Buy bitcoins online in Kenya Seller Payment method Show more… Sell bitcoins online in Kenya Buyer Payment method Show more… Buy and Sell Bitcoins in these popular cities in Kenya City Trading AmountBitcoin Exchange Services in KenyaLIPA NA BITCOIN a brand new service for businesses to receive instant payments in the form of bitcoin.There is an old joke to the effect that you will always know a Kenyan in a foreign city because the first thing they will ask right at the airport is where they can find an M-Pesa agent in town.Of course, this is an exaggeration, but it goes to show how the service is entrenched in Kenyan society.For those who might not be privileged to know what M-Pesa is, this is a mobile system that allows people to store money on their cell phones and, most importantly, pass it around.It is now a norm to pay for your dinner at a restaurant using M-Pesa and even buy electricity tokens from the power supply company when you reach home and you are greeted with a blackout since the previous token has expired.

Vodafone through its local subsidiary, Safaricom, launched M-Pesa in 2005.Since then this service has grown so big so that when there is system downtime, everything across the country seems to come to a standstill.And the numbers explain why this is so.Of the 40 million Kenyans approximately living in the country, there are close to 17 million active M-Pesa accounts.That means if you took away the approximate number of those under and over the age of the majority, it becomes clear that almost every adult transacts using the mobile money service.On the face of it, M-Pesa it seems to be the perfect competitor that bitcoin has to take on if it dreams of becoming mainstream in the country.However, recent developments seem to point to the opposite.In November 2013,  the digital currency exchange, Bitpesa, opened up shop in the country and one of its leveraging tools turned out to be M-Pesa.Its initial target market was individuals sending money from UK to Kenya.While the sender sends bitcoins, the recipient receives the money in the form of Kenyan Shillings with their mobile number or M-Pesa account serving as the digital wallet.

But that seem to have expanded to enable individuals to covert their money between shillings and bitcoin using an M-Pesa account.bitcoin exchange in nigeriaIndeed, it is now possible to buy bitcoins using M-Pesa for other purposes such as trading.nj bitcoin atmAnd the cost of all these transactions is capped at 3%.bitcoin arkThings seem to be going well for the company as it was able to raise up to US$1.1 million in its second round of funding from San Francisco-based Pantera Capital, Crypto Currency Partners, Future/Perfect Ventures, Stephens Investment Management, and Bitcoin Opportunity Corp.bitcoin 2020 valueamong others in February 2015.bitcoin lottery download

And this is not the only company that is using M-Pesa to transact between fiat and bitcoin.ethereum hacker newsTagpesa, a local company, got into the market in late February with a similar service.raw food world bitcoinAt about the same time, the company was acquired by the Australian exchange Igot, one of the fastest-growing Bitcoin exchanges in the world.bitcoin price graph 2014It is already operating in close to 50 countries, including the Middle East.bitcoin mining os linuxIn result, what these two companies have done is turn a potential formidable business rival into a dependable partner.And at least for the foreseeable future, these services seem to be the simplest, cheapest and most convenient channels through which Kenyans will interact with bitcoin.

Did you enjoy this article?You may also be interested in reading these ones:There is a new way to send money to and from Kenya by way of the virtual currency bitcoin.While the company, Bitpesa, charges fees significantly lower than traditional money transfer services, some worry that the lack of regulation around bitcoins could put transactions at risk and open the way to criminal activity.The bitcoin has been around for six years.It is a digital, decentralized currency, meaning it only exists electronically and there is no regulation or oversight by any bank or financial institution.A Kenyan start-up called Bitpesa now allows people to send money into and out of Kenya through bitcoins.The company said in just two years, the number of registered users has grown to 4,000.Research analyst Michael Kimani has been using Bitpesa since 2013.The cheap transfer rates are a plus, he said, but there are limitations like the volatile bitcoin exchange rate.“The downside is the volatility, like the price usually goes up and down, so a lot of times I have to convert immediately if I really need the cash because I don’t want to hold it and find that the value has gone down in like a week or something.

So that’s usually the downside,” Kimani said.The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) said sending $200 to Africa via traditional money transfer services can carry a fee of up to 12 percent.Bitpesa charges a flat rate of 3 percent on all transactions.The Central Bank of Kenya has warned people against using digital currencies, like bitcoin.The Central Bank said these currencies can be used for money laundering and to finance terrorism.In the event of losses, the Central Bank said users will have no recourse locally.Elizabeth Rossiello, co-founder of Bitpesa, believes resistance from financial regulators is misplaced.“We sell Bitcoins for Kenyan shillings and we buy it for Kenyan shillings.There’s no law in Kenya, nor anywhere in Africa, that states bitcoin or virtual currencies to be illegal,” she explained.“We are a registered company in Kenya that follows the law.We do not engage in illegal activities.” Rossiello said traditional money transfer services charge high fees because they can.

There is not enough competition.Bitcoin has had a reputation as the currency of choice for hackers and criminals though that perception is changing.Rossiello said Bitpesa is secure and safe to use.“I think there’s been a general misconception about this technology where people believe bitcoin transactions to be untraceable, therefore inherently insecure.In reality, the reverse is true,” she said.“Every bitcoin transaction leaves an indelible record that can be observed and traced by anyone, including authorities.” But Aly Satchu Khan, the CEO of the Nairobi financial management company, Get Rich, said Bitpesa is not yet proven to be a “rock solid platform.” “I think the concern is predominantly around criminals, criminality or even terrorism funding, that essentially given that they are operating out in an environment outside the purview of most governing authorities, monitory authorities in Africa, that therefore there was an opportunity here, a gap, that the terrorists or the criminal could potentially use virtual currency in order to fund their operations or raid cash or anything of that sort,” said Khan.