Buy and Sell Crypto in Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana with Partna — Now Live
> Editor's note (2026-05-07): Partna asked us to temporarily pause the Kenya (KES) and Ghana (GHS) corridors while they stabilize those rails. Nigeria (NGN) remains fully live for both buy and sell. The KES and GHS sections of the post below describe what those corridors looked like on launch day; we will restore them as soon as Partna confirms the rails are back. The rest of the post (NGN flows, KYC, and limits for Nigeria) is current.
Today we are switching on Africa-native rails on Swaps.
Three corridors are live: Nigeria (NGN), Kenya (KES), and Ghana (GHS) — both for buying and selling crypto. The provider behind them is Partna, an Africa-focused fiat on/off-ramp that has spent years building local payment infrastructure across these markets.
Until today, African users on Swaps were largely limited to international card rails or workarounds. From now on, they get bank transfers in their own currency, mobile money through their familiar wallets, and M-Pesa STK push for Kenya — the fastest way to move money in East Africa.
This post covers what is live, how to use it, and what to expect on fees, KYC, and timing.
What is live today
| Country | Fiat | Buy | Sell | Payment methods | |---|---|---|---|---| | Nigeria | NGN | yes | yes | Bank transfer, mobile money | | Kenya | KES | yes | yes | M-Pesa, bank transfer, mobile money | | Ghana | GHS | yes | yes | Mobile money, bank transfer |
Crypto support is broad: USDT, USDC, CUSD, BTC, ETH, and BNB, across 9 networks (Tron, Solana, Celo, Ethereum, Polygon, Base, Avalanche, BSC, Bitcoin). USDT on Tron remains the most popular pair across all three corridors — fast, cheap, and the de facto USD-stable for African traders.
Why this matters
If you are not in Africa, the change might look like a routine provider addition. For users in Lagos, Nairobi, or Accra, it is a different story.
For Nigeria. USDT is already a quiet second currency for many Nigerians — used for savings, freelance income, and cross-border payments. Until now, getting USDT into a wallet usually meant P2P (slow, friction-heavy, counterparty risk) or international card rails (high spreads, often declined). Partna's NGN bank rails are direct, transparent on price, and reversible if anything goes wrong. Selling USDT back to a Naira bank account is now a one-click flow — historically one of the hardest things to do well in this market.
For Kenya. M-Pesa is the rail. Anything that does not work over M-Pesa is a non-starter for most Kenyans. With Partna, choosing "M-Pesa" on Swaps triggers an STK push to your phone — the same flow you use for paying utilities or sending money to a friend. You enter your M-Pesa PIN, and the crypto lands in your wallet. No bank account required.
For Ghana. Mobile money providers (MTN MoMo, Vodafone Cash, AirtelTigo Money) carry the bulk of digital payments in Ghana. Partna integrates with all of them, plus GHS bank transfer for users who prefer it. Like Nigeria, off-ramp is supported — sell USDT back to a Cedi bank account or mobile money wallet.
How to use it
Buying crypto with NGN, KES, or GHS
Open Swaps — the homepage detects your country, or you can pick it from the country selector
Choose the crypto you want to buy and the amount in your local currency
Pick a payment method: Bank Transfer or Mobile Money (or M-Pesa for Kenya)
You will see a quote: how much crypto you receive, the rate, and the fee broken out
Click through, complete identity verification if you are above the threshold, pay
Crypto arrives in your wallet — typically 5–15 minutes for bank transfer, near-instant for M-Pesa
Selling crypto for NGN, KES, or GHS
Switch the widget to Sell
Choose the crypto you want to sell and the amount
Pick the payout: Bank Transfer to your local bank, or Mobile Money for an instant payout in Kenya and Ghana
Send your crypto to the address shown
Funds settle to your bank or mobile wallet — typically 5–15 minutes for bank, instant for M-Pesa
The off-ramp flow is the bigger story, in our view. Nigerian users have been asking for a clean way to convert USDT back into NGN without going through P2P boards or informal Telegram exchanges. That is now a built-in flow on Swaps.
KYC, fees, and limits
We will be honest about all three.
KYC. Partna requires identity verification above a per-country threshold — typically a few hundred USD equivalent. Below the threshold, simpler email and phone verification applies. If you start small, you can transact without ID; once you scale up, Partna asks for KYC because it is a provider in these jurisdictions and the regulator requires it. Swaps does not store your identity documents — KYC is handled inside Partna's flow.
Fees. Partna's spread is around 1.4% on the FX leg. Swaps adds a 1% developer fee on top. Network fees are tiny (USDT on Tron is 0.01 USDT, USDT on Solana is 0.05 USDT). All fees are surfaced before you click — there are route costs shown in contexts, and the headline rate matches the final receive amount within rounding.
Limits. Approximately:
- Nigeria: ₦3,000 minimum, ₦5,000,000 maximum per transaction
- Kenya: KES 500 minimum, KES 600,000 maximum
- Ghana: GHS 50 minimum, GHS 60,000 maximum
These are per-transaction limits. Daily and monthly limits also apply based on your KYC tier.
How fast is settlement, really
This is the question that matters most.
M-Pesa (Kenya): Near-instant. The STK push appears on your phone within seconds of confirming the order; once you enter your PIN, payment confirms and crypto is sent. End-to-end in well under a minute when everything is healthy.
Bank transfer (Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana): 5–15 minutes during business hours, longer outside. Settlement depends on which bank you use and the time of day. Tier-1 banks tend to be faster; some smaller banks may take longer in the evening. Off-ramp is similar — funds typically appear in your bank account within the same window.
Mobile money (Ghana, Nigeria): Varies by mobile money provider. MTN MoMo is generally the fastest in Ghana; Nigerian agent networks vary by region.
Who is Partna
[Partna](https://getpartna.com) is an Africa-focused fiat on/off-ramp founded in 2022 and headquartered in Lagos. They have built direct integrations with local banks and mobile money networks across Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana — which is why M-Pesa works the way it does on Swaps today. Their approach is licensed and compliance-first, which is what made the partnership a fit for Swaps' aggregator model.
This is the first provider on Swaps where the integration is bidirectional from day one for emerging-market fiats — meaning sell to NGN, KES, and GHS works on launch, not as a later phase.
What is next
Partna documents Malawi (MWK) and Zambia (ZMW) as launching corridors. We will add them to Swaps as soon as they are live in Partna's production API. Sub-Saharan expansion from there will follow Partna's rollout cadence — Tanzania, Uganda, and other M-Pesa-adjacent markets are the obvious next steps.
We are also working on a few smaller refinements: surfacing more accurate per-network withdrawal fees once we have a few weeks of real settlement data, and wiring Partna into our admin health probes so we can detect and route around any provider-side incidents.
Try it
Open Swaps with your country pre-selected:
- [Buy crypto in Nigeria](/?country=NG&fiat=NGN)
- [Buy crypto in Kenya](/?country=KE&fiat=KES)
- [Buy crypto in Ghana](/?country=GH&fiat=GHS)
Or jump straight to the new country pages we built for this launch: - [Buy Crypto in Nigeria](/buy-crypto/nigeria)
- [Buy Crypto in Kenya](/buy-crypto/kenya)
- [Buy Crypto in Ghana](/buy-crypto/ghana)
If you have questions, the [Africa Coverage FAQ](/help) covers the most common ones — M-Pesa specifics, KYC thresholds, asset support, and off-ramp logistics.
If you hit anything that does not work as advertised, please tell us. Email [support@swaps.app](mailto:support@swaps.app) — feedback from real users in NG, KE, and GH is the most valuable input we can get right now.
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