How Cashout is enabling Bitcoin for Naira exchange and cross-border payments

It was a weekend in Lagos, Nigeria, Tega Ogigirigi, a Growth Manager at Africhange Technologies—the parent company of cashout by Nairaex needed quick cash but the available money was in Bitcoin. Since his transaction was meant to be in Naira, he was unable to go through the hassle of converting it to Naira. “It felt like I was rich in Bitcoin but poor in Naira,” he said.

To avoid the difficulties related to crypto exchange like Tega experienced during that weekend, Nigerian crypto exchange, Cashout by NariaEx is designed to help individuals and business owners to bridge the exchange gap that often comes with high transaction fees, delayed verifications and low exchange rates. The platform allows users to accept bitcoin payments and remit the Naira equivalent to business owners.

Prior to launching Cashout, NairaX built Cryptofully, a payment platform that offered borderless remittances and exchange of value—from bitcoin to Naira, which is currently inactive. “With Cryptofully, we enabled people to fund in Naira anywhere in the world with Bitcoin.” Cashout is a further innovation of this product.

"Cashout eliminates third parties," Tega told Benjamindada.com. Peer-to-peer (p2p) exchanges, which are decentralized platforms that directly connect buyers and sellers without third parties are the most popular way to buy bitcoin in Africa because users do not have to worry about cryptocurrency regulation by the government.

In 2021, peer-to-peer bitcoin trading in Nigeria grew to $204 million, the largest amount in Africa. According to data collated from Usefultulips, a Bitcoin analytic provider, Nigeria is ahead of the rest of Africa combined in the use of bitcoin for peer-to-peer transactions. For instance, in the last 180 days, its closest rival in P2P BTC transactions, Kenya, totalled $84.3 million. In Ghana, the total was $59.8 million.

Several international platforms including PayPal restrict payments from Nigeria, and local banks place a cap on international transactions and charge high fees for transactions due to dollar deficiency—for instance, First Bank suspended international transactions on its Naira Mastercard in September.

As more international channels are having several payment restrictions, many Nigerian residents are leveraging cryptocurrency especially bitcoin for their transactions. The increased awareness and availability of easy-to-use bitcoin platforms to Nigerians have largely increased bitcoin liquidity in the country, therefore solving the first problem hindering adoption.

With local platforms like Cashout, users can easily make crypto exchange transactions without hassle. “You can also set up a business on Cashout and start making money by running a Bitcoin for Naira exchange without any capital,” Tega said. “Cashout ensures that these merchants are able to cash out their naira immediately and protect themselves from fraudulent chargebacks and reversals.

Also, users can exchange any amount of bitcoin for naira, ranging from ₦1000 worth of Bitcoin to thousands of dollars worth of Bitcoin, there is no minimum requirement to exchange. He added that “on Cashout, users are able to calculate their profits themselves and see how much they stand to benefit from each trade down to the least naira, they also have full control of their profits as there is no third party to determine how much profit they can make and how they can make it.”

Sign up on Cashout in three steps:

• Sign up & verify your account: The first step in using cashout is to sign up on their website. It is an easy and straightforward process which only requires an active email account. Account verification is also achieved after users upload a valid ID and complete their KYC.
• Set Up Your Kiosk: A kiosk is your own personalized marketplace, it is where you input your rates and determine how much you want to be paid per transaction. The Kiosk also eliminates informal channels such as Telegram, WhatsApp, and WeChat, thereby building more reliability for users.
• Copy and Share Your Kiosk link: With your correct kiosk link, other people and even yourself can sell their bitcoins to you and receive instant funds while you enjoy the profits and commissions.