The Nigerian Web 3 scene is dominated by foreign products and startups founded by foreign crypto entrepreneurs who are usually building for the global market.
This fact coupled with the general trust Nigerians tend to place in foreign products over local ones can pose a slight challenge for Nigerian crypto entrepreneurs looking to build their products and compete in the marketplace.
Despite this challenge, some Nigerian crypto entrepreneurs are still forging ahead to build homegrown products that are punching above their weight and competing with foreign-owned projects which are usually better funded and marketed.
Nigeria was recently named among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of Crypto adoption by Chainalysis and a huge part of the Nigerian Web 3 community activity borders on crypto trading.
The Crypto exchange market in Nigeria is a tedious one given the high rate of crypto trading in the country’s Web 3 space.
Although Crypto exchanges like Binance and Bybit are quite dominant in the Nigerian market, Some Nigerian crypto exchanges founded by Nigerians and Africans are also gaining a foothold in the Nigerian market and carving out portions of the market share for themselves.
In this article, we are going to look at the Founders of top Nigerian and African crypto exchanges competing in the Nigerian and African markets.
Buchi Okoro
Exchange Founded: Quidax
Year: 2017
Quidax was launched in 2018 by Buchi Okoro (Co-Founder/CEO), Uzo Awili (Co-Founder/CTO), and Morris Ebieroma (Co-Founder/CIO).
Quidax has gone on to become the first crypto exchange to receive a provisional Digital Assets Exchange license from Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission.
Buchi Okoro explained that he developed the vision to build Quidax with his team after an unfortunate incident where he got scammed when trying to trade cryptocurrencies.
He reiterated that his goal after the incident was to create a trading platform where people can trade crypto assets safely in Nigeria and Africa hence Quidax was born.
Buchi is an alumnus of Covenant University and Awili and Ebieroma also Convenant colleagues worked together to build Quidax.
The platform was launched in 2017 after the founders received seed funding and entered the TechStar Accelerator Program.
Uchenna Nnodum
Exchange Founded: Roqqu
Year: 2019
Uchenna Nnodum is the founder of Roqqu a Nigerian Cryptocurrency exchange headquartered in Lekki Lagos. The motive behind the creation of the crypto exchange platform is to help Nigerians make seamless worldwide payments and brokerage services as well.
Roqqu has over 100 cryptocurrencies listed on its platform. Users can easily buy and sell USDT, BTC, ETH, and many other cryptocurrencies on the platform.
Roqqu is one of the best Nigerian crypto trading platforms out there and meets the needs of most Nigerian and Ghanaian crypto traders.
Michael Adeyeri and Moyosore Sodipo
Exchange Founded: Busha
Year: 2020
Michael Adeyeri and Moyosore Sodipo are the founders of the Busha cryptocurrency exchange one of the Nigerian crypto exchanges to receive a provisional license from the Nigerian SEC.
Michael Adeyeri doubles as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer while Moyosore Sodipo acts as the Chief Product Officer and Chief Operating Officer.
The crypto exchange platform was founded in 2020 with a corporate office in London, United Kingdom.
According to Pitchbook, Busha has raised $4.2 million from a total of 17 investors.
Busha has over 50 cryptocurrencies listed on it. Users can easily buy and sell USDT, BTC, ETH, and many other cryptocurrencies on the platform.
Busha is a proudly Nigerian crypto exchange and is set to be among the beneficiaries of a recent change in the policy of the Nigerian SEC.
Ruth Iselema
Exchange Founded: Bitmama
Year: 2017
Ruth Iselema is the founder of Bitmama a leading Nigerian crypto exchange.
Ruth started learning about blockchain and cryptocurrencies in 2015, through a friend in Japan who introduced her to the industry. Her knowledge of the industry grew after joining Telegram and WhatsApp groups dedicated to cryptocurrencies.
She soon became one of the few women voices in the crypto community and launched Bitmama in 2017.
Bitmama is registered in Delaware USA and has offices in Nigeria and Ghana. The platform offers various trading services and over ten cryptocurrencies are listed on its exchange, including BTC, ETH, USDT, XRP, etc.
Bitmama has raised $2.5 million in funding from various investors, including Mercy Corps Ventures, Five35 Ventures, and Adaverse.
These four Nigerian crypto exchanges are slugging it out with foreign brands like Binance, Bybit, and OKX for more market share in the Nigerian Web 3 space.
Other notable Nigerian crypto exchanges include Yellow Card founded by Chris Maurice and Justin Poiroux and launched in Nigeria in 2019. Yellow Card allows its users to buy crypto in Naira and has become the largest centralized crypto exchange in Africa.
Luno crypto exchange was also founded by Marcus Swanepoel, a South African former banker in 2013 to bring crypto to the masses in Africa.
Crypto exchanges are an integral part of the Crypto ecosystem because they create an avenue for Crypto trading and also double as wallets where users can hold their various crypto assets.
The approval of Quidax and Busha by the Nigerian SEC will definitely open the door for more Nigerian founders to build more Crypto exchanges and products in Nigeria competing with foreign brands and deepening the Nigerian crypto ecosystem.