How to buy, sell, and keep track of Bitcoin in Nigeria

Nigeria’s economic decline has pushed the adoption of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to levels never seen before. Transaction volumes have surged from just $1.3 million as of February 2017 to about $200 million on a daily basis in 2020.

The surge means for many exchanges that there are hundreds of people looking to open a wallet, buy or sell cryptocurrencies.

If you are a beginner in Nigeria, getting around to invest in bitcoin can seem complicated but it is much easier when you break it down into steps.

Bitcoin is divisible

The first thing you need to realise is you do not need to buy a whole bitcoin at once. Each bitcoin is divided into a unit of cryptocurrency known as Satoshis. It is divisible down to 8 decimal places (0.00000001). This means a single Satoshi is equal to one-hundredth millionth of a bitcoin or 100 million Satoshis is equal to one bitcoin. So you can buy any number of units depending on your risk appetite. The amount you can buy from different exchanges can vary. On Binance a global exchange that is available in Nigeria allows users to buy a fraction of one bitcoin from $15.

Get a wallet

While there are other ways of buying bitcoin, experts recommend going through an exchange for beginners. Exchanges take measures to ensure that investors’ funds are protected and they also make the process of starting your journey easy and seamless. Exchanges also help you keep track of your transactions.

Exchanges come with a wallet. Binance (IOS or Android) is the third most downloaded wallet in 2020, according to a list from Apptopia.

Hence, you will need to download a wallet from the Google Play Store, create an exchange account, and provide your personal identification documents if you are using a platform that requests for Know Your Customer (KYC). Most exchanges would let you pay with your debit card or transfer directly from your account.

There are two main ways to buy bitcoin on Binance, by linking your debit or credit card or bank account or buy cryptic directly from other users with peer-to-peer trades. Linking your debit card, credit card, or bank account is one of the easiest ways to buy bitcoin.

Experts also recommend that you do not buy bitcoin with a credit card due to the volatility that the cryptocurrency market experiences.

Deposit money

Once you have your wallet connected and linked, the next stage is to buy bitcoin. A number of exchanges allow you to buy bitcoin with your local currency like the naira.

You will need to deposit money into the wallet and this comes at a cost. There are varying fees for a bank deposit. It is important to research the fees associated with each payment option to help choose an exchange or to choose which payment option works best for you.

After successfully depositing the amount you have selected, the next action is to click the buy button.

Selling the bitcoin asset you bought is nearly the same process. Rather than select Buy, you go for Sell and the amount you want to sell.

You can sell bitcoin to buy another cryptocurrency. For example, you sell bitcoin to buy Ethereum or Binance Coin or Bitcoin Cash. But if you sold it for fiat money you can cash out the funds into your bank account.

Tracking your transaction

Different exchanges offer distinct ways of tracing the status of your transactions. For Binance

After each withdrawal is confirmed, your Binance Coin (BNB) will be sent from your wallet onto the Blockchain to be validated on the way to the destination address. In the process, a Transaction ID or Hash will be made. To track the progress of the transaction, just navigate to https://explorer.binance.org/.

Copy your TxID (Transaction hash) and put it into the search space. After clicking the search button (yellow button on the right), transaction information in Blockchain will appear on the webpage. After confirmations in Blockchain meet the requirement of your destination address, your coins will be sent to your destination address within 24 hours.