Bitcoin Forum

We had already a lot of theoretic discussions how Bitcoin could benefit the African countries. Now I am interested to create a list of already existing businesses and services that are operated from the African continent.

So I would be grateful for every hint, link, or name of African Bitcoin businesses. All African countries, also Maghreb countries and island states like Cape Verde, are allowed (except the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla). The business model should be intimately related to Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in general. Known Multilevel/pyramid schemes can also be listed, but in a separate section where the scam danger is clearly described, and without a "hot" link.

- Last update: 2019-05-03 (only added Cryptostar search) -

Exchanges:

Nigeria:
https://www.nairaex.com/
https://www.nairaswitch.com/  (also offers centralized e-currencies)
https://instantgold.ng/  (also offers a few altcoins and centralized e-currencies)
https://guava.africa/ (also offers a few altcoins)
https://www.tradefada.com (also offers altcoins)
https://www.ngexchanger.com/ (also offers centralized e-currencies)
https://www.quidax.com

South Africa:
https://ice3x.co.za/
https://www.luno.com/en/ - Mobile exchange

Other countries:
http://golix.io/ - Zimbabwe*
http://www.payplux.com/ - (Fixed rate shop) Ghana
https://ecurrency4u.net/ - Ghana
https://bitcoin.com.eg/ - Bitcoin Egypt - Egypt
https://remitano.com/ - (Centralized local peer to peer exchange) Seychelles

Online/Mobile wallet services:

http://geopay.co.za/ - Mobile wallet, South Africa
https://www.bitmari.com/core/ - Mobile wallet, Zimbabwe

Payment processors:

https://www.payfast.co.za/ - Payment processor, South Africa

Media:

https://btc.ng - Blog, Nigeria
https://www.bitcoinzar.co.za/ - Information site, South Africa
https://bitcoinafrica.io/ - Information site
https://blog.guava.africa/ - Information site, provided by an upcoming exchange, Nigeria


Other services:

https://www.bitpesa.co/ - Remittance service, Kenya
http://bithub.co.ke/ - "Accelerator" service, Kenya
http://bankymoon.co.za/, Blockchain services for businesses, South Africa
https://custostech.com/ - Watermark technology for music, Bitcoin-based, South Africa
https://thesunexchange.com/ - Blockchain based solar energy payment system, South Africa
http://blockchainacademy.co.za/ - Blockchain technology hub
http://landing.bitland.world/ - Bitland - Land registry - Ghana

More services:

Cryptostar.money (https://cryptostar.money/country/world/africa/), a Bitcoin service provider directory, allows a search for companies by continent and lists currently more than 150 businesses in African countries.

Projects:

These projects and businesses have still not started operation, but are doing crowdsales or ICOs. Do your own research.

When a business has already starting operations, please comment and I'll update it.

https://kryptoro.com/ - Cryptocurrency exchange project - Possibly already released

Possible scams:

Unproven - use only with extreme caution:

golix-withdrawDOTcom - Service for USD withdrawal from golix.io. Seems to be operated from Russia and using anonymizing services.

If there's a valid reason one of these projects could be a scam, please comment in this thread. It will, if there is enough evidence for suspicion, then be moved into the "Possible scams" section.

Update:

Found the site http://bitcoinafrica.io with a pretty large list of companies. I added those to the list that have a working website. Unfortunately, some of them have unavailable websites (their list may be a bit older):

https://www.bitland.world/ - Ghana, land property registry based on the blockchain
http://www.dreambitcoinfoundation.org/ - Blockchain services and merchant solutions - Ghana
http://www.pmcedi.com/ - wallet/exchange for different digital currencies, Ghana
https://bitsoko.io/ - Mobile wallet provider - Kenya
http://www.umati.io/ - Blockchain advisory firm - Kenya (unknown vhost)
http://cubebucks.com/ - Mobile wallet service, South Africa

If you know the fate of one or more of these companies or possible new sites/alternatives, you can post here.

(PS: Bitland works, only that it is reported as insecure when accessed via HTTPS. Added it above.)

a bit offtop ... through this service you can withdraw USD from the stock exchange in Zimbabwe - http://golix-withdraw.com

According to the Whois, the domain owner is located in Russia. So yes, may be a bit off topic here - I can add it, however, as an "extension" for Golix.

golix-withdraw - SCAM! please, remove urgently from the cap!

Do you have proofs for that accusation? I have not found anything on Google (OK, I found this (https://www.scamadviser.com/check-website/golix-withdraw.com), but it's an automatized service). For now,  I put it in the "Possible scam" section I announced in the OP.

However, Golix-withdraw is not really important for this list, as it's not a genuine African service. So maybe I'll "delist" it anyway.

This is a good thread however the two exchanger listed in Nigeria are not familiar. instantgold.ng seems to be one of the oldest  amd most trusted exchanger in Nigeria. they have operated successively for more than decades and Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange is one of the fastest transaction i have made before in nigeria. you get your fiat through bank with 5 hours you make the order and their customer service is very fast. ones you visit the site. a customer representative join you to discuss what you intend to do.

Thank you! I have added instantgold.ng. It is not a "pure Bitcoin business", but it seems trustworthy (domain from 2013, site claims to be active since 2007) and as I already added Nairaswitch which also offers centralized e-currencies, Instagold is not "out of the scope" of this list.

If somebody was scammed (or thinks he/she was scammed) by one of these sites, then please report it here and I put it in the "possible scams" section.

Thanks for putting together such a list. I will also suggest https://www.ngexchanger.com (https://www.ngexchanger.com) - Nigeria

UPDATE:

South African crypto exchange - Kryptoro (https://kryptoro.com/).

However, as we are still in the crowdsale, I will be able to post some of the exchange's features:

1. The ability to purchase cryptocurrencies using credit cards
2. An instant and simple fiat gateway
3. Multiple fiat-based pairs, beginning with ZAR with an interest to establish Dirham, Naira, and USD base currency pairs in the near future
4. Multiple cryptocurrencies (5/6 on launch)
5. Superior security infrastructure that takes the burden off the user
6. Live trading analysis and trading tools to assist clients in making investment decisions
7. Variable analytics generated by our AI trading software

Our crowdsale (through which you can still invest in safely and get the best ROI) will finish in about 2 weeks and from then on, all of the prior mentioned features will be at your disposal 24/7.

You can also check our Social Media & Forum thread for more information:

1. Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/KryptoroExchange/)
2. Twitter (https://twitter.com/Kryptoro_Exch)
3. BitcoinTalk ANN (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4970264.msg45980684#msg45980684)

New round of updates ...

Thanks, looks OK so far, so I'm adding it.

Thanks. As you wrote, this business is still in the planning stage. But I think there is no reason to not include this kind of projects if they already have a website/domain. So I'll include it in a new section - so everybody can look if he considers it trustworthy or not.

For the media section, you should check this https://blog.guava.africa/ out to see if it contains good content about cryptocurrencies. It's owned by one of the newest digital asset exchange in Nigeria. The blog mostly writes in-depth guides on investing in Bitcoin and other cryptoassets. I'll advise to start with this article: https://blog.guava.africa/investing-bitcoin-nigeria/

Thanks, I added ther blog to the media section. Contents are a bit "standard", but OK (the article you linked is one of the better ones). It seems Guava has still not started operations, so I'll wait to add them into the "Exchanges" list until they start. If you're related to them, you're welcome to post here when they launch.

Guava Exchange has started operations in Nigeria now, you can check them out: https://guava.africa/

I don't live on the continent of Africa but I like to see this head, at least I see some progress there and Africa is a big market. the blockchain will become a big commodity along with Asia.

There's an exchange about to launch in Nigeria  www.tradefada.com, you can buy and sell Bitcoin at the best rates with automated payout and fast automated methods of funding your accounts.  ;) ;) ;) ;).

The best rates in Nigeria, very little buy/sell margins... Can't wait.

can I get a dancing smiley, please???

Remitano should make the list too

Thanks. I checked the website, and it seems legit so far (as everytime @everybody: do your research!) and so I'll added it.

Thanks. They even provide a business address, so I think it's not overly unlikely that it's a legit exchange  - even considering the quantity of emojis in your post ;D

As Remitano is an international service serving several countries, I just looked at their website and I saw they're based on the Seychelles. And the Seychelles belong to ... Africa! So ok ... added.

Yes I still feel they're the most popular among Nigerians especially 😊

Didn't notice this thread here, well done and much needed. There's a crazy lot going on especially in West and East Africa now, where we've already seen a lot of fintech advancement. Bitcoin should be a natural shoo-in for guys already used to years of mobile app payments and micro payments.

Might add BitOasis (https://bitoasis.net/en/) to the list. It's primarily based in Middle East but serves North Africa (Morocco and Egypt). Happen to know they've been considering going a bit further SouthEast too...

Pesamill (https://www.pesamill.africa/)'s new in Kenya, also serving international though. P2P exchange, wallet. Had a big launch a few months back.

according to Legality of bitcoin by country or territory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_bitcoin_by_country_or_territory), Morocco ,Egypt and Algeria are banning the purchase, use, and holding of so called virtual currencies. without regulation BitOasis can not run any business on those countries sadly  :-\

i don't Know if you wish to add trading platform in your list.
check out :https://www.quidax.com Nigeria.
You can trade with Naira as well.
luno is also popular but i prefer quidax.

@buwaytress: Thanks! Regarding BitOasis, this list was meant to contain cryptocurrency businesses based in Africa, and BitOasis, according to their TOS, is based legally on the British Virgin Islands (see here (https://bitoasis.net/en/front/terms-of-service)). However, I guess they have headquarters somewhere different. Do you know in which country exactly they're based? If it's in North Africa, then they're welcome on this list :)

Pesamill is, surprisingly, based in Australia (see here (https://www.linkedin.com/company/pesamill)) so they unfortunately do not belong to the list either ... Maybe I could add a section for these cases where foreign companies explicitly target their services to African countries.

Thanks! Will add them ... they're based in Nigeria as stated in their website.

This is really good, although I haven’t used any of them. But I do know about nairaex, their services can be trusted. I usually do person to person transaction. There is also Pufftech, I buy from them and when I want to sell I also sell to them, their services is the fastest I’ve ever seen, they make payments in a flash.

Thanks. I have searched for Pufftech, but can't find any website - do you know one? In some forums they publish a phone number, so it seems they're operating over WhatsApp. I don't consider that very trustworthy, and thus I will wait to include them in this list until they have a working website.

Ah, sorry about that OP! I did indeed misunderstand... and now see Seychelles even qualifies although it's practically an offshore location (still considered part of Africa but much in the sense Maldives might be considered South Asia).

Really does reflect the global nature of these companies... Binance, clearly china targeted, now based in Malta after a short time in Japan and then HK. BVI clearly an attempt at tax structuring but yeah Pesamill is the strangest of the lot. Clearly African centric, yet based in Australia when they probably stand more to gain from another jurisdiction.

Nevertheless, keep this up. I'd love to see something similar for Central and South America, and then Southeast Asia!

You forgot to mention one exchange that is currently in Africa and that is Luno. They offer their services to some African countries and I can remember they launched I’m Nigeria last tow or three years. Heard that users of the exchange can easily buy and sell cryptocurrency, another thing being that they can also withdraw straight to their banks. I believe there are also many of them available and offering their services in Africa.

Thanks. I've looked at their home page (I think you meant https://www.luno.com)  and they have a base in Cape Town, so they could qualify for this list. In February I plan the next update for the list, will try to investigate a bit about Luno's launch in Nigeria and other service providers proposed here, and try to find new ones.

 

Stay away from Bitforex, Bitforex has been performing wash trades and here are some of the token pairs where these bot trades can be detected.

https://medium.com/@sallyalexon/bitforex-the-biggest-wash-trading-exchange-in-the-world-8245e9ca910a

Cool, nice to see my site there :)

Hi everyone.
For me I use altcointrader.co.za.
I've been using them for 2 years now. My maximum withdrawal is R200000 a day.
I've my fica registration.
But they are only available for South Africans. Huge range of coins also to trade with.

thanks d5000, +1merit (owe you more though) love when positive things about Africa are been showcase to the world. Although luno is a South Africa based exchange it has her biggest trading volume from Nigeria as the no1 in Africa based on trading volume. Bitcoin/blockchain is been welcomed in Africa mostly by the citizens my thread: The used of Bitcoin in Africa (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5109224.0/) speaks more on that. I'll love to see this list always kept up-to-date. Keep up the good work.

I do not know the criteria you used for your selection but I think ecurrency4u.net, a very reliable exchange based in Ghana can also make it to your list.
https://ecurrency4u.net/

Thank you! I checked it and added it.

The only criteria is that the company must have its seat on the African continent, including the surrounding islands that belong to Africa, like Cape Verde, Seychelles, Madagascar etc. The company can have another seat in non-African countries (like Luno), but the African office must be more than only a "branch office".

Then obviously the company must exist and not be a scam - however, known scams can be added to the last "Possible scams" section, without a hot link, with the purpose to warn users. This also applies to pure Multilevel/Pyramidal schemes and HYIP/Ponzis, which won't make it into the main section.

Just came from Nigeria, for 3 months, I have visited more than 4 big conferences. On which the number of visitors is constantly growing. A lot of Nigerians have started to trade crypto and learn what blockchain is.

Of all this highlighted websites, I can only testify for remitano and luno this websites have massive user interaction with unique features. It supports my country fiat for fast transactions of coins and have never for once encountered any form of threat or lagging on the websites. I believe Africans are also contributing greatly to the crypto sector.

A friend uses a Nigerian forum nairaland business section to sell and buy bitcoin via doyinexchange and etradexchange whose services are legitimate and swift, he had never complained of any fraud or scam moreso the of escrow is allow to encourage trust and transparency and since he had been using their services there is never any complain Thanks for bringing those other exchanges to our notice. I hope their legitimacy is not in doubt.

@d5000, thanks for taking time to compile such list.

Very useful. i will keep an eye's on these list.
Pls, updating!!  Guyz keep bumping it occasionally.

Regard's
Btcseo

Just an update to let you know I have fulfilled my debt lol. Keep up your good work. And as for those comparing luno and remitano, you need understand they offer different services luno is like coinbase for (Africa) while remitano is more of nigeria's (localbitcoin.com).

I see there are some Africa brothers and sisters on this thread I would had love if we could have a board were we can hangout and discuss issue relating to us like others do but we don't have that so I started a Signature Campaign early for awareness of a hangout thread  (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5121541.0)those interested can sign-in and hopefully we keep the thread active.

OP sorry for using your thread as an advert platform but I'm hoping to get Africans attention as this is a thread related to Africans.

Cool, thank you for that initiative! That's what we need to propagate Bitcoin! (I have no problems with this post, as long as it's only one.)

I'm not based in Africa (Latin America/Europe) so I will probably not participate much in your thread as I'm not part of the intended audience, but read it regularly to be up to date what happens in your continent.

Regarding Luno/Remitano, I have updated the OP to clarify the difference. You're right, Luno seems more a "fixed rate shop" and wallet than an exchange, while Remitano is a centralized peer-to-peer exchange.

I've also checked the status of Kryptoro and according to their roadmap it should have already been released, but I still don't find information about the exchange activity on the homepage. Does somebody know more, is the exchange already active?

Are "doyinexchange" and "etradexchange" exchanges with websites or telegram groups or similar? I didn't find them at Google. Can you provide me links? Thanks!

I seriously agree with you. The market is still VERY fresh

I really appreciate you point this out! Op should make some verification and ensure some scam projects are not listed among those Africa crypto products and services. He has done a good job and compiling this list is not easy because I am hearing about some sites for the first time especially those exchanges sites and I am going to give them a try one by one as I am from Africa.

However, remitano still remains the most reliable and trusted exchange platform among those listed and that is my own views and I have been trading through them for quite some time now and I did not know it is an African trading platform!

Hello d5000, due to this question asked in our local thread,

I would suggest you update your thread with other services involving news media etc so when members in need of their services contact us, we can redirect them to your thread. I can also help you with a list incase you need help putting together a list.

Media are always welcome! I have already included a handful in the list. I could search the Web for more, but it would be even better if experts of the African crypto scene could show me the most important and serious ones. So everybody who knows a good blog or news site can post it here and I'll include it.