Top Nigerian Exchanges and Their Trading Fees Compared

“What is the cheapest or most affordable cryptocurrency exchange to use in Nigeria?” We answer this question in this article that highlights the top Nigerian exchanges and their trading fees in 2020.

Nigeria is one of the largest cryptocurrency markets in Africa. For instance, several exchanges have reported high trade volumes in 2020. Further, the West African country leads the rest of the world in the interest of bitcoin according to Google trends. The large volumes of cryptocurrencies traded in Nigeria over the past few years have attracted the interest of several exchanges. 

For users, selecting from this pool of exchanges is not very easy with a lot to consider. One of the most important factors is the cost or fees involved when trading on a platform. In this article, we look at the top exchanges and their fees compared.

Overview: Nigerian Bitcoin Exchanges Fees

Exchange	Trading Fees	Deposit	Withdrawal
Binance	0 via P2P / 0.1% via spot (50% discount if you hold BNB)	0 via P2P/ 150 NGN (bank transfer), 1.4% (bank card)	0 via P2P/ 300 NGN
Luno	0% marker, 1% taker	NGN 300 (Flutterwave), 1.50% (Paystack), 1.58% (PayU deposit)	200 NGN
Quidax	0% marker, 0.3% taker	150 NGN (bank transfer), 1.4% (bank card)	100 NGN
BuyCoins Africa	‘Zero fees’ – Rate system	Zero via P2P	Zero via P2P
NairaEx	‘Zero fees’ – Rate system	*****	*****
Bitfxt	0.25%	Zero	200 NGN
Naijacrypto	0.1%	Zero	300 NGN

Last updated on August 18th*

Breakdown – Nigerian Cryptocurrency Exchanges And Their Fees

Binance

Binance is currently the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. It supports direct naira (NGN) deposits and withdrawals, allowing you to trade over 200 cryptocurrencies on one platform. Binance announced its support for Nigeria in October 2019 and has quickly become a go-to platform for most traders.

To use Binance to trade cryptocurrency in Nigeria, you will need to create an account (use the referral ID ‘O4EY05O6’ to get 10% in fee rebates) and complete KYC verification. Regular deposits can be done via bank transfer for a 150 NGN fee or debit/credit cards for a 1.4% fee. On the other hand, you can trade cryptocurrency with Binance P2P in Nigeria at zero fees (at the time of writing). 

The P2P platform connects you to a buyer or seller directly. For instance, if you want to buy bitcoin with the naira on Binance P2P, you can find a seller and send the naira directly to their bank account. This way, there are no limits and fees since payment processors are not involved

Currently, Binance supports 3 direct NGN pairs – BNB/NGN, BTC/NGN, and BUSD/NGN.

Luno

Luno is a South-African founded cryptocurrency exchange currently operating in over 40 countries across Europe, Africa, and some parts of Asia. 

The platform is perhaps the most popular cryptocurrency exchange wallet in Nigeria. It reportedly reached 4 million users in March 2020 with a surge in trading volumes. The cryptocurrencies currently supported on Luno are – bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, ripple, bitcoin cash.

The platform allows instant buy/sell and an order book exchange where one can place bids and ask prices on trades. Luno has a mobile wallet app that is perfect for a newbie to start his/her crypto journey with its exquisite, simple, and easy to navigate interface.

The exchange has a very good reputation for security with no history of hacking, it has a mandatory KYC procedure that is split into 3 tiers, each tier unlocked gives users larger deposit and withdrawal limits. A feature some users do not find so convenient.

The exchange trading fees of Luno are quite dynamic. For exchange orders, a taker fee is charged differently at 3 tiers differentiated by trading volume across different trading pairs – For BTC/NGN it’s 1.00% fee for Tier 1, 0.75% fee for Tier 2 and 0.50% fee for tier 3.

The fees charged for instant buy and sell orders varies according to the market, there are no fixed rates.

Quidax

Quidax is a Nigerian digital asset exchange with both an instant buy/sell feature that lets you transact within a few minutes and a regular order book exchange where you can choose your asking and bid price.

The available cryptocurrencies on the exchange are bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, tether, XRP. The exchange has a mobile app available for both android and IOS devices for easy trading.

Compared to other exchanges in Nigeria, Quidax has a very active customer support team that responds to complaints and inquiries. 

For instant buy/sell orders, a 1% fee is charged for the service. On the exchange, a maker fee of 0% and a taker fee of 0.3% are charged on the trades.

BuyCoins Africa

Buycoins is a cryptocurrency exchange based in Lagos, Nigeria. The exchange was launched as Bitkoin Africa in 2017 but later rebranded to BuyCoins in February 2018.

Buycoins offers both an instant buy/sell exchange and P2P trading on its platform. The hybrid exchange recorded over $17 million in trading volume in May. Buycoins is one of the few native Nigerian exchanges that enable individuals to trade in bitcoin, litecoin, bitcoin cash, and ethereum through a mobile app.

Two stablecoins are listed on the platform – USD coin and Naira token, to help traders hedge their portfolio against the volatility of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Deposit options are Bank transfer and Debit card through Paystack; withdrawals are usually processed within one hour.

Behemoth exchanges like Paxful and Remitano charge 1% on P2P trades; it is completely free on Buycoins. The BuyCoins Africa fee structure is a unique selling proposition to attract traders to the budding exchange.

KurePay

KurePay is a fiat-cryptocurrency payment wallet with a payment gateway built like a hybrid of Paystack and Coinpayments for online merchants to receive payments conveniently.

The exchange was launched in 2018 and has amassed over 30,000 users on its platform. It reportedly processes hundreds of cryptocurrency transactions daily.

The unique selling point of this exchange among the tons of others is its instant swapping service. KurePay allows users to swap their cryptocurrency – Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dash – instantly for naira and withdraw to their bank account within 2 mins at most.

Several deposit options are available on the platform including USSD Banking, Bank transfer, and PayPal. What’s more, the lifestyle payment wallet strikes a fine balance between fiat and crypto transactions as it is the only exchange with Paypal as a deposit option. A huge advantage point to capture the freelancing ecosystem market.

KurePay is the only Nigerian wallet exchange that offers instant swapping services. The exchange does not have a fixed rate or fee, instead, its APIs pick the best market rates to credit users in Naira and charge a ₦25 bank withdrawal fee.

NairaEx

NairaEx is one of the oldest exchanges in Nigeria launched in 2015 and based out of Abeokuta, Ogun State. An OTC exchange that allows users to buy and sell bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, and Naira token.

The price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies listed on the exchange are boldly displayed on the user dashboard and homepage.

Buy and sell orders are manually placed and processed in a few minutes. Funds deposit options include Internet/Mobile/USSD Banking platform to initiate an instant bank transfer to the one-time-use bank account generated for buy orders and the deposit will be confirmed instantly to complete order.

NairaEx has an impressive customer retention strategy with good customer service and rewards for its users with loyalty points they can use to purchase data, airtime, and utility bills.

The exchange’s interface is built with simplicity in mind, a total newbie to cryptocurrency trading can easily navigate through the platform without any extra help. 

NairaEx does not charge trading fees; it generates revenue from the difference in the buy and sells spread ranging from 5$ to 7$.

Patricia

Patricia is an emerging player in the Nigerian cryptocurrency exchange market, aiming to be a local ‘Paxful’. 

It was launched in August 2017; the exchange describes itself as an eCommerce platform that allows the buying and selling of gift cards (Itunes card, amazon card, steam card, and google play gift card)  and Bitcoin.

The eCommerce exchange operates a bitcoin wallet service – buy, hold, and sell your bitcoin at will. Trade BTC to naira and vice versa. One can purchase airtime, data subscription and even sell airtime for cash

The brand image of the exchange speaks fun, lively, and fun. Patricia is heavily invested in influencer marketing with popular images like Ex-BBNaija housemate, Omashola, and popular Nigerian hip hop artiste, Zlatan Ibile, signed as ambassadors to the brand.

Similar to NairaEx, Patricia displays the rates at which you’re transacting. A few months ago, the exchange launched an exclusive Bitcoin ATM card to ease the use of Bitcoin for daily transactions.

Bitfxt

Bitftxt is one of the fastest-growing Nigeria-based cryptocurrency exchanges with users across the world. The exchange, founded in 2017, reportedly raised $15 million to expand its services. 

The exchange has an order book marketplace, instant buy/sell feature, and an atomic swap service that allows users to convert their cryptocurrency into other currencies of their choice. 

Bitfxt is one of the few Nigerian exchanges that is listed on Coinmarketcap and Coingecko for data and volume tracking. Biftxt coin BXT, the exchange native coin, is also listed on Coinmarketcap and it’s currently trading on bitfxt, etherflyer, and latoken.  

A stand-alone feature of the exchange is its IEO (Initial exchange offering) launchpad that helps new projects to raise money through token sale directly on the platform. Bluekey sold over 25% of its supply in its token sale on Bitfxt launchpad, an upcoming token sale for a medical project Nimedix will take place on Bitfxt. 

The trading volumes on the exchange are impressive and the trading fees on the premier exchange are a bit dynamic compared to others. A 0.25% fee is charged for all trades on the order books except for the BTC/BPY trading pair in which a staggering 10% fee is charged for each trade.

Fees for instant buy/sell orders range from 1%, 2%, 3%, and 10% for different trading pairs, with 1% fee charged for the popular trading pair BTC/NGN and the 2% fee being the common trading fee.

Naijacrypto

Naijacrypto is a Nigerian exchange platform founded in March 2019 and has been offering top-notch services for digital assets ever since. The exchange is listed on Coinmarketcap, where its trading volume and data can be tracked.

The exchange has a mobile app available on Playstore to enhance user experience with trading.  Naijacrypto announced it will launch  Naijacrypto Academy to allow its users to learn more about cryptocurrency and trading in the most convenient way possible.

Also, it offers fiat as well as cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals at a very low cost. It’s a highly secure exchange since almost all coins are stored in cold storage.

The exchange charges a flat 1% trade fee on buy and sell orders on all the trading pairs on its platform.

Bottom Line

There are several great options to choose from when selecting cryptocurrencies in Nigeria. For most users, trading fees take away a chunk of the trade and potential profits. With this list of the most affordable ways to trade, you can make a choice based mainly on the fees and other important things like security, user interface, and supported cryptocurrencies.

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