After the Central Bank of Nigeria issued a directive targeting the country’s cryptocurrency industry, bitcoin and altcoin trade volumes on centralized exchanges immediately plunged. Nevertheless, the new regulations seem to have succeeded in boosting crypto trade volumes on informal markets or on peer-to-peer trading platforms.
Nigerian Crypto Traders Get Creative
Still, the increasing trades on informal platforms have also led to increased reports of users losing money to con artists. Moreover, with the CBN seemingly eager to see volumes of crypto trades plummet, Nigerian users had to find ingenious but legal ways of getting around the central bank’s imposed restrictions.
As shown in one local report, one such legal way is through an app created by one local crypto start-up, Patricia. According to the report, this application is already enabling Nigerian users to buy or sell their crypto assets securely and without running afoul of CBN regulations. Therefore, in this report, we relist five legitimate ways Nigerians can use this app to safely trade their bitcoins.
Airtime Refill
As explained in the report, users of the Patricia platform are still able to use their BTC balances to pay for regular expenses like airtime, utilities as well as internet data packages. The conversion from crypto to fiat is done seamlessly within the app.
Peer to Peer Exchange
The Patricia platform is also being used to facilitate safe and secure peer-to-peer transactions. According to the report, Patricia’s peer-to-peer platform is powered by Vaunt, an international P2P digital currency marketplace that facilitates faster and easier money transactions.
Receiving Payments
For Nigerian businesses that want to hasten the process of receiving payments from customers abroad, Patricia Business offers this opportunity. As explained in the report, Patricia Business “is a bitcoin payment gateway that allows traders, merchants and business owners across the country to receive bitcoin payments from their customers.” Once received, the crypto will be seamlessly converted to naira and transferred into their local bank accounts.
Patricia Debit Card
Nigerians can also legally use their bitcoin to make purchases locally via the Patricia naira debit card. Additionally, Patricia has a bitcoin debit card option that comes in both physical and virtual forms. This card can be used to shop online or at a bitcoin ATM anywhere in the world.
Gift Card Trading
Patricia users can also buy gift cards with their bitcoin funds on the Patricia app. Converting bitcoins into gift cards enables users to shop on major online marketplaces without necessarily violating CBN regulations.
Do you know of other options that Nigerians can use to trade cryptos? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
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