How to buy Bitcoin in Nigeria

Buying Bitcoin through a Bitcoin Exchange

Get a Bitcoin Wallet

👉 Before purchasing digital money, you must have a location to keep it. This is where crypto wallets come in. They are known by a variety of names, including hot wallet, hardware wallet, and software wallet, but exist in two primary forms:

➡️ Cold Wallet: A non-internet-connected, hardware-based digital wallet for storing bitcoin, like an extremely high-tech flash drive for storing cryptocurrency. Cold wallets include numerous levels of protection and are more difficult to hack than their online counterparts.

➡️ Hot Wallet: Hot wallets are another name for online wallets. Hot wallets are digital wallets that operate on Internet-connected devices including computers, smartphones, and tablets. Because these wallets produce the private keys for your money on Internet-connected devices, this may present a security risk. Storing your private key on an Internet-connected device makes it more vulnerable to a hack, even though a hot wallet allows you to view and interact with your assets fast and conveniently.

👉 Certain businesses have emerged as dependable crypto hardware wallet producers throughout the years. Ledger, for instance, has produced cold wallets for years and might be a suitable starting point, and Trezor is yet another prominent hardware wallet brand for Nigerians.

👉 In addition, if you want a digital wallet, most of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges provide an online wallet with your user account.

How to set up your Bitcoin Wallet

👉 A software wallet (sometimes known as a hosted wallet since it is hosted on third-party servers) requires just the creation of an account and the activation of two-factor authentication.

👉 There are a few things you will need to authenticate your identity when creating a wallet as part of an exchange account that employs KYC (Know Your Customer).

👉 Non-custodial hot wallets are not hosted by a third party and use a higher level of protection than conventional hot wallets. Users get a “private key” or “seed phrase” that could be used to access their wallets.

👉 Typically, these keys are 12 words long and are only known by the user. It is suggested that you save this passphrase offline since it makes it more difficult to hack. However, if you lose the phrase, you cannot access your own wallet.

👉 In addition, cold wallets produce a key phrase that can only be accessed by the user. This phrase is used to get access to the wallet. To acquire access, you will need to build a personal identification number (PIN) using a phrase made up of 24 randomly selected words.

👉 When you first set up a cold wallet, you will be prompted to download and install the appropriate apps and software on your mobile device or computer. This is because cold wallets are designed to function in conjunction with other applications.

👉 When using a cold wallet, also known as a paper wallet, the public and private keys that are required for a transaction are written out on a piece of paper to provide an additional layer of protection to the wallet.

👉 It is impossible to complete a transaction without the printed information, which is created online and then printed. They are purposefully slower to use than other types of bitcoin wallets since they are used for long-term or high-security investments.

Evaluate Exchanges and Choose One

👉 After selecting a wallet and configuring it, it is time to choose an exchange and conduct your first Bitcoin transaction. Look for a crypto exchange that is regulated, since not all are.

👉 Binance, KuCoin, OKX, Coinbase, Gemini, Kraken, and Gate.io, among others, are a few recognized and regulated cryptocurrency exchanges that are quite secure. To establish which exchange is optimal for your requirements, you will need to conduct some research.

👉 Since Bitcoin is the first and most widely used cryptocurrency, you can fairly expect that all the exchanges mentioned above will support it. If you want to diversify your portfolio, you may also wish to investigate what other cryptocurrencies they provide.

👉 Examine each organization to determine the security measures they have in place to protect customers’ money. Before you proceed, you should be able to confidently answer these questions:

➡️ Are they covered by insurance? If so, what is the price?

➡️ What safety precautions do they employ?

➡️ Do they have a Know Your Customer (KYC) policy for identification verification?

Connect to a payment option

👉 After selecting an exchange, you must assemble your documentation. Depending on the nature of the transaction, these may contain images of a driver’s license or identification card, as well as details about your employment and source of finances.

👉 The information you may need depends on the location in which you reside and its regulations. The procedure is comparable to that of opening a standard brokerage account.

👉 After the exchange has confirmed your identification, you will be required to link a payment method. You may link your bank account or a debit or credit card to most exchangers.

👉 Although it is possible to acquire cryptocurrency using a credit card, it is not recommended due to the volatility of cryptocurrency prices, which might increase the total cost of acquiring a coin.

👉 Bitcoin is legal in Nigeria; however certain banks could question or prohibit deposits to cryptocurrency-related websites or exchanges. It is prudent to confirm that your bank enables deposits at your preferred exchange.

👉 There are several costs associated with bank accounts, debit cards, and credit card deposits. It is essential to investigate the costs connected with each payment option before selecting an exchange or deciding which payment option best suits your needs.

Consider different strategies to buy Bitcoin

👉 Choosing your investment plan is crucial to your financial success. A frequent technique is to acquire and keep Bitcoin in the hopes of achieving a greater average return by riding out the price fluctuations.

👉 Another common tactic is the dollar-cost-average (DCA) method, which is purchasing a little amount of Bitcoin each week or month without paying any attention to price swings. In this approach, you may continue to develop your investment at the rate you choose, while keeping it for the long term.

👉 Experts advise investing a negligible proportion of your portfolio in cryptocurrency investments, particularly when first getting started. A single-digit percentage, such as 5% of your whole portfolio, is fair.

Place your first order to buy Bitcoin

👉 After selecting an exchange and linking a payment method, you may purchase bitcoin (or other cryptocurrencies).

👉 In recent years, bitcoin exchanges have gradually gained popularity. In terms of liquidity and diversity of features, they have expanded tremendously. Changes in the operational structure of bitcoin exchanges reflect the evolution of cryptocurrency awareness.

👉 An industry that was formerly considered a scam or one with dubious methods is progressively transforming into a genuine one, attracting the attention of all the major players in the financial services sector.

👉 Currently, bitcoin exchanges have the same feature set as their stock brokerage equivalents. Today’s cryptocurrency exchanges provide a variety of order types and investment options.

👉 All cryptocurrency exchanges provide market and limit orders, with some additionally supporting stop-loss orders.

➡️ Market Order – An order to purchase a certain quantity of Bitcoin at the current market price. This is often accomplished in a matter of seconds.

➡️ Stop Order – Sets the price at which you want to purchase or sell Bitcoin. This sort of order may be used to sell Bitcoin at a price peak before the price falls, although its execution can take longer than a market order.

➡️ Limit Order – Instructs the exchange to purchase or sell Bitcoin at or above a certain price. These orders are visible to the market and might take longer to execute than stop orders. Once Bitcoin’s price decreases, this may be advantageous for purchasing Bitcoin.