Binance and Others Are Rushing to Provide Stablecoins to Nigerian Crypto Users

The Nigerian cryptocurrency market may be on the verge of a local bull run, thanks to newly popularized avenues to the global market.

"The majority of users in Nigeria use Binance mobile on their phones," he said, adding there are roughly 4,000 traders in Binance's Nigerian Telegram group.

Although Binance was one of the first global exchanges to launch a fiat-on-ramp in Nigeria, a market largely dominated by peer-to-peer exchanges like LocalBitcoins and Paxful, Binance isn't the only game in town.

In the meantime, BuyCoins is using stablecoins to help onboard unbanked users.

Lasebikan said the exchange now handles roughly $5 million in daily volume, predominantly in bitcoin trading.

The modest infusion of stablecoins into the market served as an indirect on-ramp to the crypto-only platform.

The ethereum-centric stablecoin project gave a $15,000 grant to the internet service provider Althea to offer connectivity in exchange for DAI stablecoins in Abuja, Nigeria's capital city.

She said they'll be expanding to Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, next month and encouraging initial node operators to provide WiFi to local mobile subscribers, generating their own crypto income.

"Most crypto users in Nigeria are young people in schools."

In addition to a few incumbent African exchanges from pre-2017, like Luno, there are now several exchanges focused on connecting Nigerians to the global cryptocurrency market.