Investors in cryptocurrencies in Nigeria are poised to welcome a brand new way of buying cryptocurrencies. ConsenSys has reportedly announced an integration between Metamask and MoonPay. Nigeria is embracing cryptocurrency self-custody as accessibility to MetaMask soars with direct local bank on-ramps.
As announced on March 21 by MetaMask’s parent company ConsenSys, the MoonPay (a cryptocurrency fintech) integration would let Nigerian users buy crypto via instant bank transfers.
Sharing the news, the world’s largest independent crypto data aggregator CoinGecko tweeted:
JUST IN: @MetaMask partners with @MoonPay to enable purchase of #crypto via instant bank transfers in Nigeria.
— CoinGecko (@coingecko) March 21, 2023
📰 https://t.co/iJVTndtwvR pic.twitter.com/vvKSTlJ0nx
The new feature is said to be deployed in the MetaMask mobile and Portfolio dApp. It reportedly simplifies the cryptocurrency buying process as users in Nigeria now would not need to use credit or debit cards.
Prior to the MoonPay integration, MetaMask users in Nigeria were supposed to go through a “costly and time-consuming” process of buying cryptocurrency.
Lorenzo Santos, product manager, MetaMask, reportedly stated, While Moonpay had a card integration feature, about 90% of attempts to buy crypto with a credit or debit card were declined.
The fresh integration shall reportedly support local bank transfers. It would also make buying crypto on MetaMask quicker and affordable, thereby boosting crypto access and reducing dependency on centralized exchanges.
As per Zeeshan Feroz, chief product and strategy officer, MoonPay, the integration would bring the direct crypto purchases’ decline rate in Nigeria from 90% to 30%. Feroz notes that now customers across various banks in Nigeria would be able to access the new service via bank transfers. The use of bank transfers as a payment method in Nigerian e-commerce businesses is high.
Per Santos, while there are many issues surrounding crypto on-ramps in Nigeria, the nation ranks third in mobile monthly active users, becoming a major MetaMask market. Santos said,
It is also among the top ten countries regarding visitors to metamask.io over the last month.
