Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange platform by trading volume, has partnered with Nigerian fintech firm Flutterwave to open deposits for fiat currency naira.
Using their own local currency, Nigerians can now buy ethereum and bitcoin — the two largest digital currencies by market capitalization.
Days after Binance’s Oct. 24 announcement, South African cryptocurrency exchange platform Luno started selling ethereum in exchange for naira, according to a Luno blog post.
Cryptocurrency exchanges are targeting Nigeria due to intense interest in digital currencies on search engines. In the past year, Nigerians did the highest number of word searches in the world for “bitcoin”, according to Google Trends.
South Africa and Ghana ranked second and fourth respectively on the list of the highest searches for the word “bitcoin”.
Luno caters to around 3 million cryptocurrency investors in 40 countries with offices in Johannesburg, Singapore, and London and has raised $13.8 million in funding since its launch in 2015, Crunchbase reports.
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Founded in Lagos in 2014, Flutterwave is a fintech firm that provides transaction infrastructure for mobile payments.
The company runs its operations in Nigeria but moved its headquarters to Silicon Valley in 2018 to be closer to potential investors and business leaders in the Bay Area.
In October 2019, Silicon Valley-based accelerator Y Combinator said Flutterwave was the most valuable African company that it has invested in.
Binance is a Malta-based global cryptocurrency exchange that provides a platform for trading more than 100 cryptocurrencies.
Founded in 2017, Binance took less than a year to reach a $1 billion valuation, making it one of the first unicorns in the cryptocurrency industry.
This is not Binance’s first entrance into the African market.
In 2018, Binance launched its Binance Uganda exchange allowing Ugandan users to trade cryptocurrencies and deposit money using Ugandan shillings, CCN reported.
