Tapnob rolls out Nigeria’s first crypto-to-Naira gateway and lightning addresses to bridge the utility gap

For anyone who has closely tracked the African fintech ecosystem over the past seven years, the paradox of Nigeria’s crypto market is glaring. The country consistently ranks among the top global adopters of digital assets, yet the practical utility of these currencies for everyday commerce has remained virtually non-existent. People trade them and hedge with them, but buying a loaf of bread or paying at the supermarket with Bitcoin? That has always been a logistical nightmare.

Tapnob is attempting to completely rewrite this narrative. Led by founders Fishon Amos and Mubarak Muhammad Aminu, the Nigerian Bitcoin-native startup officially launched a payment infrastructure billed as the first of its kind in Nigeria. Moving beyond basic merchant tools, the platform fundamentally redesigns how local businesses, freelancers, and remote workers interact with global digital assets. It allows them to receive payments in Bitcoin or stablecoins and instantly receive the equivalent in Naira directly into their local bank accounts.

Historically, expecting a local supermarket, boutique, or creator to accept crypto meant asking them to shoulder immense risk. They had to navigate decentralised wallets, understand complex blockchain networks, and, most critically, stomach severe price volatility. Furthermore, receiving or spending Bitcoin was overly complicated, requiring users to deal with wallet addresses, invoices, bank details, and multiple fragmented steps just to move value.

Tapnob’s infrastructure bypasses this friction entirely, ensuring the receiver requires neither a crypto wallet nor blockchain expertise.

Introducing Tapnob addresses

To streamline the process further, the startup has rolled out Tapnob Addresses. This feature simplifies Bitcoin payments into a reusable username, formatted much like an email address (e.g., yourname@tapnob.io).

Users activate their Lightning Address just once and link their traditional Naira bank account. From then on, anyone across the globe can send Bitcoin to that address from a Lightning wallet. Tapnob’s backend engine immediately absorbs the currency exchange, locks in the rate, and settles the funds directly to the user’s bank account in fiat.

“Bitcoin payments should be as simple as sending an email. We built Tapnob Addresses to remove the friction that still exists today,” Fishon Amos, CEO of Tapnob tells Technext. “Users activate their address once, link a bank account once, and can continue using the same address whenever they want to receive Bitcoin.”

This removes the need to repeatedly share sensitive bank details or cumbersome cryptographic wallet addresses, making digital assets significantly more practical for merchants, the African diaspora, creators, and remote workers. Transactions can be initiated for as little as 4,500 satoshis (sats).

The technical mechanics under the hood are what make this platform a viable alternative to legacy banking systems. Cross-border payments and remittance networks have long punished African SMEs with exorbitant foreign exchange margins and multi-day settlement delays. At the same time, traditional peer-to-peer (P2P) markets face intense regulatory scrutiny and persistent trust issues.

Tapnob tackles these legacy issues by seamlessly integrating the Bitcoin Lightning Network alongside robust stablecoin liquidity (such as USDT and USDC).

“We’re combining Lightning payments with local payout infrastructure to create a seamless experience,” notes Mubarak Muhammad Aminu, Tapnob’s Chief Technology Officer. “Users shouldn’t have to think about invoices, wallet addresses, or payment rails. They simply share their Tapnob address and receive settlement.”

Key market advantages for Nigerian businesses

• Zero crypto knowledge required: Businesses and freelancers operate entirely in Naira, shielding them from the complexities of Web3.
• Instant settlements: Eradicates the waiting periods associated with traditional cross-border clearing houses.
• Bypassing FX bottlenecks: Allows merchants to seamlessly tap into the global diaspora and international clients without the bureaucratic headache of securing a domiciliary account.

This pragmatic approach has not gone unnoticed on the global stage. Tapnob has secured strategic backing from the Human Rights Foundation’s (HRF) Bitcoin Development Fund, which actively supports open-source financial tools that offer privacy, economic resilience, and freedom from high-inflation fiat systems in emerging markets.

For Nigerians currently navigating severe currency devaluation, the ability to transact with a global digital asset whilst instantly liquidating exactly what is needed for daily purchases is a game-changer. It transforms crypto from a purely speculative instrument into a practical, everyday financial lifeline.

Also read: These 3 Kaduna-based founders are reimagining everyday Bitcoin use in Africa

As digital economies mature, expecting consumers to constantly convert their digital wealth into fiat through informal channels before making a purchase is an outdated model. By absorbing the technical friction and presenting a clean, fiat-only interface to the merchant and the remote worker alike, Tapnob is laying the groundwork for how commerce will operate in Africa’s largest economy over the next decade.