Almost daily, Stanley Chiemela, a young Nigerian based in Rivers State, in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of the country, moves thousands of naira worth of cryptocurrency as he engages in the activity of traders: buying when the market dips and selling high.
Like millions of others in Africa’s most populous country, trading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which was created as the first digital currency in 2009, has become one of the legitimate ways of making money in a country grappling with immense poverty and underemployment.
The year was 2021, and despite trading in cryptocurrency not being regarded as a crime, it was under governmental restrictions as financial institutions, in February of that year, were banned from allowing cryptocurrency transactions.
“All DMBs, NBFIs, and OFIs, are directed to identify persons and/or entities transacting in or operating cryptocurrency exchanges within their systems and ensure that such accounts are closed immediately,” the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) instructed banks and financial institutions in a circular dated February 5, 2021.
The possible closure of accounts due to their engagement in crypto transactions sent rippling fear and panic through Nigeria’s crypto community.
However, instead of abandoning exchanges, many Nigerians, already beginning to see the financial rewards that sometimes accompany digital currency, with Bitcoin having soared from $0.003 on March 17, 2010, when its price was first recorded, to $33,114.36 by January 31, 2021, actively sought alternatives.
Not only did this ban give rise to the birth of online crypto vendors, but it accelerated the adoption of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) transactions, a feature of exchanges that was first introduced by Binance the previous year as talk of a potential ban intensified.
With the inability to buy and sell directly from their banks, Chiemela, like millions of other Nigerian traders, turned to online vendors, including foreign individuals.
According to him, one of such foreign individuals was a Chinese man who, capitalizing on the ban, positioned himself as the go-to vendor. Nigerians who wished to continue trading would send him crypto, and he would in turn credit them in naira.
“As it was with many that have occurred ever since, the transactions were going well until all of a sudden, this Chinese vendor disappeared with over N100 million in funds of me and my friends. I lost N5 million in that scam,” Chiemela said.
Those were the early days of Nigerians pivoting to online crypto vendors to circumvent governmental restrictions. But within that period, the proliferation of P2P exploded equally.
According to some reports, P2P fueled the adoption of digital assets so much that dealing in crypto became widespread, with Nigerians conducting over $59 billion in crypto transactions between July 2023 and July 2024.
But there are inherent issues in these two means of crypto transactions.
First, within the P2P framework, although there appeared to be heightened security in major platforms that still allow the service, as Binance was forced to discontinue P2P in Nigeria following its clash with the Nigerian government, loopholes exist and are being exploited by people.
According to Eze Prince, a Port Harcourt-based trader, users who are inexperienced or not cautious enough risk losing their money during a P2P transaction.
“There are instances where people in the platform would send fake payment receipts to traders seeking to sell their coins. If you are not careful and verify the transaction, and release the coin in a haste, your money will be gone,” he said.
Another user, Gabriel Nwafor, spoke of an experience where traders would send amounts much lower than the coin’s price.
“I’ve had bad experiences with P2P platforms. I’ve had my money locked up for an entire day because of disputes. Imagine needing that money urgently. Or cases where someone underpaid me, like instead of 200k, they sent 150k, hoping I wouldn’t notice before confirming the transaction. Some people do that intentionally. And even when you raise disputes, the appeals process delays everything,” Nwafor said.
Due to the complex nature of P2P transactions, ridden with several instructions and guidelines, new users often experience challenges in understanding what needs to be done.
This can lead to outright loss of their money when they fail to comply within the 15 minutes required to make a transfer and send proof of payment.
Transactions with online vendors, the informal sector, are ridden with even more challenges.
“Some people who are not yet proficient with using P2P now turn to vendors but the risk of such online, informal transactions is high,” Nwafor said.
He continued: “Recently, one of my friends sent $5,000 worth of crypto to a vendor to get the naira equivalent. The vendor simply blocked him everywhere, yet he’s still online, posting Bible verses like nothing happened. That’s the kind of environment we’re operating in.”
But despite the cynicism, understandable due to the crime that has been associated with crypto, Nigerians, according to Chigemezu Ofoegbu, are increasingly adopting the use of the digital asset, not only as a money-making venture, but as a means of payment, a tool for receiving and sending money across borders.
Ofoegbu, who is the founder of Coinveto, a platform that allows users to convert their money directly from crypto to naira into their bank account without P2P or online vendors who might abscond with their money, says that “majority of Nigerians are dealing in crypto not because they want to trade. Rather, the majority are using crypto to receive money from foreign companies.”
The issue of cross-border payment has remained a major challenge for many Nigerians, from freelancers to entrepreneurs looking to expand their business beyond Nigeria.
Due to several issues, including scarcity of dollars and infrastructural weaknesses within Nigeria’s payment system (gateways), many Nigerians are pivoting to crypto and the exchanges that enable them to facilitate their international online transactions.
“For example, I recently wanted to pay for hosting. I tried all my cards from Visa to Mastercard, and none of them worked. This is despite the Nigerian government saying cards are working and one can make international payment. But the reality is that they’ll work today, tomorrow they won’t,” Ofoegbu said.
The gig economy, freelance writers, designers, developers, virtual assistants, and creators, has risen sharply in Nigeria, contributing significantly to the country’s economy.
With youth unemployment persistently high, the sector has become a vital alternative source of livelihood for many.
According to estimates from the World Bank, Africa’s gig economy could create millions of jobs by 2030, and Nigeria, with its young population, is already positioned as a hub.
But for this potential to truly flourish, access to reliable cross-border payment remains critical. Many freelancers and gig workers in Nigeria now rely on crypto as the primary way to receive payments from clients abroad.
A Nigerian freelance photographer for some of foreign media houses, who pleaded anonymity, said that he believes crypto as a payment system is the future.
“I honestly believe that accepting crypto is where the world and the future is going,” he said.
Yet, after accepting payment in crypto, the challenge often becomes how to safely convert it into naira for local use.
This is where Ofoegbu believes Coinveto provides a safer and more efficient alternative to P2P and informal vendors.
“With Coinveto, you log into our Telegram bot. You see the rate immediately. If you click ‘open wallet,’ the bot generates a personalized wallet address. Any crypto you send there (BTC or USDT) is automatically converted to naira and sent directly to your bank account.”
According to Ofoegbu, it takes less than 30 seconds to 1 minute, making Coinveto a 24/7 crypto vendor that never delays you, never disappears, and never cheats due to its compliance with the recent Investment and Securities Act 2025.
“Since April 1st when we launched, we’ve processed close to ₦100 million in volume. That shows the demand is real,” he said.
Nigeria today ranks among the highest adopters of cryptocurrency globally, with reports from Chainalysis repeatedly placing the country in the top tier of crypto usage.
This widespread adoption highlights both the demand and the necessity: millions of Nigerians are already using digital assets, not just as speculative tools, but as practical payment systems.
If harnessed properly, with safer platforms and clearer regulatory structures, crypto could ease Nigeria’s cross-border payment struggles, empower the gig economy, and ultimately channel billions into the formal economy, providing a much-needed boost to growth and youth employment.
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