In the last 72 hours, several media outlets, including Cointelegraph, have reported that Nairaex is currently selling Bitcoin (BTC) at $38,000.
This, however, is incorrect and should be regarded as a mistake on the part of these news outlets. According to a post on Nairaex’s official Twitter handle, Bitcoin is trading at $22,989.
Nairaex, described as Nigeria’s Premium Bitcoin Exchange, is fully compliant with laws governing the operations of FinTechs in Nigeria. The exchange strives to make it easier for Nigerians to convert their Bitcoin to cash and vice-versa, especially as the Central Bank of Nigeria prohibits local banks from processing crypto-related transactions.
It will be recalled that after the central bank restricted crypto transactions, exchanges in the country embraced other payment strategies such as the use of third-party payment services and peer-to-peer (P2P) operations.
“Even though there are plans for us to become a global crypto exchange, our service remains exclusive to Nigeria at the moment,” the exchange said.
A closer look at the reports shows that the misleading posts are based on the difference in the current dollar-to-naira exchange rate. The central bank’s current dollar-to-naira ratio is pegged at $1 to NGN460.
“1 BTC on the Nigerian crypto exchange Nairaex is 17.8 million naira, equating to a whopping $38,792 in the official rate.”Cointelegraph wrote.
However, it is important to note that crypto exchanges in Nigeria can only access liquidity through the parallel market. This explains why Nairaex’s dollar-to-naira ratio is higher than the central bank’s official rate.
Currently, Bitcoin on Nairaex is exchanging hands at $22,989 at the parallel market rate of NGN740 to NGN750 per dollar.
At the time of writing, Nigeria still remains a top player in the global crypto market, with roughly 16,000 traders and a yearly trading volume of over $760 million.
