Crypto-related developments continue to gain more ground despite the recent market turmoil caused by FTX has broken the investors’ trust. This time, ConsenSys, the firm behind the most used self-custodian cryptocurrency wallet, MetaMask, inked a partnership with Web3 payment channel, MoonPay. 

This collaboration enables Nigerian crypto users to buy digital assets more conveniently than before, providing users with direct on-ramps for crypto buying, skipping the need for centralized exchanges as a broker. The service is now available in the MetaMask mobile and portfolio dApp. Users can access local banks for instant transfers while buying crypto and then store the purchased digital assets in the MetaMask wallet.

MetaMask With MoonPay Enables Instant Bank Transfers

Although Nigirean users had access to the MetaMask before the partnership, buying digital assets in the region was expensive and time-consuming. MoonPay’s integration with MetaMask makes it easy for users to buy cryptos with seamless transfers instead of using debit and credit cards, which took a lot of work. Direct on-ramps with the crypto market make crypto asset purchasing cheaper, seamless, and less lengthy in Nigeria. 

While speaking on the integration, Lorenzo Santos, chief product manager at MetaMask, added; 

This is an essential next step in a critical market that has embraced crypto and web3 but faces serious challenges when using fiat to crypto on-ramp. We are reducing friction and bringing down barriers to keep supporting Nigerians as they onboard into web3.

In 2021, the central bank of Nigeria ordered financial institutions not to facilitate crypto transfers. As a result, users’ attempts to purchase cryptocurrency failed in the country. 

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MoonPay and MetaMask have jointly resolved the issue, with Zeeshan Feroz, chief product officer at MoonPay, expecting the transaction decline rate to decrease from 90% to 30%. He explained that users could make purchases through all Nigerian banks. And banks are the widely used payment medium in the country’s e-commerce business. 

Nigeria Emerged As A Leading Crypto Market

Negative regulators’ stance on crypto failed to stop crypto adoption in the country. According to a Chainalysis report, Nigeria has emerged as one of the top 20 countries adopting crypto assets. Another report claims Nigeria’s 35% population aged between 18 to 60 have traded cryptocurrencies despite the banking barriers.

Nigeria’s stance on crypto is also changing. In light of a previous report, Nigeria’s government is collaborating with Binance to create a virtual free zone like Dubai. Also, the nation has become a prominent market for MetaMask as it ranks in the third position in monthly active users, told Lorenzo Santos, chief product manager at MetaMask.

He added;

It is also among the top ten countries regarding visitors to metamask.io over the last month.