Seun Dania studied electronics and computer engineering in Lagos State University and has always, alongside his group of friends, wondered what the future of payment would look like, as far back as 2000.
Now in 2023, he is the founder and CEO of TradeFada, a notable cryptocurrency exchange in arguably Africa’s largest crypto market, Nigeria. In an interview with Technext, Seun recounts his experience and walks us through the journey of TradeFada.
He remembers that they (Seun and his friends) used to do a lot of research when PayPal started in the early 2000s. They discovered Egold, a digital currency and they were able to use it to make remittances in the days when Moneygram and Western Union were the only ways. Unfortunately, Egold was shut down by the US Treasury.
“I left the scene and worked in oil and gas for a while, working as an ICT consultant.”
However, he did not take his eyes off the digital payments system and found out about Bitcoin pretty early (around 2010). He read about it but he wasn’t interested because it looked like something that would come and take his money away.
Subsequently, in 2015, it seemed more like what they could work with because there was no likelihood of the US Treasury shutting it down – not centralised. He partnered with Ledger to distribute hardware wallets in Africa for some time but in 2018, he left oil and gas and focused more on crypto.
That move birthed TradeFada.
TradeFada
Basically, TradeFada set out to create a world whereby everybody would have access to digital currency, according to Seun Dania. Looking back at the journey since its launch in 2018, Seun remarks that the brand is well-received.
“We’ve onboarded a lot of customers. In the first year we had 10,000 -15,000 users and it has been growing exponentially since then because the customers know that with us, their funds are safe and secure.”
Due to the CBN directive that prohibits commercial banks from crypto transactions, TradeFada came up with a cash voucher solution. However, there were too many bottlenecks so the feature had to be ditched.
At the moment, Seun Dania thinks there are extant laws in place, and TradeFada operates by them.
Many users have complained about the complexities of using the current platform. Fortunately, Seun Dania says a TradeFada Nigeria application has been built and will be launched in two months. According to him, the new platform is simple and more suitable for the average crypto user.
Security of users’ funds on crypto exchanges
Recent trends have put security questions on Nigeria’s crypto exchanges and the vulnerabilities that come with them. On these potential problems, Seun Dania says:
“I’m an information security expert. I’ve worked over 13 years in the oil and gas industry managing IT services and structures. Although nobody is immune to something like that, no matter how big you are. My 13 years in the corporate sector makes you understand corporate governance and we put in several security measures in place to make sure user funds are not affected.”
Additionally, Seun says TradeFada has several security checks which make it more difficult for any breach or theft to take place.
“I or any of the staff do not have control over the resources. So even if somebody were to kidnap the CEO for instance, and say transfer bitcoin, it’s impossible to do it. It puts corporate governance in place. When you hack the platform, you can’t get any money out because there are different levels of approvals to ensure constant checks to evaluate transactions that are going out. Day in and day out we do security updates to ensure that our security is top notch.” – Seun Dania, CEO of TradeFada.
Crypto regulation in Nigeria
On the knotty issue of regulation, Seun is a big believer in decentralisation. He is of the opinion that the government’s role is to advise people on the risks attached. However, crypto businesses should be regulated to avoid rug pulls and scam projects.
With the inauguration of a new President in Nigeria, TradeFada as a part of a coalition known as Digital Currency Coalition (DCC), a group of all crypto exchanges in Nigeria is constantly engaging with the authorities on the benefits of crypto.
For Seun Dania, the Nigerian market is very large and having a huge market share in it is paramount to TradeFada before fully expanding to other African countries. Subsequently, TradeFada is coming up with a brand new application dedicated to average crypto users and for Seun Dania:
I’m “I’ve been running TradeFada since 2018, five years now. Once I get the regulatory laws passed, I’ll take a step back and go do other things that I enjoy doing in other sectors like IT.”
