Following Binance’s P2P shutdown on the NGN (Nigerian Naira) in February and the delisting of the NGN trading pairs in early March, Nigerians have found themselves looking out for great alternatives that can help them convert their Crypto to Fiat currency. This article will guide you on converting your crypto to cash at the prevailing black market rate without paying a lot in gas fees or losing excess crypto value.
Before we get started, there are some things you must know. This method involves sending out or withdrawing your crypto to a third-party exchange, but it teaches you how to do so by paying low gas fees. This implies you must have a verified account on a third-party exchange such as Kucoin, Bybit, or Bitget. I recommend these exchanges because they offer free P2P trading and unbiased support if the trading goes sour. We will also be exploring local options such as Yellow Card and Busha. The goal is to get your crypto out without paying much in gas fees.
1. Withdrawal via a Third-Party Centralized Crypto Exchange (CEX)
Before using this method, ensure you have a verified account on a third-party exchange platform. This is because most centralized exchange platforms require you to have a verified account before you can trade in the P2P marketplace. Your crypto might also end up getting stuck if your account is unverified. To avoid stories, ensure your account has been verified.
The next thing you might want to check is if the exchange of your choosing has active merchants in its NGN (Nigerian Naira) P2P marketplace. Once this is positive, head back to your Binance account, and let’s get started sending out our crypto to the exchange of our choosing. I highly recommend Bybit, Bitget, OKX, and Kucoin for your P2P marketplace trades. Follow the steps below:
- If the CRYPTO you hold is not USDT, swap it to USDT via the Spot Trading feature on Binance.
- Head to the Spot Balance section of your Wallet and select USDT. The reason we selected USDT is because it is the most available stablecoin across the central exchanges we will be using.
- Hit Withdraw and select the Crypto Network / Address option.
- Head to your wallet on Kucoin, Bybit, Bitget, or OKX and copy your USDT address on the BSC or BNB SmartChain Network. Ensure you select the BSC/BNB Smartchain network so that you enjoy low transaction fees of $0.2 or less.
- Head back to your Binance Wallet and paste the copied address in the address placeholder.
- Select the BSC or BNB SmartChain as the network and enter a withdrawal amount in the available placeholder.
- Approve the transaction using Passkey, Face ID, or an Authentication application.
- Your USDT will appear in your balance in the receiving CEX platform.
Note: that Kucoin charges a 0.1% receiving fee while Bybit allows you to deposit for free. Also, ensure you read, understand, and accept the terms of conditions of trading on any CEX’s P2P marketplace before proceeding with any trade.
2. Withdrawal via P2P Marketplaces
P2P marketplaces are another great way to exchange your crypto for fiat currency. The only negative side of these P2P platforms is that the exchange rate is determined by the buyer and not at the prevailing black-market exchange rate. Another disadvantage of using P2P platforms is that there is a fee of around 0.1 to 1% when you sell your crypto to merchants.
Popular P2P marketplaces include Yellow Card, Coinmama, Remitano, Busha, and LocalCoinSwap. I would advise you to avoid using a marketplace like Paxful because there is a high fraud rate on the Platform. Also, ensure you have verified your profile on the P2P platform of your choosing.
To avoid high fees, check if the P2P platform supports the USDT BEP-20 Smartchain network (also known as the BNB/BSC Smartchain). If the USDT BEP-20 network is supported, you can follow the instructions in the first method. Otherwise, you may consider sending the USDT via the TRON network or swap your crypto to DOGECOIN and select the DOGE network. The DOGE network currently has a fee of about 0.5 while the USDT TRON network has a transaction fee of $1 to withdraw from Binance to the P2P platform of your choosing.
Conclusion: CEX P2P VS. P2P Platforms – Which is Better?
No doubt, the P2P marketplace on Centralized Exchanges has more advantages when compared to pure P2P platforms. Apart from the no-fee trading and less likelihood of fraud, the P2P marketplace on CEX gives you more flexibility. This is because CEX has more crypto listed on them. You can also choose to send a different coin or token from Binance and exchange it on the spot trading platform of the receiving CEX if the transaction fee of the latter is lower than that of the former.
In all, I wish you good luck trading. If you have questions, do well to ask using the comment section and I will be here to reply to you.