Nigeria’s stablecoin growth attracts Bitget Wallet expansion

Nigeria’s growing stablecoin market is attracting deeper investment from digital asset platforms, with Bitget Wallet expanding its direct bank transfer services to make it easier for users to convert dollar-denominated digital assets into naira.

The self-custodial crypto wallet has operated a direct bank transfer service in Nigeria since November 2025, allowing users to convert USDT or USDC held in the wallet directly into naira deposited into a Nigerian bank account without first moving the assets to a separate cryptocurrency exchange.

Nigeria emerges as a major stablecoin market

Nigeria has become a major centre for stablecoin activity in sub-Saharan Africa, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimating that the country accounts for roughly 60 per cent of the region’s stablecoin inflows.

The estimate is based on third-party blockchain data that uses USDT and USDC as proxies and does not represent an official balance-of-payments measure.

Formal remittance activity has also recorded growth. Inflows processed through licensed money transfer operators reached $1.29bn in the first quarter of 2026, representing a 45 per cent increase from the same period a year earlier.

CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso has said the central bank is targeting monthly remittance inflows of $1bn by the end of the year, compared with a current run rate above $600m.

However, total remittances during the quarter declined to $5.30bn from $5.72bn, indicating that the increase in formal channels does not necessarily represent growth in the overall remittance market.

Bitget Wallet expands direct naira off-ramp

Against this backdrop, Bitget Wallet launched its direct bank transfer service in Nigeria and Mexico on November 25, 2025.

The service initially covered more than 45 Nigerian banks and over 35 Mexican banks, supporting USDT and USDC across BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana, Tron and Base.

The company launched the service with zero fees, at a time when Nigeria’s annual on-chain transaction value was estimated at approximately $90bn.

Bitget Wallet has since reported significant growth in its wider ecosystem. Its global user base surpassed 100 million in July 2026, compared with 80 million at the November launch.

The company also said payment volume had overtaken trading volume for the first time, while stablecoin settlement reached $177bn across more than 80 payment rails and 100 currencies.

Stablecoins create new payment routes

The company has also expanded its card operations, issuing more than 150,000 cards across over 50 markets.

Card spending during the first half of 2026 reached $33m, a 191 per cent increase from the second half of 2025. In emerging markets, card spending increased by 416 per cent.

Bitget Wallet said the average cardholder makes about 10 payments per month, with an average transaction value of approximately $28.

The growth reflects the expanding use of digital assets beyond trading, as stablecoins increasingly serve as a means of moving and storing dollar-denominated value across borders.

Direct conversion could reduce payment friction

For Nigerians receiving stablecoins through freelance work, overseas contracts or international business transactions, converting digital assets into local currency can be more complicated than acquiring the assets themselves.

The traditional process typically involves transferring USDT or USDC to an exchange, selling the assets and subsequently withdrawing the resulting naira to a bank account.

Each stage can introduce additional fees, waiting periods and potential points of failure.

Bitget Wallet’s direct transfer service seeks to compress that process by allowing users to initiate the conversion within the wallet and receive naira directly into a Nigerian bank account.

The company has not disclosed the full mechanics of the off-ramp infrastructure. However, such a service requires a counterparty with sufficient naira liquidity to exchange local currency for the user’s digital assets at an agreed conversion rate.

The local currency must then be settled through Nigeria’s banking infrastructure into the recipient’s account.

The effectiveness of the service ultimately depends on factors including liquidity depth, the spread applied to the conversion rate and the reliability of settlement during periods of network congestion.

Because Bitget Wallet is self-custodial, users retain control of their assets through their own private keys until the conversion is executed, rather than placing their balances directly on the company’s books.

Stablecoins reshape cross-border payment flows

Bitget Wallet said its direct bank transfer service is particularly relevant to users who already hold stablecoins received through freelance income, payments from overseas clients or cross-border contracts.

Unlike conventional remittance services, where a sender outside Nigeria initiates a transaction using local fiat currency, the direct transfer model starts with a stablecoin balance already held by the recipient.

This gives the holder greater control over when and how much of their dollar-denominated digital assets are converted into naira.

The broader remittance market is also becoming more competitive. London-to-Lagos transfer costs have reportedly fallen from an average of 7.8 per cent in 2023 to between 2 and 3 per cent on modern diaspora applications.

Stablecoins introduce another potential route for cross-border transactions.

For example, when a freelancer in Lagos receives USDT from a client in Berlin and converts the funds directly into naira through a digital wallet, the transaction may not pass through a traditional money transfer operator and therefore may not appear in the quarterly remittance figures reported by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Regulatory infrastructure remains critical

Bitget Wallet’s expansion comes as stablecoins assume a growing role in Nigeria’s digital payments and cross-border transaction ecosystem.

The development also highlights the importance of regulatory and compliance frameworks capable of accounting for payment flows that increasingly move between traditional financial institutions and blockchain-based networks.

As stablecoin adoption grows, the ability of platforms to combine self-custody, liquidity management, transaction monitoring and compliant access to local banking systems will become increasingly important to the evolution of Nigeria’s digital asset market.