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5 Ways to Buy Bitcoin Quickly and Easily as a South African

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5 Ways to Buy Bitcoin Quickly and Easily as a South African

In the last couple of years, we have heard so many things about Bitcoin. Investors call it digital gold, an investment, a store of value, the future of our currency, the revolution of payment, and so forth. The best indicator for these attributes is the current price of Bitcoin, a whopping $50,000. No wonder why people are rushing to buy bitcoin in South Africa.

Buying bitcoin for some people can be intimidating. The thought of how to go about it, where to buy it, and the fear of being scammed are some of the challenges newbies face.

You don’t have to worry about any of the aforementioned challenges. In this article, we will be digging into the several options you have to buy bitcoin in South Africa.

There are presently five major ways to exchange Rand for bitcoin. We will look at the options one after the other and review their advantages and disadvantages.

1. P2P Exchanges

Remitano

The first way to buy BTC is through a P2P Exchange. It is the most common method people use to buy bitcoin. Peer-to-Peer exchanges are platforms that bridge the gap between buyers and sellers by providing a marketplace for both buyer and seller to meet and make transactions.

The most popular P2P platform for trading bitcoin in South Africa is Remitano. On Remitano, you set your price rate and the amount of bitcoin you want to buy and wait for interested sellers, while the Remitano Escrow system ensures that both parties fulfil their end of the trade. The transaction fees are usually very low for P2P and range from 0 to 1%. Remitano P2P is suitable for newbies and expert traders, thanks to the unique and friendly user interface.

Pros

  1. The transaction rates are usually very low.
  2. They are simple to use.
  3. They are a decentralized market, it makes use of software to connect buyers and sellers.
  4. It offers good liquidity, and it is a nice option to easily change your South African rand to bitcoin.

Cons

  1. Most require personal information and offer very little anonymity.
  2. Finding buyers and sellers can sometimes be stressful especially when you are buying a small amount.

2. Traditional Exchanges

The second way to buy bitcoin in South Africa is the traditional crypto exchanges. They are digital market places where people buy and sell bitcoin. Some examples of exchanges are the Binance, Huobi Global, Lykke, F-change, etc. in these platforms the price of bitcoin is fixed.

These types of exchanges are also called spot exchanges. They allow users to trade one cryptocurrency for another, buying and selling coins and exchanging fiat into crypto assets.

On spot exchanges, traders use to trade other crypto assets against BTC to profit from the volatile nature of the crypto market. Spot exchanges are more suitable for traders and may seem intimidating for newbies. Since they allow users to also buy bitcoin with fiat, the process will be intuitive. Moreover, there is nothing hard about crypto trading, a little research will teach you basic things about the craft.

Pro

a) It is easy to use.

b) Some require little information from you.

c) They allow high varieties of fiat, almost all currency is available.

Cons

a) Most are usually slow.

b) Exchanges rates are sometimes high.

3. Bitcoin ATMs

Bitcoin ATM is the third method people use to buy bitcoin. South Africa has 7 bitcoin ATMs, which is the highest in Africa. BATM is undisputedly one of the easiest and fastest ways to buy Bitcoin.

Most of the BATMs in South Africa only allow users to buy bitcoin with fiat. You can convert your Rand to BTC using these ATMs. Transaction fees on BTAMs are on the high side with an average fee of 8-14% per transaction.

Also, you can withdraw up to 5000 rands without ID verification. KYC verification will allow you to buy bitcoin worth 100 million SA rands at a go.

Pros

  1. Fast and time-saving.
  2. Easy and very efficient.

Cons

  1. Transaction fees are usually very high.
  2. They are not available everywhere.

4. Brokers

Brokers are like our conventional retailers that buy goods in bulk and sell to people in bits or units. Bitcoin brokers buy bitcoin from exchanges in large amounts and sell to interested individuals. This method is mostly preferred by people who aren’t technology savvy. All you do is pay an agreed amount and give the broker your wallet address so that he can transfer the agreed bitcoin to you.

Pros

  1. The transaction is mostly physical.
  2. Highly efficient.

Cons

  1. Brokers set the price and rate.
  2. There’s a high tendency of falling into the hands of scammers.

5. Debit/Credit Cards

The card is the last we will be looking at. It is a widely used way to buy bitcoin. It is available across all countries and regions of the world.

The cards used in this method include debit cards, credit cards, vouchers, and gift cards, etc. They are very fast and hassle-free. Platforms like Binance, Remitano, Huobi, and so many exchanges integrate cards to their platforms. However, without using any other platforms, you can’t buy BTC directly into your wallet with those cards.

Pros

  1. Requires no stress.
  2. Accessible to everyone.
  3. It is available on many platforms

Cons

  1. High transaction rates.

Conclusion

The adoption of bitcoin is increasing and accessibility to cryptocurrency is on the rise. It is now easier to buy bitcoin, own it, and sell it in South Africa than it was 5 years back. These are the ways you can buy bitcoin presently. You have to select your choice based on safety, ease of use, and transaction fees.

However, make sure you conduct extensive research on any platform you plan to buy bitcoin to avoid falling for scammers.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to any company, product, or service mentioned in this article. BitcoinAfrica.io is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any loss or damage caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, product, or service mentioned in this post. 

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Problems Nigerians Face With Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies

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Bitcoin to Naira

Nigeria is ranked as Africa’s largest country with the most crypto traders and ranks third globally. The country accounts for the largest volume of cryptocurrency transactions outside the United States. In the last six months, it has been recorded that about 35% of the Nigerian population has traded cryptocurrency.

As encouraging as these numbers may be, Nigeria, as an environment, has been very unfriendly to cryptocurrency and its related aspects. Last year, the Central Bank of Nigeria ordered all commercial banks and lenders to stop transactions or operations in cryptocurrencies, citing a significant threat to the country’s financial system.

The ban on cryptocurrency in Nigeria was big negativity to the Nigerian youth, especially knowing that over 50 million of the population are involved in cryptocurrency. During this time, a lot of crypto trading platforms were shut down in the country. Also, many bank accounts suspected of dealing with cryptocurrency were locked, including their funds.

Even today (as of May 27, 2022), any bank transaction with a description or notes of “crypto,” “bitcoin,” “P2P,” or any crypto-related words will be locked away alongside the account(s).

The unfriendly treatment of cryptocurrency in the country is alarming. In the plight of making a positive solution, the community led to adopting systems where crypto traders could trade cryptocurrency without involving the bank.

Top 4 Problems Nigerians Face When Dealing with Cryptocurrency

  1. Where to Buy or Sell Cryptocurrencies

Today, finding the right crypto trading platform that works for you significantly can be frustrating. Many cryptocurrency exchanges came into existence to aid in safer cryptocurrency transactions in the country. In this plight, some fraudulent platforms were made in disguise to exploit money from crypto investors. How would Nigerian crypto traders know which platform is genuine or not? With some checklists for selecting the best crypto exchange in Nigeria, you will be given key guidelines on how to choose the best place to sell bitcoin in Nigeria.

  1. Speed of Transactions

A fast crypto transaction is important as the speed of cryptocurrency may block. Most times, transactions take hours to complete. Ideally, crypto transactions on regular crypto trading platforms take between 10 minutes to one hour. Surprisingly, some take over 5 hours. However, a few crypto transactions can take less than five minutes, depending on the app. In cases where we need transactions done quickly, or we accept crypto payments for your business, how do we intend to confirm payment before allowing customers to take their products? Should the customer wait for hours?

The speed of transactions has been a damaging factor for most Nigerian crypto traders. This has been a reason why many Nigerian companies find it difficult to accept cryptocurrency as payment options for their businesses.

  1. High and Inconsistent Fees

Crypto transaction fees are another issue many Nigerians face. To really compare the best options for you, you have to look at the fees before and after conversion. What are the withdrawal fees, processing fees, and receiving fees,… These fees cause a huge discouragement in crypto trading in the country.

  1. Limitations

It is saddening that many Nigerian crypto traders cannot make transactions because many of these crypto trading apps have put some limits on how much they can withdraw, receive, buy or sell. This breaches the purpose of cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency has made it easy for people to send money from one place to another without a barrier. Why should I not be able to receive my funds because it is below your limit for withdrawal?

Limitations have made many Nigerians lose interest in cryptocurrency or lose their cryptos.

These factors, alongside many others, have caused the trading of cryptocurrency in Nigeria very difficult.

How Breet Solves Some of the Issues Nigerians Face in Cryptocurrency

Breet is an OTC crypto exchange platform that allows users and businesses who simply want to receive crypto and get a flat equivalent of their coin to convert their crypto to cash money immediately. 

Breet App

With Breet’s over-the-counter system, you are saved from the hassle of boring explanations of what and how crypto works and tedious illustrations of cryptocurrency market charts. Breet enables users to securely convert and withdraw their crypto coin to cash money in less than five(5) minutes without the use of peer-to-peer trading or any third-party agent.

Breet is a revolutionary new way to convert and withdraw your crypto coin without the need for peer-to-peer trading or any third-party agent. With just one click, you can have cash money in hand within five minutes.

With Breet, you can sell your cryptocurrency in less than 5 minutes. This is an incredible feature on its own, meaning businesses can now accept cryptocurrencies as payment options without having their customers wait for hours to confirm payment.

Breet is also completely free. There are no hidden charges, no withdrawal fees, no processing fees and no receiving fees. There are zero charges with Breet. Breet’s free usage solves the issue of high and inconsistent charges for many Nigerian crypto traders.

Breet

There is no limitation to how much you can receive or withdraw on Breet. You don’t have to have about 10,000 Naira worth of cryptocurrency before you can withdraw. You can even withdraw as low as 100 Naira with Breet Exchange.

Breet is simple, free and certified. There is not much sugar coating to tell before believing that Breet is, arguably, the best crypto trading platform in Nigeria currently. The incredible reviews on the Breet app give perfect evidence.

What more do you need? If not, a crypto exchange that makes crypto transactions easy and makes people happy. You should become a Breet user by downloading Breet mobile app available on all Android and iPhone devices.

Remember being a crypto trader in Nigeria can be challenging. This is why it is important for you to learn more about cryptocurrency and the latest news by doing your own research.

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Ethereum Timeline: Shift to Proof of Stake

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Shift to Proof of Stake

The much-anticipated transition of the Ethereum network from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus is finally taking place. The adaptation of PoS has always been the plan and a vital part of scaling Ethereum by future upgrades. However, abruptly shifting to PoS can pose significant technical and community challenges that are not as simple as using PoW to achieve network consensus. Having said that, what exactly are PoS and PoW?

Proof of Work

Proof-of-work (PoW) is a consensus algorithm that allows for the secure, decentralised verification of transactions on a blockchain. In a PoW system, miners are responsible for verifying and committing transactions to the blockchain. During the verification process, miners compete against each other to solve complex cryptographic puzzles. The first miner to solve the puzzle is rewarded with cryptocurrency, and the transaction is added to the blockchain.

Reasons To Shift From Proof of Work

The Ethereum ecosystem has evolved at an astounding rate in the last year. This growth was primarily due to a significant emergence and explosion of NFTs and Decentralised Finance (DeFi) initiatives. While the change-over was imminent, some factors to be considered for the same are:

  • The PoW consensus protocol requires users to utilise significant computational power to validate transactions and add new blocks to the network.
  • Users who devote their computational resources to the shared ledger are miners.
  • These miners are rewarded with Ether tokens in exchange for the computing power they have supplied to the network.
  • With PoW consensus, Ethereum takes up to 113 terawatt-hours of electricity in a year. According to Digiconomist, it is more than the total electricity consumption of the Netherlands per year.
  • The current Ethereum transaction with PoW consensus takes up energy equivalent to the consumption of one week of energy of an average US household.

With so many downsides to its cap, PoW has many advantages, which is one of the main reasons it has been a reliable consensus for so long. The PoW consensus has been robust and secure all these years. But the consensus can be utilised by a cryptocurrency with a massive valuation and relatively simple use case, such as the bitcoin. With the amount of energy and power involved, it becomes difficult for individuals to meddle with a high valuation asset.

Proof of Stake

The consensus protocol Proof-of-stake (PoS) has been introduced to address the issue of over-mining. Proof of stake (PoS) is critical to understand because it could eventually replace the proof of work (PoW) consensus mechanism that is currently used by most cryptocurrencies.

“PoS is a way to achieve decentralised consensus without using energy-intensive mining. It is an alternative to the more common proof of work algorithm. With PoS, a cryptocurrency’s blockchain is secured by its token holders who are required to lock up their tokens as stake and not by miners equipped with powerful hardware. It’s an energy-efficient, cost-effective and therefore, a popular choice for crypto giants like Ethereum,” states Dev Sharma, CEO of Blockwiz, a crypto marketing agency.

In contrast to PoW, in which the individual who completes the mathematical proof first is rewarded with new coins, with PoS, no new coins are created.

Benefits of Proof of Stake Consensus

Proof-of-stake introduces several enhancements over the PoS mechanism:

  • Improved resource proficiency – you don’t need as many energy mining blocks.
  • Minimal entry barriers, lower hardware requirements – Even if you don’t possess top-tier hardware, you still get ample opportunities to participate in the creation of blocks.
  • More excellent resistance to centralization – PoS would imminently facilitate the generation of more nodes.
  • Staking facilitates the operation of a node. It does not necessitate significant expenditure on equipment purchases or resources, and if you lack the ETH token to stake, you cannot participate in staking pools.
  • Staking consensus enables reliable sharding. Shards enable Ethereum to generate new blocks simultaneously, leading to enhanced throughput of transactions.
  • In a PoW mechanism, sharding the chain would reduce the amount of energy required to modify a particular network section.

In a Nutshell

Proof of stake (PoS) is a type of algorithm used by cryptocurrencies to determine who gets to create new blocks on the blockchain. PoS works by requiring users to lock up some of their currency in a smart contract called a stake. In return, they are given the right to validate blocks on the network and earn rewards.

The advantage of PoS is that it doesn’t require the massive energy consumption that PoW does. This non-dependency on massive energy utilisation makes it more environmentally friendly. It reduces the risk of centralisation since few users would be able to control the majority of the currency. Therefore, it’s no wonder that Ethereum is making the much-anticipated switch.

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Amber Group March Recap 2022: Here’s What Happened

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Amber Group NewsNamed one of CB Insights’ 2022 Blockchain 50, an annual ranking of the most promising blockchain and crypto companies in the world.

Announced the appointment of Ehsan Haque as the General Counsel for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA)  region.

CEO Michael Wu was selected as a recipient of the “Top 100 CEOs in Innovation Award 2022” by Word Biz Magazine.

Product Development and Partnerships

Amber Group Partnerships

Participated in Mina Foundation’s token sale, EthSign’s seed round, and Zecrey protocol’s angel round.

In the News

Michael Wu CEO Awards

World Biz Magazine: Michael Wu, CEO of Amber Group – interview WBM Top 100 Innovation CEO.

CNBC: For crypto to be adopted globally, we will have to comply with regulators: Crypto-trading platform.

Bloomberg: Bankers Who Stay in Hong Kong Are Rewarded With a Pay Bonanza.

Economist: EthSign raises $12 million in stable coin led by Sequoia Capital India, Mirana Ventures.

Forkast News: From crisis currency to consumer adoption: What next for crypto?

CoinDesk: Mina foundation raises $92M to accelerate adoption of Zero-Knowledge Proofs.

Cointelegraph: If the glass slipper doesn’t fit, smash it: Unraveling the myth of gender equality in crypto.

AMBCrypto: Amber Group strengthens management team with Ehsan Haque as EMEA General Counsel.

CoinCu: Zecrey protocol has raised $4M in an angel fundraising round.

Chain Debrief: Is the user experience in DeFi bad? Opportunities, challenges and how to see growth in DeFi.

Medium: Reproducing the $APE airdrop flash loan arbitrage/exploit.

Medium: Non-fungible trends.

Events and Media Appearances

Michael Wu

CEO Michael Wu joined Forkast News to discuss crypto’s consumer adoption and what’s next for crypto.

CEO Michael Wu joined CNBC Street Signs Asia to share how Amber Group seeks a balance between regulation and crypto development.

CEO Michael Wu gave an interview with Economist Impact at Technology for Change Week on how to stay ahead of the curve in the fintech space.

Managing Partner Annabelle Huang joined Economist Impact’s Asia Trade Week to discuss the future of crypto as payment in Asia.

Managing Partner Annabelle Huang joined Avalanche Summit to discuss the opportunities and challenges in DeFi.

Managing Partner Annabelle Huang joined Goldman Sach’s panel discussion on “Digital assets – Investing in the future” to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Annabelle Huang

Managing Partner Annabelle Huang gave a guest lecture on DeFi and Web3 for the International Finance class at Singapore Management University.

Managing Partner Annabelle Huang joined the DIG FIN VOX podcast to talk about Amber Group’s move to Singapore and into retail.

CSO Dimitrios Kavvathas joined Blockchain Africa Conference 2022 to discuss institutional investment in crypto.

CSO Dimitrios Kavvathas joined FinTech Festival India at a panel discussion on “De-Fi – A better solution for peer-to-peer lending”.

CSO Dimitrios Kavvathas joined the World Blockchain Summit in Dubai at a panel discussion on “Fostering the global crypto ecosystem”.

Dimitrios Kavvathas

Europe Managing Director Sophia Shluger delivered a keynote speech on digital wealth at Blockchain Africa Conference 2022.

Europe Managing Director Sophia Shluger joined the CryptoCompare Summit in London to discuss the building blocks of the new digital economy.

Europe Managing Director Sophia Shluger joined the FundFocus Europe 2022 conference to discuss the foundation for the widespread institutional adoption of cryptocurrency.

Sophia ShlugerRear

Latin America Managing Director Nicole Pabello joined the Ethereum Rio conference to discuss the LATAM Ecosystem in the world.

Nicole Pabello

Institutional Sales Director Justin d’Anethan joined EmergentX’s Annual Digital Asset Summit to discuss the institutionalizing of the digital asset industry.

Justin d'Anethan

Managing Director Ben Radclyffe joined Credit Suisse’s Asian Investment Conference to discuss the spillovers between crypto and equity markets.

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