South African exchange launches bitcoin trading in Nigeria

South African bitcoin exchange ICE3X has partnered with Nigerian payment processor VoguePay to facilitate bitcoin trading in Nigeria.

VoguePay is also planning to roll out merchant services that will allow local Nigerian businesses to accept the crypto-currency.

The use of bitcoin could make it simpler and more secure for Nigerian consumers to make international purchases.

“Nigerian online consumers simply do not have the same access to goods and services from international vendors due to one simple thing – credit card fraud,” ICE3X founder Gareth Grobler told CoinDesk. “Bitcoin solves that problem.”

“The idea is that, for example, a farmer in Nigeria can buy a tractor from a supplier in the USA, and both parties could benefit from the near instant, secure and transparent funding solutions underpinned by the bitcoin technology,” he added.

Grobler noted that while bitcoin is not ready to be used as a “mainstream alternative currency”, its inclusion in the Nigerian economic landscape is an important step forward.

“As an agnostic payment settlement mechanism within a larger framework it ticks all the boxes and could perhaps have a significant impact on shaping the Nigerian digital economy landscape,” he said.

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