Nearly eight out of 10 Nigerians use Binance for their crypto needs. According to “The State of Crypto Adoption in Nigeria 2025,” by Quidax and IFS Insights, international exchanges like Binance, Bybit, and OKX dominate Nigeria’s centralised crypto market, while local platforms such as Quidax, Roqqu, and Bitmama compete for the remaining market share.
The report showed that international exchanges and informal peer-to-peer (P2P) channels like WhatsApp account for about 90% of Nigeria’s centralised crypto market.
Based on a survey of more than 1,850 respondents, the study found that 83.2% of Nigerian crypto users trade through centralised exchanges, with Binance alone accounting for the vast majority of activity. Local exchanges, meanwhile, have yet to make a meaningful dent in user share.
The report attributed the dominance of international exchanges to liquidity, product depth, and user trust. Global exchanges offer access to more tokens, faster transactions, and features such as futures and staking, areas where local competitors lag.
But one of the biggest barriers for Nigerian platforms is what the report calls “the loyalty paradox.”
Despite poor experiences or temporary disruptions, most users stay loyal to their chosen platforms.
This loyalty, the report explains, means that once Nigerians pick a platform — often Binance — they rarely move to others. Even those who switch typically move between international brands, not local ones.
Interestingly, P2P trading via Telegram and WhatsApp groups remains popular, especially for smaller transactions and community trading. The report notes that these informal channels process more trading activity than several local exchanges combined, largely due to convenience and social trust networks.
The findings underscore a reality many in the industry already recognise: while Nigeria is a major hub for crypto adoption, most of the economic value flows outside the country.
Local exchanges like Quidax and Busha, which are two of the first with provisional crypto licences, continue to build products tailored to Nigerians, but without stronger user confidence, deeper liquidity, and broader product offerings, their share of the market may remain limited.
The lower market share by local exchanges could also be one of the reasons why we’ve seen many fail in the past. In 2023 alone, three Africa-focused exchanges died after the collapse of FTX.
Interestingly, newer crypto platforms like Cardex and Onboard are positioning themselves as crypto-enabled payment platforms rather than exchanges. Allowing users to enjoy the benefits of crypto in day-to-day transactions.
