By Chinwendu Obienyi
Apex Network, a financial servicing firm in Nigeria, has partnered with students of the Lagos State University to boost cryptocurrency and gift cards trading in the country.
At the annual Lagos Block Festival held last week, the firm rewarded people who attended the event with many freebies as a way of celebrating the success of rebranding of the platform and the introduction of Apex Network version 3.0, according to a statement.
The statement said, “ApexNetwork, which already provides a super-fast, secure, and reliable platform that enables its users to easily trade cryptocurrency, sell gift cards at the best rates, and process the swift payment of bills, has upped its ante and introduced new and better functions many cannot stop talking about at the event.
Speaking on the product, Gbenga Ogunbiyi, marketing lead at Apex Network, said the unique features offered by the firm’s new and improved version, enables people to perform numerous activities that were impossible when the platform first launched.
“With the new version, you can now buy crypto with naira, swap your crypto, pay bills, renew your DSTV, GoTV, and StarTimes subscriptions on your mobile device, and send money to friends and family,” he said.
He added that the product also Apex allows people to send money to other accounts belonging to their friends or family. He said, “The receiver must have an account with us to receive these funds.”
Cryptocurrency is any form of currency that exists digitally or virtually and uses cryptography to secure transactions, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, tether, Cardano and litecoin.
According to a recent report by Chainalysis, a New York-based blockchain research firm, rising inflation and naira depreciation have prompted more Nigerians to invest in cryptocurrencies.
The report shows that the country’s volume of crypto transactions grew year-over-year by nine percent to $56.7 billion between July 2022 and June 2023.
“Nigeria is one of only six countries in the top 50 by size globally whose crypto transaction volume grew year-on-year in the period we studied,” the report said.