Africa has been in crypto markets majorly as cryptocurrency miners rather than traders. However, an economic revolution is starting because now people from Africa are indulging in crypto trading. The main evidence is that exchanges like Paxful are receiving massive traffic on their website from Nigerian traders. Today, we will see crypto exchange platforms that cater to high-class features for people residing in Northern Africa.
Table of Contents
Summary
Summary (TL;DR)
- Africa is the land of an emerging crypto trading market. However, due to the ban in the Northern Africa, traders need a platform with P2P services.
- Our top five picks are- BuyCoins, Coindirect, LocalBitcoins, Luno, and Remitano.
- BuyCoins offers instant buy/sell and P2P services. Users can earn interest as well by locking their funds. However, it is only operational in Nigeria.
- Coindirect extends options for international payments, OTC Desk apart from P2P service and crypto trading for over 40+ crypto assets.
- LocalBitcoins is the largest crypto trading platform for Bitcoin P2P trading. Furthermore, it is secure, quick, and reliable.
- Traders need to be cautious to prevent scams when using Coindirect or LocalBitcoins.
- Luno is an advanced trading platform and provides high-class security.
- Further, Remitano is a portal that offers a diverse range of services to its users and allows swap and margin trading as well.
- All the platforms provide P2P trading and give their users 2-FA and Escrow-based security at a minimum.
5 Best Exchange in Africa
There are numerous exchanges available from which we have picked the best five platforms to leverage the best trading experience. We will be discussing their features/ services, fee structure, and pros and cons.
1st Best Crypto Exchange in Africa: BuyCoins
What is BuyCoins?
BuyCoins is a platform for an instant cryptocurrency exchange that allows buying, selling, trading, and storing crypto. It is only operational in Nigeria. However, it extends various services for crypto traders. You learn more about the platform from the BuyCoins review.
Features
- Instant Buy/Sell: BuyCoins enables instant purchase or sale of cryptocurrencies.
- P2P Service: Users can do peer-to-peer trading of Bitcoin and USD Tether on the portal.
- CoinLock: BuyCoins allows its users to lock their NGN Token or USD Coin for a particular amount of time to earn interest on it. {Earning depends upon lock period, token deposited, and deposit value} Users can earn a minimum 8%/ annum interest for locking NGN Tokens for one month. It goes as high as 14%/ annum.
- BuyCoins Wallet: BuyCoins renders a wallet to its users for storing and trading crypto.
- BuyCoins Mobile App: BuyCoins provides a fully functional mobile application for Android and iOS.
- Additional Features: BuyCoins provides users price alerts, Instant deposit/ payments, and live chat-based customer support.
- Payment Methods accepted are- Bank Transfer and Visa/ Mastercard.
- BuyCoins achieves a secure environment through 2-FA and Escrow Service.
Moreover, BuyCoins also provides additional services to its high-volume users, but this feature is not available publicly. For example, it allows its users to borrow crypto to sell. However, users need to pay back the amount within 6 hours.
BuyCoins Fee Structure
- The platform does not charge a transaction, trading, and deposit fee.
- However, the platform imposes a withdrawal fee of 500 Naira with each transfer from their wallet to users’ banks.
- It also extracts a network fee for a transaction between BuyCoins Wallet to a third-party wallet.
BuyCoins Pros and Cons
BuyCoins is suitable for Nigerians engaged in crypto investment. It provides decent services with low fees.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Trade accessible at all times with mobile app/ website | Operational only in Nigeria |
| Low fee and easy to use interface | |
| Essential cryptocurrencies supported | |
| Unlimited fund storing in BuyCoins Wallet |
2nd Best Crypto Exchange in Africa: Coindirect
What is Coindirect?
Coindirect is a P2P exchange that allows purchasing and selling cryptocurrencies and tokens. In addition, it offers a wide array of services and features apart from fundamental trading and P2P service.
Features
- International Payments: Coindirect allows its users to make rapid and secure cross-border payments within 24-hour.
- OTC Desk: Businesses and Private Clients can use the OTC Desk service. It is beneficial for the execution and settlement of large volume transactions.
- Payment Gateway: Coindirect enables receiving crypto payments dynamically and efficiently.
- Mobile app: Coindirect offers mobile app on both Android and iOS.
- It supports over 40 digital assets, including BTC, XRP, ETH, EOS, IOTA, XMR, and TRON. In addition, it accepts fiat currencies- ZAR, EUR, NGN, GBP, and AUD. Moreover, it also allows deposit through wire transfer.
Coindirect Fee Structure
- There is no transferring, sending, or receiving fee.
- The platform does not charge any fees on P2P trading. However, it charges 0.2% taker fees on selling through the exchange.
- It does not impose any purchasing fee.
- Each ZAR withdrawal will be charged a normal flat cost of R10.00.
Coindirect extends a secure portal with features like 2-FA, a cold wallet, and an escrow account.
Coindirect Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Variety of Cryptocurrencies | Poor mobile interface |
| The platform offers crypto arbitrage | |
| Simple Fee Arrangement |
3rd Best Crypto Exchange in Africa: LocalBitcoins
What is LocalBitcoins?
LocalBitcoins is the largest crypto platform for peer-to-peer trading. Furthermore, it enables real-time communication between seller and buyer. Furthermore, LocalBitcoins is secure and beneficial and offers 2-FA, Escrow service, HTTPS encryption, and Login guard to ensure security.
It deals in only Bitcoins. There is a buying limit depending upon the verification tier. The limit starts from €1,000 to €20,000 for Tier 1 with personal detail {name, country, email address, and phone number} verification.
However, the platform only deals in Bitcoins, and the prices on the portal are high. Therefore, the traders can be potential scammers; hence, users need to do screening to avoid any scam. In addition, you can use LocalBitcoins anonymously (to learn more, read LocalBitcoins review.
LocalBitcoins Fee Structure
- The platform does not charge a fee for registering, buying, or selling bitcoins.
- Advertisements created by the users are charged a 1% fee for a completed transaction.
- LocalBitcoins charges a standard network fee on transfer from LocalBitcoin to an external wallet.
Tips to avoid LocalBitcoins Scam
- Check the transaction history and feedback score of the seller.
- Trade with a verified seller only.
- Do not pass any additional information before seller responses.
- Preferably ask for government ID proofs and choose physical meeting to carry the transaction.
LocalBitcoins Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Worldwide Availability | High chances of fraud |
| Cognitive fees and is private and quick | Unresponsive Customer Support |
| Escrow service available | Not suitable for Bulk Buyers |
| Several layers of security for User Verification | Not apt for beginners |
4th Best Crypto Exchange in Africa: Luno
What is Luno?
Luno is a crypto exchange primarily supporting Bitcoin and Ethereum. The platform operates in over 40 countries and serves 3 million traders. In addition, it provides several services at users’ disposal.
Features
- Crypto Trading Platform: The trading platform extends from bitcoin to fiat transactions. It provides advanced charts, API access, various indicators, CVS export, trade history, and an in-depth report.
- Luno trading platform also has a feature for automated trading and allows you to connect crypto trading bots.
- Luno Wallet: This exchange gives a custodial Bitcoin wallet for iOS and Android.
- Business: Luno renders service to giant companies for trading and storing cryptocurrency.
- Luno API: It allows developers to trade crypto and execute automated strategies with the API.
- Luno Savings: The platform offers 7.6% / annum interest to its users with no fixed terms, hidden fees, and unlimited deposits/ withdrawals.
- The platform supports cryptocurrencies- BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, USDC and LTC. It allows various fiat currencies like EUR, IDR, ZAR, ZMW, PLN, UGX, NGN, MYR.
- Payment method accepted:
- debit/ credit card/ SEPA/ iDEAL/ Sofort for EUR,
- Bank Transfer for IDR and NGN,
- Interbank Giro/ IBFT for MYR,
- Flutterwave, Card Deposit, Paystak, and GT Bank Transfer for NGN,
- EFT for ZAR
The portal provides a secure setting with deep-freeze storage, encrypted backup wallets, multi-signature hot wallet, passwords, 2-factor authentication, and SSL Secured Channels.
Luno Fee Structure
- It charges a premium fee for its services. This fee is relative to the country and amount of transactional funds.
- There is no fee for debit/ credit cards.
- No fee for makers. 0.25%-1% fee for takers varying according to users 30 day trading volume.
- It also charges a fee for instant buy depending upon the country and amount of crypto purchased.
Luno has deposit limits depending upon the verification level.
- It starts from 1000 euros per month after email & ID verification.
- It goes to 100,000 euros per month after additional residence proof.
Luno Pros and Cons
A decent exchange focused on Bitcoin and Ethereum with solid, supplying users. The only issue could be the fee arrangement.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Advanced platform | Poor Customer Support |
| Apt for giant companies | Complex fee structure |
| Low Fees | Limited cryptocurrencies |
5th Best Crypto Exchange in Africa: Remitano
What is Remitano?
The crypto trading platform, Remitano, offers P2P services, including buying and selling of crypto. Furthermore, the platform offers various features such as swap, mining RENEC.
Features
- P2P Trading: Remitano offers the peer-to-peer buy/ sell of cryptocurrencies 24*7 and is quick and secure.
- Margin Trading: The platform enables its users to invest in crypto with a 2X margin.
- Swap: Remitano allows its users to swap their digital assets. Furthermore, you can withdraw your crypto assets and store them in hardware wallets.
- Remitano Wallets: Remitano offers a wallet for crypto and fiat currencies. However, Users need to complete verification to use this wallet.
- Invest: The platform enables its users to invest in multiple altcoins with profit margin potential.
- It supports BTC, ETH, USDT, BCH, LTC, and XRP. It also includes these altcoins in its library – BNB, ADA, LINK, EOS, ETC, XMR, NEO, XML, XTZ, and TRX.
- In addition, it accepts deposits and withdrawals of INR, RP, RM, NGN, BS, and Vietnamese Dong.
Remitano Fee Structure
It puts forward a transparent fee system that varies with the payment method used.
- Trading Fees: The price quoted on the portal includes the trading fee. Any advertisement for sale draws a 1% trading fee.
- Remitano Swap Fees: The platform automatically deducts a 0.25% fee from the estimated value of the SWAP order.
- Activity Fees: Remitano has an activity fee {shown below}.
The crypto exchange provides protection with Escrow service for secure trade. Moreover, it has a fast and easy sign-up and verification procedure.
Remitano Pros and Cons
Remitano is a user-friendly platform for beginner and veteran traders. It offers a secure and seamless portal to users.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Responsive Customer Support | Less Crypto assets |
| Allows Fiat Money Withdrawal | Multiple fees charged |
| Margin Trading | Unregulated |
| Easy Sign-up Process | |
| Transparent Fee Arrangement | |
| Various services Offered |
Best Crypto Exchange in Africa: Conclusion
There is a ban on bitcoins in Northern Africa. Nonetheless, traders are interested in bitcoin trading. LocalBitcoins is apt for traders looking for a global crypto market. However, people need platforms with Peer-to-Peer services. All the portals mentioned- BuyCoins, Coindirect, LocalBitcoins, Luno, and Remitano provide peer-to-peer trading along with escrow-based security. Remitano offers margin and swap trading to its users. Moreover, Luno is attractive for bulk/ business crypto trading. BuyCoins is an excellent portal for instant buy/ sell of crypto. Finally, Coindirect offers a massive variety of digital assets.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to Purchase Bitcoins on BuyCoins?
Users can buy Bitcoins instantly via exchange or P2P service. However, users need to complete verification to purchase Bitcoins.
What are Verification requirements in Coindirect?
Coindirect complies with local and international standards. Hence, Users need to provide personal details and Verification documents during the sign-up procedure.
Is LocalBitcoins Safe?
LocalBitcoin itself is safe. However, one might need to be cautious of traders on the platform. Just ensure precaution tips discussed earlier to avoid scams.
Is it safe to give my BVN to Luno?
Yes, Luno keeps BVN safe. The portal can not access users’ bank accounts or financial information.
Is Luno a Wallet for Bitcoin?
No, Luno is a crypto trading platform focusing on Bitcoin. In addition, it provides custodial wallet services.
How is Remitano Swap different from Remitano Invest?
Both of them are two different services offered by the platform. Remitano Swap is exchanging one crypto for another that is withdrawable from a third-party wallet. Remitano Invest is a specific amount locked for altcoin investment representing an open position.
