All links are external & open in a new tab, except for "Read Review" buttons. Before jumping into this page, an important disclosure.
You'll need a Bitcoin wallet before you buy since some exchanges require one.
Don't have a wallet? Read our guide on the best Bitcoin wallets.
LocalBitcoins Popular Buy Bitcoin Read Review
LocalBitcoins is an escrow service which also helps to match bitcoin buyers and sellers. The most common method of payment for purchase is cash deposit. However, users may advertise trades for whichever payment method they prefer.
Buying bitcoins via an in-person meeting, secured and facilitated by LocalBitcoins, may be one of the fastest and most private ways to buy bitcoins in any country.
- Can be private, fast and easy
- In-person trades require no personal information
- Purchases of bitcoin can be made quickly via cash deposit
- Beware of scams; always follow the rules!
- Harder to buy large amounts of bitcoins compared to large exchanges
- Slightly to significantly higher prices than regular exchanges; premium for higher privacy
Luno Popular Buy Bitcoin
Luno is a Bitcoin exchange with a presence in South Africa, Singapore, Nigeria, Malaysia and Indonesia. It offers 0% fees for market makers, meaning you can avoid fees if you place a buy order then wait for a seller to take it.
Luno also offers an Instant Buy feature.
- One of the most trusted Bitcoin exchanges in Asia
- Free deposits and low withdrawal fees
- Low fees; 0% for market makers and only 0% - 1% for market takers (depending on fiat currency)
- High to infinite limits for exchange, depending on verification level
- Users should not store bitcoins in Luno's wallet service
- Limited deposit options, usually only bank transfer, and no credit/debit card options
NairaEx Buy Bitcoin
NairaEx is the largest Bitcoin exchange in Nigeria. Its customers can purchase bitcoins with Perfect Money, bank transfer or with cash via bank deposit.
- Long-running Nigerian exchange
- Several payment methods
- Identity verification offers less privacy than other purchase methods in Nigeria, like LocalBitcoins
BitPesa Buy Bitcoin
BitPesa is a Bitcoin remittance company. They sell bitcoin in Kenya via the popular M-PESA mobile payment service. BitPesa also has a presence in 2 other African countries. In Nigeria, you can use BitPesa to buy bitcoins with your debit card or Paga account. In Uganda, you can buy with MTN or Airtel. Purchase method for Kenya is coming soon.
- Convenient way to buy bitcoins in Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda
- Identity verification offers less privacy than other methods in Nigeria or Uganda, like LocalBitcoins
Bitcoin ATMs Buy Bitcoin
You can use our Bitcoin ATM map to buy bitcoins with cash. Bitcoin ATMs can be a quick and easy way to buy bitcoins and they're also private. That convenience and privacy, however, comes with a price; most ATMs have fees of 5-10%.
- Our map makes it super easy to find a Bitcoin ATM near you
- Bitcoin ATMs often have 5-10% fees per purchase
Mycelium Local Trader Buy Bitcoin
Mycelium Local Trader helps you find local Bitcoin sellers. Once you locate a seller, you meet up in-person and conduct the trade. Mycelium charges absolutely no fees. While Mycelium Local Trader works great in highly-populated areas, users in low population areas will have trouble finding sellers.
- Easy and cheap way to buy bitcoins with cash
- Private way to buy bitcoins, no personal information required beyond cellphone number
- Users in sparsely populated areas will have trouble finding sellers
Changelly Buy Bitcoin
Changelly lets you buy bitcoin with Litecoin, Dogecoin, altcoins and many other digital tokens. Changelly works in nearly every country but you will need another cryptocurrency in order to purchase bitcoins. Exchanges happen almost instantly because Changelly never actually controls your tokens but just exchanges them.
- Easiest and fastest way to buy bitcoins with altcoins
- Fees are reasonable for larger traders
- Need altcoins or other digital tokens to use
bitcoin-otc Buy Bitcoin
Bitcoin-OTC is an over-the-counter marketplace for the peer to peer exchanging of bitcoin. It is almost like a Craigslist for Bitcoin. Users must create ads or locate other ads to find sellers of bitcoin. Bitcoin-OTC is somewhat complicated and hard to use, but may be the only option for users in some countries without an exchange.
- Can be a good way to find Bitcoin sellers if no other options exist
- Need to keep eye out for scams
- Need to build trust and feedback for your account before trading larger amounts
History of Bitcoin in Nigeria
Nigeria has the largest population in Africa, as well as the largest economy, with a 2013 GDP of $523 billion . Ironically, Bitcoin-related enterprises have been relatively slow to take hold there.
M-Pesa is the world's most successful money transfer service that enables millions of people who have access to a mobile phone but do not have or have only limited access to a bank account, to send and receive money, top-up airtime and make bill payments. The M-Pesa makes understanding Bitcoin a bit easier for those who use the service.
Bitcoin’s popularity in Nigeria stems from a Pyramid Scheme MMM. MMM Nigeria - a prominent multi-marketing Ponzi scheme - has recently announced that it is making a comeback enabling Bitcoin as a form of payment. MMM was founded by Sergei Mavrodi in Russia in the 1990s, the original scheme has collapsed resulting in participants losing billions of dollars.
Status of Bitcoin in Nigeria
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has carried out the Nigeria FinTech Survey 2017 , aimed at Nigerian financial services industry leaders. The aim of the survey was to find out trends related to the impact of Fintech on Nigeria’s financial services industry, opportunities offered by Fintech, threats to existing businesses and perspectives on the way forward for Fintech and financial services players.
Among the respondents covered by the survey, 51 percent were in the banking industry, 29 percent in insurance, 10 percent in asset and investment management and 10 percent in funds transfer and payments.
LocalBitcoin volume exploded in late September of 2012, this positive trend looks like it will continue moving forward. According to coin.radar Nigeria only currently has one Bitcoin ATM.
Interest in the world’s top digital currency Bitcoin is growing rapidly in Nigeria, says an official of Bitx which recently announced that its smart wallet hit 100,000 downloads on Google Play.
Companies using Bitcoin
SimbaPay is a remittance service provider headquartered in London that enables Africans in UK to send money from their bank accounts back home fast, cheaply and securely through its mobile app, as well as the website. The company launched a free remittance service to Nigeria in May of 2015.
NairaEx , a Nigeria-based Bitcoin exchange has announced the launch of its bitcoin remittance service that will allow Nigerians to send and receive money with zero fees and great exchange rates.
Bitstake , a cryptocurrency exchange startup, offers a wide range of solutions to the 178 million people of Nigeria. Unlike most Bitcoin exchanges, which rely on users having access to the Internet in order to serve them, Bitstake has made it possible for its customers to access and use their wallets through SMS. This gives it a strong proposition in a country where only 38% of the population has access to the Internet, compared to a mobile phone penetration of close to 100%.
Merchants Accepting Bitcoin
Over the past few years, BitPesa has focused on providing necessary financial infrastructure to the general population in countries such as Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria. Eventually, the company expanded its operations to Europe and the UK, facilitating payments and establishing a platform wherein users can send and receive Bitcoin with ease. As of October 2017, there are currently an unknown amount of merchants accepting Bitcoin in Nigeria despite some reports of over 100,000 that do, this cannot be confirmed.
Legality of Bitcoin
As of 17 January 2017, The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has passed a circular to inform all Nigerian banks that bank transactions in bitcoin and other virtual currencies have been banned in Nigeria.
