“Companies are not afraid to work with us now,” a spokesperson for Quidax, Nigeria’s first licensed cryptocurrency alternate, stated at a stablecoins occasion in December 2024. Her feedback summarise the truth in Nigeria the place merchandise constructed for blockchain use circumstances have been met with skepticism by companies and regulatory scrutiny.
Whereas cryptocurrency is merely a subset of blockchain purposes, regulators’ shadow over it has additionally affected different purposes of blockchain in healthcare, gaming, and investments the place digital belongings are used.
The excellent news is that rules are actually being developed and firms within the sector are actually getting licenses, paving the best way for a extra conducive surroundings for blockchain innovation. The expertise continues to evolve, changing into extra user-friendly and accessible to the typical individual.
Listed here are the highest 5 blockchain use circumstances in Nigeria and among the startups constructing in every of them:
Fintech
Conventional expertise has made large progress towards fixing the shortcomings of the assorted providers offered by Africa’s conventional banking system—financial savings, funds, lending, funding, and many others.
Nonetheless, the issue stays largely unsolved: cross-border funds nonetheless should be cheaper and sooner. Level-of-sale funds should be cheaper and extra interoperable. Monetary investments should be extra accessible. Lending must be extra accessible and derisked. A number of blockchain corporations have emerged throughout the continent, striving to satisfy every or all of those wants. That is the preferred of all blockchain use circumstances in Nigeria so there are considerably extra startups enjoying on this subject than others. Listed here are a number of of them:
Bitnob
Bitnob allows cross-border funds with its digital playing cards and in-app transfers. It additionally gives APIs with which different platforms can present the identical providers. Bitnob is constructed on Bitcoin and Lightning Community, a second layer constructed on Bitcoin for sooner transactions. The corporate, based in 2020 by Bernard Parah, Adeolu Akinyemi, and Usman Majeed, claims to have an annualised whole cost quantity of $1.3 billion and that it’s at the moment cash-flow constructive.
Canza Finance
This startup hopes to turn into a web3 financial institution sooner or later. For now, its hottest product is the Baki, which allows companies to make cross-border funds. It permits companies to swap currencies at official charges, decreasing transaction prices. Former AT&T staff Pascal Ntsama and Oyedeji Oluwole launched the startup in 2019.
Zone
Zone runs a decentralized and controlled blockchain cost community that connects monetary establishments instantly, eliminating intermediaries and enabling instantaneous settlements in fiat currencies. This infrastructure automates reconciliation, and dispute administration, and gives real-time transparency of transactions.
Obi Emetarom, Emeka Emetarom and Wale Onawunmi spun Zone off from Appzone, the banking as a service enterprise they based in 2008.
Outstanding Nigerian monetary establishments like First Financial institution, UBA, and Zenith Financial institution leverage Zone’s peer-to-peer cost community for immediate settlements. In September 2024, Baxi by Onafriq, FairMoney Microfinance Financial institution, and KongaPay joined the community too.
Mansa Finance
Mansa Finance is a decentralised finance (DeFi) platform that gives asset-backed stablecoin lending, significantly to companies, particularly cost suppliers who want the liquidity to facilitate instantaneous cross-border funds. Mansa sources this capital from institutional and accredited traders. The corporate, based by Mouloukou Sanoh, formally launched in August 2024. Mansa claims to have processed over $10 million in transactions since.
Onboard
This startup launched in 2022 to assist customers “be their financial institution.” It’s a self-custody pockets for managing digital belongings—cryptocurrencies, tokens, and many others with out intermediaries. Onboard Pockets allows the switch of funds on to a checking account, circumventing centralized exchanges. Customers may also ship and obtain funds in EUR and USD with the pockets.
Finna
This startup allows debtors to safe low-interest Naira loans by pledging stablecoins (cryptocurrencies pegged to the US greenback) as collateral. This permits people and companies to entry Naira for instant wants whereas preserving their invaluable crypto belongings, which can be appreciated considerably over time. It was based in 2023 by Adebayo Juwon, former Enterprise and Operations Supervisor at FTX, a now-defunct cryptocurrency alternate, and Agbona Igwemoh, former Chief Operations and Advertising Officer at Kylin Community, a well-liked blockchain community.
Blockradar
This can be a B2B API-based blockchain product that allows fintech corporations to simply combine multichain wallets with which their prospects could make stablecoin deposits and funds. This pockets is non-custodial, which means customers have full management of their funds, not held by BlockRadar. The corporate was based in Could 2024 by Abdulfatai Suleiman, the co-founder of Lazerpay, a crypto startup that allows companies to simply accept cryptocurrency however shut down.
Crypto Change and Market
This is among the hottest purposes of blockchain expertise in Nigeria. A cryptocurrency alternate is a platform that enables customers to purchase, promote, and commerce cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many others. Nigeria is essentially the most outstanding crypto market in Africa—of the $117.1 billion in crypto worth circulated in Africa between July 2022 and June 2023, Nigeria obtained practically $60 billion. Many exchanges have expanded their providers to incorporate cross-border funds, investments, and financial savings. Listed here are among the crypto exchanges working within the nation:
Quidax
That is the primary cryptocurrency alternate in Nigeria to be licensed by the nation’s Securities and Change Fee (SEC) after years of tumultuous relations, together with a ban. Based in 2017 by Buchi Okoro and Morris Eberioma, Quidax facilitates the shopping for, promoting, and storing of cryptocurrencies. It boasts a 24-hour spot buying and selling quantity of $7.4 million and helps over 20 cryptocurrencies. The platform additionally gives playing cards that allow funds with cryptocurrencies.
Busha
Based in 2020 by Michael Adeyeri and Moyo Sodipo, Busha is one other licensed cryptocurrency alternate in Nigeria. It allows the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies. Busha additionally empowers customers to spend their crypto like fiat foreign money or earn curiosity on it. The corporate can also be exploring means to allow merchants to gather crypto as cost, in response to its web site.
Yellow Card
Yellow Card facilitates the shopping for and promoting of stablecoins—cryptocurrencies pegged to the greenback like USDT, USDC, and PYUSD. Initially centered on retail prospects, the corporate has shifted its focus to companies. Yellow Card works with roughly 30,000 companies throughout Africa, offering them with entry to funds and treasury administration providers, primarily by means of stablecoins. The corporate launched in Nigeria in 2019.
iExchange P2P
This firm operates a peer-to-peer buying and selling platform, which primarily connects people instantly with one another to alternate cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum for conventional currencies like Naira. In contrast to conventional exchanges the place customers commerce with the platform itself, this platform permits customers to seek out different customers prepared to purchase or promote crypto, making a decentralised market.
Bitmama
Bitmama allows customers to purchase, promote, and commerce numerous cryptocurrencies, together with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT. It additionally gives a stablecoin-backed card that allows one to spend cryptocurrency like fiat foreign money. Bitmama was based in 2017 by Ruth Iselema.
Actual World Asset (RWA) tokenisation
Blockchain expertise goals to make issues extra accessible, and one such manner is thru “tokenization.” This implies turning real-world belongings like shares, actual property, and even artwork into digital tokens.
Historically, these sorts of belongings had been principally obtainable to rich folks. However by turning them into tokens, you should purchase small items of them, making them extra inexpensive for the typical individual. This can be a massive deal as a result of it opens up new funding alternatives for everybody. Listed here are some startups primarily based on this blockchain use case:
Xend Finance
This startup helps transfer real-world belongings like actual property onto the blockchain. This lets folks personal tiny items of those belongings, identical to proudly owning a tiny piece of an organization’s inventory. If you personal a chunk of property by means of the blockchain, you’ll be able to earn cash from issues like lease or dividends. You may also simply purchase and promote your share of the property utilizing these digital tokens.
Xend Finance claims it teamed up with Risevest, a widely known funding platform, to assist folks put money into tokenised actual property.
Ugochukwu Aronu and Emmanuel Okoro based the corporate in 2019, beginning out as a platform that enabled transfers and invoice cost with cryptocurrencies.
Hashgreed
The startup, based in 2021, gives digital belongings backed by actual property. Licensed by Nigeria’s SEC, and works in partnership with capital market operators similar to licensed custodians, asset managers, brokers, issuing homes and its personal Lagos state-registered digital cooperative community referred to as Hashgreed Area.
Home Africa
Based in 2019, Home Africa enabling customers to purchase small shares of properties. The platform additionally collects loads of knowledge about property costs and the way a lot demand there’s in several areas. This helps traders perceive the worth of their funding and make higher selections. They’ll simply see if property costs are going up or down and promote their shares at any time.
Tremendous migrate
As a result of an increasing number of belongings are being become tokens, there’s a rising want for instruments that may simply transfer these tokens between completely different blockchain networks. Tremendous Migrate, based by Emmanuel Njoku, is changing into an more and more widespread means to maneuver tokens from one blockchain to a different.
Njoku’s earlier product, Base Migrate, which helped transfer tokens to the Base community (created by Coinbase), has already been used to maneuver over 28 completely different token tasks with a mixed worth of over $1 billion.
Gaming
Blockchain expertise is rising in popularity in gaming. It allows customers to trace issues like in-game gadgets and currencies The transparency additionally makes it not possible to cheat. Additionally, gamers can earn issues like digital gadgets, tokens, and even cryptocurrency simply by enjoying the sport. They’ll then use these rewards throughout the recreation or promote them for actual cash.
Some platforms allow customers to position bets on video games, sports activities, or real-life occasions. These corporations on this area embrace:
Play1st
Play1st is a subsidiary of Carry1st, a cell video games writer. It’s a Web3 gaming app retailer that allows African recreation builders to create and publish video games that use blockchain expertise. Its dad or mum firm Carry1st is backed by widespread traders like Andreessen Horowitz, Google, and even Riot Video games, the corporate that makes League of Legends.
Gamic
Gamic is a well-liked Web3 social communication platform with a robust give attention to gaming. It gives options like a cryptocurrency pockets service, neighborhood administration instruments, and an NFT airdrop program that are in demand from eSports groups, and gaming guilds. It was based in 2021 by Nnamso Anthony, Chike Okonkwo, Ukeme Okuku and Michael Anyi.
Soccersm
Soccersm is a blockchain-based gaming platform that enables customers to foretell and place bets on the outcomes of future occasions, similar to sports activities video games, elections, and even cryptocurrency costs. The startup was based in 2023 by Vicentia Asilevi.
Awujo
This gaming platform permits gamers to compete in tournaments, each solo and with pals, and earn cash. It gives a variety of video games and fosters a robust sense of neighborhood by means of tournaments and occasions, connecting gamers and making a vibrant gaming ecosystem. Awujo was based in 2021 by Toyosi Abolarin and Francis Vesta.
Healthcare
Blockchain expertise is actually an immutable ledger, which means knowledge recorded on it can’t be altered or deleted. This makes it a wonderful expertise for guaranteeing knowledge integrity. That is essential in healthcare, the place counterfeit medicine and inaccurate affected person info can have severe penalties.
There’s a rising want for interoperability in healthcare knowledge, permitting seamless knowledge sharing between completely different suppliers. Facilitating safe and environment friendly info sharing is among the hottest blockchain use circumstances in healthcare.
Past knowledge integrity, blockchain can improve monetary safety throughout the healthcare sector. By enabling real-time monitoring of transactions, it helps to stop fraud and rapidly establish any makes an attempt to govern monetary data. That is very important in a website the place correct and dependable monetary knowledge is essential.
Whereas the African healthcare business is adopting digital data to deal with a few of these challenges, listed here are among the startups utilizing blockchain to sort out the issue:
Chekkit
Based in 2018, Chekkit is a software-as-a-service startup that makes use of blockchain expertise to struggle counterfeit and enhance provide chain transparency. It helps companies monitor their merchandise from manufacturing to the final mile.
DrugStoc
DrugStoc, like Chekkit, goals to do away with faux and low-quality medicines. They work to make sure that medicines are secure and efficient all through the whole provide chain, from the producer to the ultimate buyer. Based in 2015, DrugStoc additionally makes positive that the costs of medicines are clear and honest.
mPharma
mPharma makes use of blockchain expertise to enhance how medicines are distributed. It tracks the motion of medicines, which helps cut back waste and ensures that sufferers have entry to the medicines they want. The Ghanaian startup launched in Nigeria in 2023.
Mediverse
Mediverse has voice-controlled digital well being data software program primarily based on blockchain expertise. Based in 2021, it allows healthcare staff, together with these in distant areas with or with out Web entry, to enter and retrieve affected person data with their voice on any system. Medical doctors are in a position to dictate the notes on their system utilizing an AI assistant referred to as Luku however affected person knowledge is captured and saved on the blockchain.