Nigeria's own crypto exchanges are taking a far bigger share of the country's crypto money. Domestic platforms received $6.22 billion in the year to June 2026, up from about $2.09 billion the year before, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, whose sub-Saharan Africa report was published on 29 October.
The jump came while Nigeria's crypto market as a whole got smaller. Chainalysis puts the value Nigerians received in crypto between July 2025 and June 2026 at $38.1 billion, down 3% on the previous year. That still makes Nigeria the second-largest crypto economy in sub-Saharan Africa, behind South Africa at $39.3 billion.
Local platforms take half the flow
Domestic exchanges now receive about half of the money flowing into centralised exchanges in Nigeria, Chainalysis says. Their share was 27% in 2025 and 7% in 2022. The firm said the gain did not come from money leaving foreign platforms: inflows to other centralised exchanges also grew, but local exchanges took nearly 90% of the growth, TechCabal reports from the data.
Other channels shrank. Activity on decentralised exchanges in Nigeria fell 45%, and cross-border peer-to-peer transfers fell 17%, according to Chainalysis. Smaller wallet-to-wallet transfers inside the country, below $10,000, came to about $1 billion, 92% of it in bitcoin.
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The growth lands as Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission raises the cost of competing. Its Circular 26-1 of 16 January 2026 lifted the minimum capital for a digital assets exchange or custodian from ₦500 million to ₦2 billion, and for a digital assets offering platform from ₦500 million to ₦1 billion, Nairametrics reported at the time.
Licensed operators have until 30 June 2027 to comply. Companies applying for registration have had to meet the higher threshold since the circular was issued, TechCabal notes, so a new exchange has to raise four times the old minimum before it has customers or trading volume to show for it.
- Nigeria's crypto economy: $38.1bn, down 3% (Chainalysis)
- Domestic exchange inflows: $6.22bn, up from about $2.09bn
- Local share of centralised exchange inflows: about 50%, from 27% in 2025 and 7% in 2022
- Decentralised exchange activity: down 45%; cross-border P2P: down 17%
- SEC minimum capital for an exchange: ₦2bn, from ₦500m; deadline 30 June 2027
Across sub-Saharan Africa, Chainalysis counted $101 billion in crypto value received over the period, growth of 13.4%, with South Africa up 52%.
