Living in the 21st century, it is almost impossible not to hear about cryptocurrency at least once or twice a day, especially when dealing with crypto trading in Nigeria, so for all the newcomers who are interested in cryptocurrency in Nigeria and in the world at large, you can as well call this “cryptocurrency trading for beginners”.
Brief History of Cryptocurrency.
Although the first idea for a digital currency (cryptocurrency) was actually in 1983 by American cryptographer David Chaum, let us time travel a bit (insert time travel music) fast forward 25 years later and a mysterious identity named Satoshi Nakamoto published the white paper to introduce bitcoin to the world on the 31st of October 2008. On the 22nd of May 2010, a Floridan programmer by the name of Laszlo Hanycez made the first ever purchase with bitcoin by buying two large pizzas, yes, the first bitcoin purchase was used to buy food.
Bitcoin crossed the one dollar ($1) mark in February of 2011, in October of the same year the term “Altcoins” was introduced due to other coins being introduced to the market. Bitcoin crossed the thousand-dollar mark ($1000) in November 2013. After a series of pumps and dumps, bitcoin slowly climbed to a strong dominance and currently sits at 41.2% while Ethereum is at 18.8% according to Coinmarketcap.
Terminologies in cryptocurrency
Before jumping into any new space it would be best to learn a bit of the language and slang people in the space speak. Here are a few terminologies used in the crypto space:
- Altcoins: alternate coins, basically any coin that isn’t bitcoin.
- HODL: Holding on for dear life.
- KYC: Know your customer.
- Pump: A consistent increase in the price of a coin
- Dump: A consistent decrease in the price of a coin
- P2P: Peer-to-peer transaction.
- SATS: Short for satoshi, the smallest unit of bitcoin (0.00000001)
- FOMO: Fear of missing out.
- Shitcoin: A shitcoin is an altcoin with almost no value and no immediate purpose.
- Stablecoin: These are coins that attach their value to an external reference.
- Fiat currency: These are digital currencies that share value with their local counterparts.
Assets with the highest value.
Another thing you should definitely consider before stepping into the world of cryptocurrency is who the big players in the game are, the assets that when they enter Dj starts playing dorime.
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Ethereum(ETH)
- Tether (USDT)
- United States dollar coin (USDC)
- Binance coin (BNB)
- Binance USD (BUSD)
- Ripple (XRP)
- Cardano (ADA)
- Solana (SOL)
- Dogecoin (DOGE)
Risks and Benefits
Just like any industry, the world of cryptocurrency comes with a bunch of risks, but it also comes with benefits. Let’s be bad guys today and start with risk shall we:
- Highly volatile: Unexpected changes in the market can lead to a major movement in price, whether you are new to crypto or not, you must have heard about what one tweet from Elon musk has been doing to crypto Assets, small news, and everywhere scatter.
- Cybertheft and hacks: living in a technological world, there is hardly any technology in the world that doesn’t have a backdoor, and crypto is no exception as hackers are known to hack into certain exchanges and have access to your money. That is why we advise you use very secure Brokers (a top crypto exchange) when trading cryptocurrency (keep reading to find out platforms you can start with).
- Regional regulation: sure you must have heard of Nigeria’s ban on cryptocurrency, well if you haven’t we will fill you in (cause we like you like that) in February 2021 the central bank of Nigeria placed a ban on cryptocurrency trading throughout the country, but we are not only as countries like Maldives, Lesotho, Kuwait are among a long list of countries that have imposed crypto bans in their country and this does not allow the citizens to trade crypto easily.
With that out of the way, let us talk about the benefits Crypto brings, P.S if you think you will see overnight millionaires here, you are on a long thing. This space is for hard-working individuals only (LOL).
- Ability to go long or short: Crypto gives traders the ability to choose if they would like to buy or sell, which means traders can make money when the prices go up and when the prices go down.
- More privacy: Crypto is not regulated by a central authority, all your assets are safe in your wallets. (again when you trade with a secure platform)
- Accessibility: All you need to access crypto is a smartphone or a computer with access to the internet ( and obviously money to deposit) although a KYC is required to deposit and withdraw large amounts of money, you can trade easily with just your phone or computer.
After hearing all of this, we are sure you want to get started and make your first crypto trade, you probably will ask who is the best crypto exchange and as promised here is a list of some of the best crypto trading platforms in Nigeria:
- Binance: The best crypto exchange in the world and the most popular in Nigeria.
- Kucoin: Created in 2017 and has grown to be one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world.
- Breet: The best app for cryptocurrency trading in Nigeria, breet is unique, it is a sell-only exchange, which means you can send in your assets and get cash sent straight to your bank account.
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