600% growth in a bear market? How did Obiex do it?

2022 was a strong year for the African cryptocurrency exchange, Obiex. According to figures released by official sources, the company experienced a 200% growth in the user base and a 600% growth in transaction volume in 2022 alone.

For context, the exchange concluded 2021 with 16,506 users and a volume of transactions of $600 million. But by the end of 2022, they had increased their user base by more than 30,000 and reached a volume of transactions of $3.6 billion only for 2022 only.

user growth; 2021 numbers vs. 2022 numbers

transaction volume; 2021 numbers vs. 2022 numbers

Did they make cross-border payments happen or were they just mere talk?

One of the significant milestones for Obiex was the launch of its virtual dollar card. The card allowed users to fund their cards with crypto and pay for services anywhere in the world.

Chidozie Ogbo
Technical Director at Obiex

Is crypto still about buy and hodl, or has it evolved beyond that?

The company launched its utility feature, which allows you to buy airtime and data and pay your prepaid and postpaid electricity and cable bills with cryptocurrencies from your wallet without converting them to Naira or other local currencies.

This allowed users to buy airtime or data from MTN, Glo, Airtel, 9Mobile, Smile and the rest. It also allowed them to pay their electricity bills with every drive in Nigeria, from EKEDC to EEDC.

GoTV, DSTV and Star Times Cable subscriptions were also included in the utility options.

Obiex made cryptocurrency not just something you buy, store and forget, but something you can use in our daily lives.

Well. Well. All big numbers, but what about the social impact?

In addition to these achievements, the company also collaborated with the ChessinSlums Africa Initiative.

The Chess in Slums Africa (CISA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to using the noble game of chess to help children in slum communities realize their full potential by integrating the principles of the game with the management of challenges. daily life, enhancing abstract thinking, creativity, and innovation

Obiex CEO Ikechukwu Okeke challenged ChessinSlums coordinator Tunde Onakoya to a game of chess and promised to donate $2,000 to the ChessinSlums humanitarian project if Tunde won.

The match took place on April 22, 2022, and although the match was more challenging than expected, Tunde emerged victorious. As promised, Obiex donated $2,000 to the foundation.

Photo credit: RefinedNG.com

In the words of Obiex CEO Ikechukwu, “I’m actually not good at chess. I mean, I played a little bit in high school, but I’m not a pro. I noticed the tweet where Tunde said that he was open to a challenge for donations to ChessinSlums. The chess game was just a bit of fun. We really just wanted to donate, and I guess we all wanted to know how good Tunde is at chess too. I’m competitive so I took a couple of courses beforehand with some chess masters.

ikechukwu okeke,
Executive Director at Obex

He further said, “Youth and everything youthful is the future of Africa, and we must do everything in our power to empower youth.”

All the good news. Any bad news?

The last quarter of 2022 was a significant challenge for the cryptocurrency industry as FTX, a major cryptocurrency exchange and liquidity provider, filed for bankruptcy. For an ecosystem that is still in its early stages, the collapse of a major company like FTX was a blow to the crypto community.

Photo by: Ted Shaffrey

Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried is released on bail from Manhattan federal court in New York City on Thursday, December 22, 2022. Bankman-Fried is charged with defrauding investors and looting customer deposits in his FTX trading platform. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

However, Obiex was not affected and continued to provide trading services to all of its clients with the assurance that all user funds are securely stored and matched 1:1.

What about the Obiex humans? Who are the people behind all this?

Although in that same quarter, the tech industry saw many layoffs due to a slowdown in business activity; However, Obiex welcomed the new additions to the team and balanced its workforce at a 50:50 male/female ratio.

The Obex team

In short, 2022 was a year of remarkable growth for Obiex. The company closed the year with nearly 50,000 users (all time) and a transaction volume of more than $4.2 billion (all time).

What does the future look like?

With a dedicated team and customer base, the company is ready to make 2023 an even better year.

Obiex’s vision for 2023 is lofty.

In the words of marketing director Meziem Desire, “We have plans to launch operations in East Africa, Central Africa and the southern part of Africa.”

wish meziem,
Marketing Director at Obiex

Meziem Desire added: “The goal is to reach the entire extent of sub-Saharan Africa. Settling in other parts of Africa will significantly increase users’ fiat and crypto transaction options, which is why we embarked on this mission in the first place. We also have plans to offer more great products that will add an extra layer of value to the cryptocurrency that Obiexers owns and owns.”

You can read the full highlight of their 2022 Annual Summary here.

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