2024 has been quite an interesting year for the crypto market. Expectations for cryptocurrency prices were rather high, and while many of these expectations haven’t been met, investors have remained confident that a bull run is imminent.
That said, the dynamics of cryptocurrency prices haven’t been the challenging thing. Instead, there appears to be a trust gap in the crypto market – particularly in Nigeria, where several crypto companies appear to be struggling.
Crypto In H1 2024: A Mid-Year Review
2024 began with a considerable amount of hope for the global cryptocurrency market. After two bearish years where coin prices struggled, investors were confident in 2024’s ability to break this trend and finally deliver the gains they were looking for.
The start of the year was filled with a lot of promise. Bitcoin (BTC), the most popular cryptocurrency, began the year trading at about $43,000, and by the middle of March, its price had cracked the $70,000 mark for the first time, setting a new all-time high above $71,200. On the back of this, several other coins saw their prices surge, with investors finally gearing up for the gains they were anticipating.
Still, the past few months have been all but rosy for the fledgling market. Coin prices have adjusted lower since the highs of March, with BTC now struggling to hold its peg above $60,000 and most major altcoins also seeing their prices stabilize.
An additional challenge has come in the fact that Nigeria’s crypto space has been plagued with news of shutdowns and company struggles in the past two years. That trend continued into 2024, with several big names suddenly folding up.
A Focus On Trust & Education
With the state of Nigeria’s crypto space, it would be expected that investor sentiment would have eroded. But, this isn’t necessarily the case. Nigerian crypto companies and platforms remain poised for growth, and several of them have continued to thrive with growing customer bases.
Speaking to reporters, an official at Exchanger101 – one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing crypto trading platforms – explained that the market dynamics have done little to dismay their customers.
“At the end of the day, we believe that much of our growth comes from the fact that our customers can see the intrinsic value of cryptocurrencies. And as long as they continue to resonate with the market, there will be opportunities for more growth.”
As the official explained, the strength of Exchanger101 – as well as most other crypto companies that have managed to weather the storm – lies in their ability to maintain transparency and educate their users.
“There’s still a strong belief that crypto is a great way to make money, but our users also understand that digital assets are useful for much more. As long as there is a market, people will want to learn about crypto. And our job is to educate them and show that they can trust us.”
This focus on transparency and trust is what has propelled several crypto platforms to impressive growth this year. And as the market matures, platforms will be looking to double down on this strategy.
Diversification In Service Offerings
Besides education, another strategy that appears to be working rather well for crypto companies is expansion into additional, unconventional services.
Today, crypto exchanges and companies offer a plethora of additional services – from savings in Dollars to bill payments to even gift card purchases. The latter has been especially profitable for Exchanger101, which allows users to purchase gift cards and several other digital assets as well as pay bills online.
“The expansion works primarily because we believe that our platform doesn’t have to cater to crypto-native users alone. We want to provide a way for people to get the most out of their money, even if they might not want to trade crypto alone,” the company official explained.