Today on KWIQ: 1 USDT = ₦1,331.90 · 1 BTC = ₦108,938,951
All rates →KWIQ Naira Crypto Report · March 2023
USDC briefly lost its dollar link in March 2023, and Bitcoin rose 23%
Bitcoin rose 23% in March 2023, from $23,144 to $28,474, and ether rose 13.5%. USDT traded at a median of ₦741.98 on Quidax, 61.1% above the CBN’s official rate, which averaged ₦460.43.
Based on anonymised sales on KWIQ in March 2023, and public market data. Percentages and rates only. How we measure
On KWIQ in March 2023
Bitcoin’s share of crypto sales
88.6%
USDT: 6.1%
Crypto’s share of all trades
48.7%
Gift cards: 51.3%
Payouts to fintech accounts
46.3%
Of payouts with a known bank
Crypto sales vs the month before
+13.1%
Change in the number of sales
What Nigerians sold on KWIQ
By naira value, Bitcoin was 88.6% of crypto sales and USDT 6.1%. The biggest of the other coins: TRX 0.2%.
View as a table
| Coin | Share of crypto sales |
|---|---|
| Bitcoin | 88.6% |
| USDT | 6.1% |
| Ethereum | 5.1% |
| Other coins | 0.2% |
USDT’s share, month by month
USDT’s share of crypto sales by value in each month of 2023 up to March 2023.
View as a table
| Month | USDT share of crypto sales |
|---|---|
| Jan | 43.9% |
| Feb | 21.6% |
| Mar | 6.1% |
Crypto vs gift cards
Crypto made up 48.7% of all trades on KWIQ by naira value, and gift cards 51.3%.
Where the naira went
46.3% of payouts went to fintech accounts rather than commercial banks.
Among payouts with a known receiving bank. The bank wasn’t recorded for 3.9% of payouts.
When people sold
Thursday was the busiest day, and 9pm to 10pm the busiest hour (Lagos time).
Busiest day
Thursday
Busiest hour
9pm to 10pm
Peak hour vs an average hour
+108.7%
View as a table
| Day | Share of crypto sales |
|---|---|
| Monday | 10.9% |
| Tuesday | 11.6% |
| Wednesday | 17.4% |
| Thursday | 19.6% |
| Friday | 19.6% |
| Saturday | 8% |
| Sunday | 13% |
New sellers
19.6% of sales came from people selling on KWIQ for the first time.
Sales from first-time sellers
19.6%
The market in March 2023
Bitcoin at the end of the month
$28,474
Up 23% on the month
CBN official rate, end of month
₦460.35
Averaged ₦460.43 per dollar
USDT on Quidax, median day
₦741.98
61.1% above the official rate
Bitcoin in naira on Quidax
₦20,926,644
At the end of the month
Bitcoin and ether in dollars
Bitcoin rose 23% in March 2023, from $23,144 to $28,474, with a high of $29,190 and a low of $19,569. Ether rose 13.5%, to $1,822.
Bitcoin’s price at the end of each of the last 12 months, in US dollars.
View as a table
| Month | Bitcoin | Ether |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 2022 | $37,644 | $2,727 |
| May 2022 | $31,784 | $1,941 |
| Jun 2022 | $19,986 | $1,070 |
| Jul 2022 | $23,307 | $1,679 |
| Aug 2022 | $20,048 | $1,554 |
| Sep 2022 | $19,426 | $1,329 |
| Oct 2022 | $20,490 | $1,573 |
| Nov 2022 | $17,167 | $1,295 |
| Dec 2022 | $16,530 | $1,195 |
| Jan 2023 | $23,129 | $1,585 |
| Feb 2023 | $23,145 | $1,605 |
| Mar 2023 | $28,474 | $1,822 |
The naira: official and market rates
The CBN’s official rate stayed at about ₦460.43 per dollar. On Quidax, USDT traded between ₦733.75 and ₦744.89 a day, with a median of ₦741.98, 61.1% above the official rate.
Naira per dollar on Quidax, the median day of each month.
View as a table
| Month | Official | Market | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2022 | ₦415.4 | ₦587.16 | +41.3% |
| May 2022 | ₦415.08 | ₦600.26 | +44.6% |
| Jun 2022 | ₦415.02 | ₦609.34 | +46.8% |
| Jul 2022 | ₦415.11 | ₦625.06 | +50.6% |
| Aug 2022 | ₦419.97 | ₦678.99 | +61.7% |
| Sep 2022 | ₦428.75 | ₦710.58 | +65.7% |
| Oct 2022 | ₦436.12 | ₦742.79 | +70.3% |
| Nov 2022 | ₦441.88 | ₦780.89 | +76.7% |
| Dec 2022 | ₦445.97 | ₦739.07 | +65.7% |
| Jan 2023 | ₦454.97 | ₦744.47 | +63.6% |
| Feb 2023 | ₦460.43 | ₦748.98 | +62.7% |
| Mar 2023 | ₦460.43 | ₦741.98 | +61.1% |
What happened in March 2023
The month’s main events in crypto, and in Nigeria.
- On 1 March Bola Tinubu was declared the winner of the presidential election.
- On 3 March the Supreme Court ruled that the old ₦200, ₦500 and ₦1,000 notes would stay legal tender until 31 December 2023.
- On 10 March the US bank Silicon Valley Bank failed, and the next day the stablecoin USDC briefly fell below $1.
What it meant in naira
Two examples at Quidax’s prices, to show how the month’s moves added up for someone holding crypto in Nigeria. They aren’t the rates KWIQ paid.
- $100 in USDT was worth about ₦74,275 on the first day of the month and ₦74,000 on the last.
- 0.01 BTC was worth about ₦209,266 at the end of March 2023, against ₦172,396 a month earlier.
How we measure
- Bitcoin and ether prices are Coinbase’s daily prices in US dollars (UTC days): the first day’s opening price, the last day’s closing price and the month’s high and low.
- The official rate is the Central Bank of Nigeria’s central rate for the US dollar, on the days the CBN published one.
- The market rate is the naira price of USDT on Quidax, which provides KWIQ’s wallets: the median of its daily closing prices, counting only days with trades.
- Events are as reported at the time. They’re listed for context, not as the cause of any price move.
- KWIQ’s figures come from anonymised sales completed on KWIQ during the calendar month, in Lagos time, across KWIQ’s current and older selling systems.
- We publish percentages, indices and the rates KWIQ paid: never amounts, totals or anything about an individual user.
- Payout destinations are among payouts where the receiving bank was recorded. Fintech accounts include OPay, PalmPay, Moniepoint, Kuda and FairMoney; the rest are commercial banks.
- KWIQ’s older selling systems recorded less than today’s: there are no USDT network figures before 2026, the rates KWIQ paid start in October 2024 and the payout time in December 2025.
Use this report
Journalists, bloggers and researchers are welcome to quote this report and its figures, with a credit to KWIQ and a link to this page. For interviews or more detail, email admin@kwiq.app. For today’s rates, see crypto to naira rates.
Sell crypto for naira on KWIQ
Zero conversion fees, the rate shown before you sell, and naira in your bank account in just 4 seconds.
