Today, I will be discussing extensively the exchange – BuyCoins Africa.
BuyCoins is a service that enables users to trade cryptocurrencies instantly.
Founded in Lagos, Nigeria, the platform caters to Nigerians interested in cryptocurrency trading.
It launched in 2017 as Bitkoin Africa and rebranded to BuyCoins in February 2018.
In this review of today, you will get to know about BuyCoins in toto – the basics, its products/services, supported currencies, fees, etc.
It promises to be interesting and concise.
So grab your writing tools and tag along as we go down the BuyCoins’ way.
BuyCoins Review Summary
To ensure that you totally comprehend the topic of today, I have listed out a number of subheadings that will lead this review.
They include:
- BuyCoins Overview
- BuyCoins Features
- Products and Services
- Supported Countries, Currencies, and Payment Methods
- BuyCoins Fees
- Verification Requirements
- Customer Support and Users Review
- Video Demo: How to Buy and Sell bitcoins on Buycoins Africa
- Comparing BuyCoins to Other Exchanges
- Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)
- Conclusion
For easy navigation, just click on any subheading to view its details.
Enjoy!
1. BuyCoins Overview
BuyCoins (formerly Bitkoin Africa) was founded in 2017 by Timi Ajiboye, a software developer, and a team of 9 others.
It is currently based in Lagos, Nigeria and cater to Nigerians in Nigeria who are interested in trading cryptocurrencies.
BuyCoins has the goal of providing a platform that serves its users’ needs.
It facilitates the convenient and speedy buying, selling, storing, and transferring of cryptocurrencies.
To ensure this, it provides secure wallets, employs seamless payment methods, and host users’ information on secure servers.
It is a broker and Peer-to-Peer type of exchange.
Here you have BuyCoins in a nutshell.
Let’s now look at the features of the platform.
2. BuyCoins Features
- Instant Buy and Sell
- Price alert
- Instant deposit
- Multiple coins support
- Safe and secure system
- Instant payments
- Live chat
I listed the products and services offered by BuyCoins below.
Scroll down to view.
3. Products and Services
BuyCoins offers the following products and services:
- Instant Buy/Sell
- P2P Exchange
- Wallets
- Referral Program
- Coinlock NGNT
- Credit Sell
- Mobile App
Instant Buy/Sell
This is where users can easily purchase their desired cryptocurrency.
The cryptocurrencies include; Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.
Users can purchase these cryptocurrencies directly by using their Visa/Master Card or by making a bank transfer.
P2P Exchange
This is a market place where users can buy and sell supported cryptocurrencies in transactions with other BuyCoins users.
The transactions are carried out under the safety of the Escrow System.
Wallets
BuyCoins provides wallets for all the cryptocurrencies it supports.
With the wallets, you can easily send, receive, and store the supported cryptocurrencies on one secured platform.
Referral Program
In this program, you get to earn money by inviting someone to use BuyCoins with your referral link.
It works this way:
- Log in to buycoins.africa and click on Settings
- Select ‘Referral Program’ from the drop-down menu
- Copy your referral link and share it on Facebook, Twitter, via SMS or email
- Your friend signs up using the link and completes a P2P trade (with someone that is not you)
- You and your friend will get 1000NGN worth of BTC
- Your referral bonus is paid to your Naira account on a weekly basis
Coinlock NGTN(Nigerian Naira Token)
You can earn NGNT( similar to USDT) by locking any amount you choose for a specified time period (during which you will not be able to access it) and earn interest when the time is up.
The lock durations are:
- 1 month (8 or 10% interest per annum)
- 3 months (10 or 12% interest per annum)
- 6 months (12 or 14% interest per annum)
Locking between 50,000 NGNT and 499,999 NGNT gets you a lower interest rate.
But locking > 500,000 NGNT gets you a higher interest rate.
Kindly note that you will not be able to access the locked NGNT until the maturity date.
Make sure you will not need the locked amount before then.
Credit Sell
Here, users borrow cryptocurrencies to sell and payback to the platform in BTC within 6 hours.
You have to take note of the following guidelines before going ahead to use this service:
- You can sell as long as you have available credit.
- The maximum amount you can sell is called your “Credit Line.” This is determined by BuyCoins.
- You are not allowed to owe the debt for longer than 6 hours.
- You have to send in BTC to your BuyCoins wallet to offset the debt.
- If after 6 hours you have not settled your debt, you will be charged a penalty fee(0.5% of the owed amount).
- The penalty fee of 0.5% will be charged every 3 hours after the first 6 hours have elapsed.
- If you do not offset your debt after 24 hours, your account would be restricted.
Credit sell is only available to High Volume users who have traded on BuyCoins for a long time and do huge monthly volumes.
Buycoins contact these users and offer them this feature to improve their trading experience on the exchange.
This means it’s not publicly available to every BuyCoins user
Mobile App
BuyCoins app is available on all major devices – iPhone, iPad, Android phone, or desktop computer.
Having known Buycoins’ products and services, I will now look at the countries and currencies it supports.
Keep reading.
4. Supported Countries, Currencies, and Payment Methods
Countries
BuyCoins currently supports only Nigeria; providing its services for Nigerians with Nigerian bank accounts.
Currencies
Cryptocurrencies
Fiat Currency
- Nigerian Naira(NGN)
When deposited, the NGN is stored as NGNT in the Naira Token wallet.
Payment Methods
Payments can be made via:
- VISA/Master cards
- Bank transfer
I discussed the fees charged by BuyCoins below.
Don’t stop reading at this point.
5. BuyCoins Fees
The following fees apply when using BuyCoins:
Trade Fees
- 0% applies when using the P2P marketplace (This will change to 0.4% later in the year)
- 0% buying directly from the platform
Network Fees
These are the transaction fees charged for processing a cryptocurrency transfer.
They are applicable only when crypto is leaving the BuyCoins wallet to an external wallet address.
The fees are estimated by taking all the transactions in the last 30 blocks and calculating the lowest possible fee(per KB) that has more than a 75% chance of getting into the first block.
Withdrawal Fees
These are charged when you are withdrawing from your BuyCoins Naira account to your bank account.
The fee is 50NGN.
Deposit Fees
You can either deposit using Bank Transfer or Paystack (Card payment).
- Bank Transfer: is free
- Paystack: 1.5% + N50 (if above N10,000) to a maximum of N2,000
This simply means that all payments worth 50,000NGN and above will have a Payment Processing fee of 2,050NGN.
6. Verification Requirements
- Bank Verification Number(BVN)
- Phone number
- Bank account number
In the case where the number tied to your BVN is no longer your current phone number, you will have to change it manually.
You can do this by uploading a scanned copy of your:
- Driver’s license
- National ID Card
- National Passport
- Voters card
You will have to do this before updating your number.
Having listed the requirements to get verified, I will now talk about BuyCoins customer support and user reviews.
7. Customer Support and User Reviews
The exchange has a very extensive HELP CENTER where you can find answers to most questions.
In case you do not find answers to your query in the HELP CENTER, you will have to contact BuyCoins customer support via:
Its Live chat still retains its ‘live-ness’ as they respond within 10mins of your inquiry.
As seen on AppGrooves, BuyCoins have 73.9 positive reviews where users praised the app and its developers.
However, the remaining 26.1 negative reviews had users complaining of:
- not being able to sign in after updating(even with their passwords)
- verification codes not working and not sent sometimes
Find a videok demo on how to use BuyCoins below.
8. Video Demo: How to Buy and Sell Bitcoins on BuyCoins Africa
I will be measuring up BuyCoins against some exchanges that offer similar services as it does in the next section.
Find details of it below.
9. Comparing BuyCoins to Other Exchanges
I compared BuyCoins to Remitano and Paxful
These exchanges offer services similar to that of BuyCoins.
BuyCoins vs. Remitano
Remitano is a P2P exchange founded in April 2016 and has been the choice P2P platform for Nigerians.
It started off with just Bitcoins but now provides support for more coins both at its P2P market and at its investment program.
It beats BuyCoins in terms of liquidity and supported countries.
But when the trade fees are considered, bet you will choose BuyCoins 0% to Remitano’s 1%.
Also read: Remitano Review(2020) – The Top P2P Exchange in Nigeria
BuysCoins vs. Paxful
Paxful is a Bitcoin P2P platform where user can buy bitcoins using over 300 payment methods. This is where it obviously has an advantage over Buycoins and other P2P Platforms.
it supports over 150 countries while Buycoins supports only 1 (Nigeria).
However, in terms of safety Buycoins is the safest out there. There no way a user can scam you on Buycoins. Even though its P2P all transactions are carried out on the platform.
Also read: Paxful Review (2020 Update) | The Complete Review & Comparison
10. Frequently Asked Questions about BuyCoins
No, Only fully verified users can trade on BuyCoins
In BuyCoins, your BVN is a criterion to verifying your account.
It is required to verify your name(s), date of birth, and to pull your phone number for the next verification step.
Besides, BuyCoins cannot gain access to your bank account information using your BVN
It stores such sensitive information using computer safeguards such as firewalls and data encryption.
It is accessible to only authorized personnel.
As stated in its Terms and Conditions page, BuyCoins. Inc. a private limited liability company incorporated in the United States of America under the laws of the State of South Carolina.
Its domain name: buycoins.africa was registered on whois.com on 24th November 2017.
It has been in existence since 2017 and there has been no news of the exchange being hacked.
The platform allows users to set up 2 Factor Authentication(2FA) which is an added layer of security.
It has no hidden fees and its services are clearly explained.
Its CTO and CEO, Timi Ajiboye, is a multidisciplinary software developer and the co-author of the book – The Little Bitcoin book.
Unlike in some other exchanges, the rest of the team members were listed too on its website.
It currently has an online free course on Bitcoin titled ‘Introduction to Bitcoin‘.
From the facts garnered thus far, BuyCoins can be said to be safe.
But as I will always advise crypto investors:
Carry out your own research and findings before setting out to make any investment.
Learn How To Trade
If you want to learn how to trade cryptocurrencies profitably, sign up for free on Afibie.
You can join our Telegram channel, where we hold live sessions and give trade signals.
11. Conclusion
At this section is where I will conclude today’s post.
So far, it has been interesting and educative at the same time.
Now, after reading through, do you have any questions to ask me?
Do you own an account with BuyCoins or you are yet to sign up?
What coin will love to see listed on BuyCoins?
Hoping to see your replies in the comment section below.
Don’t forget to share this post using the social media buttons right below.
Before signing off, I personally handpicked other exchange reviews that I know you will enjoy reading.
They include:
Itsa a scam
Why do dey need your bank login information
Hello Olufi, they require just your BVN, just like other exchanges do, to be sure you are the person transacting with them and to protect you from scam
How do I update my app my having issue if am about to login the page pls help me
Please contact buycoins customer support