Businesses in Nigeria that accept Bitcoin are still seeing customers rely primarily on cash, highlighting the gap between cryptocurrency acceptance by merchants and its actual use as an everyday means of payment, according to a report by a local outlet.

Iwu*, a young businessman in Lagos, Nigeria, described the pattern:

“People with Bitcoin wallets, they come, they will show me their crypto wallets and still pay me in cash or by bank transfer. A few of them still pay in crypto, but many of them would rather pay with cash instead of transferring crypto.”

Iwu, who displays a Bitcoin sign at his shop to signal that he accepts crypto payments, said many customers who hold digital assets still default to familiar channels when it comes time to pay. His account offers a ground-level view of a question that hangs over crypto adoption: whether digital assets held by consumers will compete at checkout with the payment rails they already use daily.

A Broader Payments Challenge

The experience reflects a broader challenge for Bitcoin as a payments tool: merchants can make the cryptocurrency available without customers necessarily choosing it at checkout. Measuring Bitcoin payment use also remains difficult, because transactions can involve payment processors, crypto cards, and instant conversion into local currencies — one reason headline adoption statistics do not always translate into a clear picture of everyday payment activity.

For merchants, accepting Bitcoin can therefore amount to adding another payment option rather than replacing existing ones. Bitcoin's payment infrastructure allows businesses to receive BTC directly or use processors that convert the cryptocurrency into local currency, reducing their exposure to price volatility. As a result, a transaction may be initiated in Bitcoin even when the merchant ultimately receives local currency.

About 30 Per Cent of Customers Pay in Crypto

“Of all the customers who buy from me, about 30 per cent of them pay in crypto,” said Iwu. “Most of them come out of curiosity because of the Bitcoin sign I put up that I accept crypto. They make enquiries. Some of them end up buying and paying with crypto.”

Acceptance Is Not the Same as Usage

The distinction is important for cryptocurrency adoption. Merchant acceptance establishes the possibility of spending Bitcoin, but actual usage depends on whether consumers have a reason to choose it over cash, mobile money, cards, or other established payment methods. The gap matters because payment use — not availability alone — determines whether Bitcoin functions as a medium of exchange in daily commerce.

Iwu argued that Bitcoin's decentralized nature limits its ability to promote itself, leaving accepting merchants to publicize the payment option on their own.

“Bitcoin is a asset, and no company owns it. Therefore, Bitcoin can't run advertisements for itself. But we that accept it, we are the ones that will do the publicity for it,” he said. “Many businesses around this area accept crypto payments, but they don't want to put a signboard outside their shops and offices like me. They treat it as a need-to-know and only if the customer asks to pay Bitcoin. Crypto payment won't grow like that.”

Calls for Education and Mainstream Advertising

For adoption to take hold, Iwu said, regulated digital asset companies in Nigeria need to start running advertisements similar to regulated entities like Opay, MoniePoint, and other payments fintechs — firms that have become widely known to Nigerian consumers through mainstream advertising.

“Everybody knows what is Bitcoin. They just don't know how to use it, whether they can use it or if it is safe. We need to educate them, and that is the only way we can make them come around,” he said. “When it starts growing, peer pressure will push other people to follow.”

Whether regulated digital asset firms in Nigeria take up that advertising and education role — and whether more merchants follow Iwu's example of visible signage — are developments that could indicate whether the gap between acceptance and everyday payment use begins to close.

*The merchant's name has been changed for privacy reasons.

This article is adapted from the original post and was first published by BitcoinKE.