Searching for an app that enables you to buy, save and invest in Bitcoin easily, provides a low barrier to entry for Africans to get started with saving and investing in bitcoin with as little as $1? We just may have found one.

Bitnob allows for an automated platform for saving in Bitcoin using DCA with as little as $1. A high level of expertise is not required to save and buy bitcoin. The other exciting fact about the app is that it helps simplify buying Bitcoin as easy as ABC.

Bitnob is a simple bitcoin app that bundles services such as Bitcoin savings, Bitcoin loans, Bitcoin payments, virtual cards, and USD (Stablecoins) savings. With an intuitive design, that makes it easy to navigate especially for beginners. 

Benefits

According to the creators of the Bitnob app, users can:

• Start with $1: Bitnob simplifies access to Bitcoin and provides a low barrier of entry for Africans to start saving and investing in bitcoin with as little as $1.
• Grow your wealth: With a $1 start, you can start a personal savings plan, save in BTC and automate it on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis as you desire
• Transact safely from anywhere: Now you can make transactions from anywhere, anytime safely. And also track your transactions on Bitnob.
• Fast: Make your first transaction in under 10 minutes. No paperwork or extended waiting time. 

Features of the Bitnob app

The Bitcoin app ties together a couple of fantastic features and services that users will be excited to see. We will be looking at a few: 

Bitcoin Savings:

This is the most beginner-friendly feature of the Bitnob app. Instead of trading Bitcoin or having to spend a lot of time following the price, this feature allows you to deposit some money and automate your purchases.

For example, if you have $100 you wanted to buy bitcoin with, instead of buying it at once, you can create Bitcoin savings plan to buy $1 worth of bitcoin for you every day. This way, you don’t always have to be checking the bitcoin price or worried about when to buy or sell.

The platform automatically handles this for you. And, it buys it for you at the best prices for that day.

A simple way to think of this is the same way you do Esusu, ajo or adashe, but this time you’re doing it with Bitcoin. 

Deposits and Withdrawals:

The deposit and withdrawal speed on the Bitnob app is impressive. Your deposit will typically be confirmed within 15mins, withdrawals take the same time. Plus, Bitnob uses a P2P method to make it easy and safe to deposit funds to accounts.

Loans:

The Bitnob app has a loan feature that allows you to use your bitcoin as collateral for an instant loan in USD. If you have $100 in Bitcoin, you can instantly take a loan of $50 with it.

Assuming you bought bitcoin at $30,000 and you suddenly have an emergency, you can take a 1-year loan at that current price, now when you pay back your loan in a year, and Bitcoin is at $100k then, then you enjoy the upside of the price without having to rebuy that same bitcoin.

I love this feature because instead of selling my bitcoin, I can use it for a loan, and get it back after repaying the loan.

Bitcoin and USD Wallet:

The Bitnob app comes with both USD and Bitcoin wallets. In the bitcoin wallet, you can buy, sell, send and receive bitcoin payments. With the USD wallet, you can save your money in USD and you have the ability to also make bitcoin payments from that wallet

So, assuming you deposit $10 into your Bitnob USD wallet, you can use it to pay for or transfer bitcoin for a transaction anytime without having to buy bitcoin yourself. This feature is very useful for people who do not want to expose themselves to the volatility of bitcoin but also want to use it for making bitcoin payments. 

Lightning network:

The lightning network allows you to send bitcoin almost instantly and almost for free. Using the lightning network, you can send even $1 worth of bitcoin and pay less than 1 penny in fees. Just that you know, the Bitnob app is the first app to allow people to make and receive lightning payments in Africa.

Security:

The security features of the app are impressive. There is support for 2 Factor Authentication. You also set up pins for all your transactions and a security question feature to protect your account if an intruder tries to take over your account.

Next Of Kin – Ever wonder what happens to people’s precious Bitcoin when they die or something wrong happens to them? Well, we wrote a bit about it.

Read also: Next of kin: The dangers of undisclosed investmebts among young young Nigerians.

Bitnob allows and encourages you to set your next of kin so they can contact them and pass your bitcoin to them in the event that something really unfortunate happens to you.

What we think

The app is beautifully designed and the UI\UX is great. It is also very easy to use. Greenhorns in the bitcoin world can transact easily on this as the process is not convoluted at all.

Our favourite feature on this app is the ability to save in USD and in bitcoins. Being able to save in foreign currency saves users the hassle of opening a domiciliary account in traditional banks. A process which can be strenuous with lots of requirements and paperwork. 

One of their key promises is less paperwork and the Bitnob app certainly delivers on that.

We observed that the session expires too frequently. If you leave the app to another app the session expires ad you would have to log in again to continue your transaction. While it is understandable that this might be due to security concerns, we recommend increasing the time before a session expires to at most 5 minutes.

In all, the Bitnob app is good for the young working-class Africans who want to invest and grow their wealth in a hassle-free way.