Nigeria has moved to the front of global peer-to-peer cryptocurrency activity, according to the 2026 Global Crypto Adoption Index published by Chainalysis on 23 September. The country ranked third overall, behind Brazil and the United States, but placed first in two of the four measures the index tracks: crypto sent directly between people within the country, and crypto moving across its borders.
That ranking came in a difficult year for digital asset prices. In the 12 months to 30 June 2026, the total value of all cryptocurrencies fell by about half, roughly $2.1 trillion. Even so, the crypto activity Chainalysis monitors worldwide declined by only 1.6%, from $9.5 trillion to $9.4 trillion, suggesting that many users depend on digital assets for payments and savings rather than speculation.
Stablecoins such as USDT and USDC are driving the growth. The value of crypto sent between personal wallets within the same country jumped 302.9% to $228.7 billion, with stablecoins accounting for 96% of that volume. Cross-border stablecoin transfers rose 77.5% to $220.3 billion, at an average size of about $3,000. Chainalysis associates transfers of that scale with routine money needs, including paying for goods, remittances, supplier payments and saving.
For Nigerian users, those patterns are visible in daily commerce. Freelancers receive payments in USDT from foreign clients, importers settle overseas suppliers, families collect remittances, and savers hold dollar-pegged coins to hedge against naira depreciation.
Converting those balances into naira remains a friction point. Peer-to-peer trading requires a seller to accept an order, wait for the buyer to pay, confirm receipt and then release the coins. Slow payments, reversed transfers or bank account flags can leave sellers waiting for days while disputes are resolved.
Apexpay, a crypto-to-fiat platform, removes the buyer from the process by allowing users to sell directly to the platform. Funds are sent to the user's wallet once the coins arrive. Most transactions are completed within five minutes, while Bitcoin sales take about 10 minutes because of network confirmation times.
The app supports 12 assets: Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT on the TRC20, ERC20 and BEP20 networks, USDC, Bitcoin Cash, Solana, Litecoin, BNB, Tron and Dogecoin. Sellers can choose payout in naira, cedis or USDT. Apexpay 2.0 added instant transactions, separate naira and cedis wallets and stronger security, with 24-hour customer support. The app has recorded more than 700,000 downloads on Google Play and the App Store, with users in Nigeria and Ghana.
