Obiex, a Nigerian crypto trading platform, has announced it is now profitable after bootstrapping its operations and focusing on high-volume retail customers.

The company, which allows users to trade and speculate on digital assets, has processed an annualised trade volume of $731.5 million and serves over 100,000 retail users.

Ikechukwu Okeke, CEO of Obiex said “the company has been profitable from day one and has consistently reinvested its earnings back into the business.”

The startup’s total swap volume (executed trades, excluding deposits/withdrawals) has risen from $588 million in 2024 to $832 million so far in 2025.

Obiex has processed approximately $8 billion in Gross Transaction Value (GTV) which includes all platform activities in 2025, and over $19 billion since its pivot in 2021. Its retail users account for 70 percent of its volume.

Beyond its core crypto swap feature (which accounts for 11 percent of GTV), Obiex offers an over-the-counter (OTC) desk, utility and remittance payments, and an API service that supplies wallets to around 12 other Nigerian crypto exchanges.

Obiex’s journey began with a crypto payment gateway in 2016 before pivoting to an off-ramp service that converts crypto to Naira.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) crypto ban in February 2021 forced a major operational change. The startup reinvented itself in June 2021 as a retail trading platform, focusing on solving the problem of volatility and confirmation delays for local traders.

By building a system that allows users to lock in value instantly, Obiex helped create greater trading volume by enabling better risk management.

After establishing a strong presence in Nigeria and running a trading app in Cameroon, the company is now setting its sights on broader African expansion.

Ghana is the immediate priority, following the country’s recent publication of a regulatory framework for virtual assets. Other target markets include South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda.