow these instructions or sign up here. You will also need a Bitcoin account, if you don’t already have one, follow these instructions.
Buying Bitcoin with Mobile Money
First, log into BVNK and click on “But Cryptocurrencies” in the panel on the left or in the menu in the top left on mobile.
On desktop it will look like this:
And on mobile it will look like this:
Then, choose the cryptocurrency you want to buy by clicking on the box next to “Coin” on desktop or the box that has “Bitcoin” in it on mobile.
Next, at how much local currency you want to spend. This is how much you will be charged not how much cryptocurrency you want. Select “Mobile Money” from the drop down and click the “Buy Now” button.
We will send a confirmation message to the mobile number you signed up with and it will automatically use the Mobile Money provider linked to that number.
Important: If you do not get a confirmation message on your phone, please check that your number is correct and try again. You can do this by going to the “Profile” tab in the panel on the left, or in the menu if you’re on a mobile device. Make sure that you include your country code.
It will look like this on desktop:
or like this on mobile:
If you continue to have trouble, please contact us.
Once you have confirmed the transaction, your cryptocurrency will be transferred to your cryptocurrency account.
Note: it takes some time to transfer Bitcoin into your account.
You will see that your account has a “Balance” and an “Available balance”. When you buy Bitcoin, your “Balance” will change straight away but the “Available Balance” will only change when the purchase has been completed in the background. Only once your “Available Balance” is also changed can you send Bitcoin to someone.
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BVNK is API driven banking infrastructure for digital assets and fiat.
We enable banks to operate more like FinTechs by providing an agile platform with which to create and integrate modern finance.
Find out more here or to get in touch to find out how we can enable your bank to integrate innovation.
