Buy Bitcoin; Top 10 Best of the Best BTC Exchanges in Nigeria You should know
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In this post, I listed the top 10 of the Best Exchanges to Buy Bitcoin in Nigeria 2020.
This top 10 was selected after a careful review of over 80 bitcoin exchanges in Nigeria.
From my over 4 years of experience in cryptocurrency trading, these are the most efficient, reliable, reputable, and safest exchanges used by most Nigerians.
I will also explain the types of exchanges there are and how to buy bitcoin in Nigeria.
So, lets get started.
Table of Content
- List of the 10 Best Platforms to Buy Bitcoins in Nigeria
- My Verdict (Which is the Best of the Best?)
- Bitcoin Exchange Types | Their Pros and Cons
- How to Buy Bitcoin in Nigeria
- Conclusion
Top 10 Exchanges to Buy bitcoin in Nigeria
1. Luno
Luno is the most popular cryptocurrency exchange in Nigeria.
It was launched as Bitx in 2013 and later rebranded to Luno. Its biggest market is South Africa and Nigeria.
Luno has one of the easiest to use interface. The ease of using its app is second to none.
It is the first exchange to allows makers to buy and sell cryptos at zero transaction fee
Luno processes deposits and withdrawals instantly 24/7, it’s a must-have exchange if you want to buy bitcoins fast and securely in Nigeria
2. Quidax
Quidax is a leading Nigeria Bitcoin Exchange that was launched in August 2018. It is the first exchange owned by a Nigerian to meet and surpass International Standards.
Quidax is the first bitcoin exchange to support instant deposit and withdrawal of the Naira 24/7. It also introduced a 0% maker fee making it the exchange to buy bitcoin in Nigeria at the cheapest price.
3. Binance
Binance was launched in 2017 after a successful ICO.
It is the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by trade volume with over 100 coins actively trading on the platform.
Up to 1 billion USD worth of bitcoins is traded on Binance each day.
Binance in 2020 introduced the Naira wallet allowing Nigeria users to buy bitcoin directly with Naira on the platform.
Deposits and withdrawals are also instant on Binance.
4. Remitano
Remitano is the safest and the most used P2P Bitcoin exchange in Nigeria. Over 800-million-naira worth of bitcoins are traded on Remitano from Nigeria each day.
It beats other Peer-to-Peer exchanges in terms of security, customer support, services offered, and the number of supported coins.
Remitano remains my favorite P2P cryptocurrency exchange since 2016.
5. BlockVila
Blockvila is the most trusted and reputable OTC exchange in Nigeria.
It was launched in 2017 as Ngexchanger but later rebranded to Blockvila to indicate that its business now extends beyond the shores of Nigeria.
It is based in Port Harcourt Nigeria and still remains one of the safest exchanges to buy bitcoins of any volume in Nigeria.
6. BuyCoins
BuyCoins is a P2P exchange that is situated in Lagos, Nigeria.
The exchange was launched in 2017 as Bitkoin Africa but later rebranded to BuyCoins in February 2018.
It was founded by Timi Ajiboye, a software developer, and a team of 9 others.
It caters to Nigerians in Nigeria who are interested in trading cryptocurrencies.
7. Paxful
Paxful is a peer-to-peer bitcoin exchange that was founded in the USA.
Its unique selling point is that it has over 300 payment methods to buy bitcoin with. Most of its customers in Nigeria are those selling Gift Cards (Amazon, iTunes, Google, etc) for Bitcoin.
I personally have not sold gift cards for Bitcoin on this platform but I have sold Neteller and Webmoney for Bitcoins.
Another amazing thing to know about Paxful is their Charity outreach. They have sponsored a number of school building projects in Africa. You can check out the YouTube video here.
However, unlike Remitano that makes it very difficult for a trader to defraud other traders on its platform, Paxful is less regulated by its customer support thus you have to observe safety precautions not to get defrauded.
You can check out my review of Paxful for more details
8. Redeeem
Redeem is the safest P2P exchange to sell and buy over 30 gift cards for Bitcoin at the best rate.
It’s a P2P platform but however does not allow direct interaction between buyers and sellers to ensure maximum safety and anonymity.
It was founded in 2018 by Kyle Hill and Mike Townsend from Los Angeles California.
I have done an extensive review of the platform and how to use it.
9. Yellow Card
Yellow card is a relatively new platform. It was sponsored by Binance to increase the adoption of Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies in Africa.
Yellow card lets you;
- Buy bitcoins and other cryptos at a very good rate with naira using cash and bank transfer
- Accept bitcoins for your goods and service and have the equivalent sent directly to your bank account
- Become a bitcoin vendor i.e. easily buy and sell bitcoins to your customers at a physical location using the Yellow Card app.
With these unique features, Yellow Card has seen increased adoption in Nigeria.
10. LocalBitcoins
LocalBitcoins is one of the oldest bitcoin exchanges wordwide
It is the first P2P bitcoin exchange and was founded in June 2012 and it’s still thriving to date.
On this platform, you can buy and sell bitcoin using over 30 payment methods including Altcoins.
Exchanges with Great Potentials that did not Make the List
Redimit:
This OTC exchange is 2019 new. It offers excellent service and might make my list in 2021. Currently, you can only sell bitcoins on Redimit.
InstantGold:
This exchange has existed for over 10 years now. The service is solid. However, It needs to upgrade its interface.
Also read: Bitcoins exchanges in Nigeria: The Complete list (over 80)
My Verdict: Which is the Best exchange to Buy Bitcoin in Nigeria?
If you have carefully followed this post, you will see that the exchanges are of different types. They have their particular use cases and types which I will explain in the next section.
So the best of the best depends on what you want to use it for.
… When buying BTC I have to consider
- My payment method (debit card, gift card, bank transfer, etc)
- Price (Which exchange have the best price at that instant)
- Speed (how quickly do I need it)
- Motive (Buy to trade, store or shop)
For me, Luno, Quidax, Binance are a must-have if you want to quickly buy, sell, or trade bitcoins.
Since they all support instant deposit and withdrawal in Naira, you should create an account with the 3 of them in case of an arbitrage trading opportunity.
On Remitano, you can buy a huge amount of bitcoin at a very good stable price if you understand how to use it.
If you need to sell or buy GiftCards safely at the best price, Redeeem is no doubt the best.
Finally, if you want to sell or buy e-currencies like Neteller, Paypal, Perfect Money, etc. for bitcoins, you go for Paxful or LocalBitcoins depending on the one that gives you the best price.
I personally have account with all the exchanges listed above. You can do the same.
That said let’s talk about exchange types and how they work.
Bitcoin Exchange Types | Their Pro and Cons
There are basically 3 types of bitcoin exchanges. They are;
- Broker OTC (Over the Counter) exchange
- P2P (Peer to Peer) OTC exchange
- Trading Platform.
Some exchanges, however, combined 2 or 3 of these types in one.
Broker OTC Exchange
This is the simplest type of exchange. It is the first generation of BTC exchanges. How it works basically is that you pay money to the exchange and they send bitcoin to you or, you send bitcoin to the exchange and they send money to your bank account?
Pros
- High Trust Factor: Most of these brokers are registers and have a physical office so you are sure you are dealing with a company that is reputable and will not run with your money.
Cons
- Susceptible to Government Interference: Since they operate a central account, they can have their bank account frozen if they fall out with the government. There is a case where a broker receives a huge amount of money to buy bitcoin from a hacked bank account. EFCC froze the account for investigation. To mitigate against this, Broker OTC exchanges require ID and residency verification from their customers before they can-do high-volume transaction.
- Some of them are slow and might not operate 24/7 since it requires someone to manually operate it, However, there are technologies to automate this now.
P2P (Peer-To-Peer) OTC Exchange
This type of exchange does not directly sell or purchase BTC from its users, rather they connect buyers to sellers and modulate the transaction using an escrow system. This is an OTC between two persons directly. This is how It works;
Say Ivory want to buy bitcoin from Mike on a P2P exchange.
- Ivory will enter the number of bitcoins she wants to buy from Mike on the exchange.
- The exchange will hold onto that number of Mike’s bitcoin and make it inaccessible to Mike.
- Ivory will pay the equivalent in fiat (say Naira) to Mike’s bank account and indicate that she has made payment.
- Once Mike receives the money, he will confirm that he has received it.
- The exchange will release the bitcoin to Ivory immediately.
In case Ivory refuses to make the payment or Mike refuses to confirm it, they both have to present proof to the exchange, and the exchange will release the bitcoin to whoever is correct and probably ban the liar.
Pros
- There is no central account and thus it’s not susceptible to government interference.
- Trades can go on 24/7 once there are people to trade
Cons
- Fraud due to human error: Some persons have mistakenly confirmed a transaction or were tricked into confirming a transaction by other users without actually receiving the money in their bank account. By doing this, they lose their bitcoin and never got it back. As a safety measure, the exchange always warns users to make sure they received their money before confirming a transaction.
- Risk of getting account frozen: Just as we mentioned in the OTC Cons, you might receive money from a hacked bank account for BTC especially if you are trading high volume. This might lead to EFCC blocking your bank account for investigation. To mitigate against this, P2P requires users to verify their ID and Residency, They also inform users to take note that the fund they receive is coming to an account with the same name as the person they are trading with.
Here is a visual made by Remitano of how the escrow works.
Trading Platform/Exchange
These are platforms where traders trade cryptocurrency pairs such as BTC/NGN, BTC/USDT BTC/ETH etc. OTC platforms that have incorporated this call it “Exchange”. The Exchange is actually P2P, but in this case, you are trading only on the platform, and you don’t know who you are trading with, you are only concerned with the numbers on the screen. Trades here are executed instantly.
Pros
- Its has high volume and liquidity
- It’s instant
- It provides users with charts and trading tools
- Traders can set up bots to trade for them
- Pro traders make a living using this platform.
Cons
- To withdraw your money to your bank account, you will have to go through an OTC or P2P.
- Most of these exchanges are centralized thus making it susceptible to hackers.
Now that we have known the type of bitcoin exchanges there are, let’s dive right into the 10 best bitcoin exchanges in Nigeria.
How to Buy Bitcoin in Nigeria
- Go to Luno, create an account, and verify it.
- Click on ‘Wallet’ and to deposit Naira into your Luno Naira wallet either by bank transfer or by Debit card.
- Click on Buy, select ‘Bitcoin’ to buy bitcoin with the naira in your naira wallet. This happens instantly and the bitcoin can be seen in your Luno Bitcoin wallet. You can transfer it to anywhere from there.
The short video below outlines these simple steps.
Conclusion
I have shown you the best 10 bitcoin exchanges in Nigeria and how to buy Bitcoin really fast on Luno.
Now its your turn…
What do you think about the list?
Is there any exchange that should be there that is isn’t or one that is there that shouldn’t?
Or maybe you have a question.
Let me know right away in the comment section.
Don’t forget to share.
Cheers.
PS.
If you want to learn how to trade cryptocurrencies profitably, then enroll for our Crypto Currency Mastery Course by going to www.ctmastery.com. You can also join our Telegram community at https://t.me/ctmastery
Originally published at https://nigeriabitcoincommunity.com on June 6, 2020.
