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Lagos-based digital asset exchange, founded in 2017 and the first firm to receive a provisional Digital Assets Exchange approval from Nigeria's securities regulator, now pushing beyond retail trading into stablecoin settlement rails for businesses moving money into and out of African markets.
Quidax was founded in 2017 by Buchi Okoro, Uzo Awili and Morris Ebieroma, and built its early business on retail cryptocurrency trading in Nigeria alongside an API used by fintechs to embed buying and selling. In August 2024 the Securities and Exchange Commission granted it an Approval-in-Principle as a Digital Assets Exchange under the Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme, the first such approval issued to a local exchange; that provisional status is what the firm still holds, and the SEC register continues to list it as an ARIP participant rather than a fully registered operator. Conversion to full registration under the Investments and Securities Act 2025, which brings digital assets within the securities perimeter, has not been completed. The company discontinued peer-to-peer trading in January 2026 and delisted dozens of tokens, and has since leaned into enterprise stablecoin settlement, quoting corridors across more than 21 countries and 14 currencies as of July 2026. It also issues QDX, a native token used for fee discounts and staking rewards. Quidax says it serves more than a million customers and over 5,000 startups and enterprises; both are company figures.
Developments in which Quidax is a named party, newest first.
The exchange holding Nigeria's first provisional digital asset approval says businesses can now settle in 14 currencies across nine African markets and beyond, a bet that regulated rails can undercut some of the world's costliest payment corridors.
Quidax said on 28 July 2026 that its stablecoin payment infrastructure now reaches more than 21 countries and 14 currencies, with corridors across nine African markets including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Côte d'Ivoire alongside destinations such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, China and the United Arab Emirates. USDT, XAUT and USAT are among the supported stablecoins. The company holds an approval-in-principle as a digital assets exchange from Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission rather than a full registration.
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