In Nigeria, cryptocurrency businesses can be described with just one word: tenacious. Notwithstanding the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) slithering off financial activities with commercial banks in Nigeria in early February 2021, the majority of crypto startups had a busy year in terms of investment and transaction rate.
Thus according to data from Paxful and LocalBitcoins, Bitcoin’s peer-to-peer transaction rate in Nigeria would have topped $38 million in June 2021, up 8.7% from May.
According to the same sources, this number might be even higher since it excludes operations from other significant exchanges like Binance and Remitano.
According to statistics from Google Trends, Nigeria was indeed ranked as the second most enthusiastic country in bitcoin, just after El Salvador.
However, in terms of investment, how did the crypto startups respond to this desire to own or trade cryptocurrencies perform in the West African country? Below shows which cryptocurrency companies secured financing in 2021.
AFEN Group
Founded in 2021 and raised $1 million via NFT, uses blockchain technologies, notably the Binance smart chain network, to provide solutions in Nigeria.
African Blockchain Lab
This is a blockchain technology firm and developer of the African crypto app VIBRA Nigeria, which was founded in 2021, received $6 million from international blockchain investors Dragonfly Capital, Hashkey Capital, SNZ Capital, Fenbushi, Cadenza Capital, Head & Shoulder X, LeadBlock, Hash Global, Bonfire, Krypital, Despace, and others.
Bitmama
Based in Nigeria and formed in 2019, offers a stable blockchain infrastructure that enables users from all around Africa to perform cryptocurrency transactions.
It was founded in 2019 and has raised $350k in funding from Flori Ventures, Emergence Capital, Fedha Capital, and others.
Busha
This is a crypto exchange and investment management company founded in 2018 secured $4.2m from Cadenza Ventures, Blockwall Capital, CMT Digital, Greenhouse Capital, Raba Capital, etc.
Lazerpay
“Stripe” for crypto payments was launched in Nigeria in 2021 and raised an undisclosed sum from Nestcoin and others.
Nestcoin
This startup was created in 2021 and raised an undisclosed amount from a secret source. It builds, operates, and invests in crypto native goods for everyday people in Nigeria.
Payourse
This is a Nigerian company that creates user-friendly products and solutions that enable Africans to acknowledge cryptocurrency.
Payourse was founded in 2019 and has gone ahead to secure $600,000 from Micheal Ugwu, one of Africa’s largest NFT collectors, Flori Ventures, Olumide Soyombo’s Voltron Capital, and Allegory Capital; CELO co-founders Marek Olszewski and Rene Reinsberg, Kola Aina of Ventures Platform.
Wicrypt
A Nigerian blockchain-based WiFi sharing network created in 2018, received $1.5 million in funding from Polygon inventor Sandeep Nailwal, Cardano’s Occam, Inclusion Capital, Outlier Ventures, Chain Capital, Pluto Digital Assets, Onega Ventures, N7 Labs, and PolkaFoundary, among others.
Xend Finance
NGC Ventures and HashKey invested $500k in decentralized finance (DeFi) network for Nigerian credit unions and cooperatives created in 2020.
Yellow Card
A crypto exchange founded in 2016 secured $15m from Valar Ventures, Third Prime, Castle Island Ventures, Square, Blockchain.com Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, BlockFi, Fabric Ventures, Raba Partnership, MoonPay, GreenHouse Capital, etc.
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