You know how they say most companies don’t make it past the five-year mark? Well, we just beat that score. And we did it in style.
Quidax is five, everyone! And, we couldn’t be more excited. Thinking back over these five years, there’s a lot to be proud of and grateful for. And, we’ve been feeling a bit nostalgic about our history; where we started, how we got here, all that stuff.
So, get ready to go down memory lane with us. We got our CEO, Buchi Okoro, to run down some of the company’s milestones over the past five years.
Enjoy!
Quidax’s Early Days
Believe it or not, Quidax actually didn’t start because I wanted to own a business. Instead, I started it because I needed to solve a personal problem.
Here’s the backstory on that – so in 2014, I got started with Bitcoin. But, when I first tried buying it, I got scammed.
The experience was a really painful one. But, it also got me thinking – I knew a bit about crypto, and I still got scammed. So, imagine the risks facing people who didn’t know as much as I did.
Just like that, I got the idea to create a platform where people can buy and sell crypto easily – and most importantly, safely. I formed a small WhatsApp group where myself and my co-founders – Morris and Uzo – brought in people and made it easy for them to trade.
Even though we knew a lot of people on the platform, we still saw a few scams. So, we decided to make things more organized. This was how Quidax came to be, honestly.
When we started, the mission for Quidax was to make it easier and faster to use cryptocurrencies – whether to send and receive money, trade, and more. Five years later, that mission remains very strong.
Hitting The First Thousand Users
Like every other platform, it took us a while to really get the traction we were hoping for. Remember – this was 2018; a period when the crypto market wasn’t doing so hot.
Still, we knew what we were doing and we believed in the vision. So, it was just a case of building for the users. We started by building integrations with multiple banks and bringing in multiple fiat deposit options. From there, we moved to expand Quidax to support more cryptocurrencies – we started with Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and XRP, but we quickly expanded that to make sure that anyone who wanted to buy at least the popular coins could do so with Quidax.
In time, we saw that things started picking up. There were a few challenges along the way, but overall, the early days were quite fine.
It also helped that we were able to grow at our own pace. We had just a small office in Lagos, and we only had a few employees who were super skilled and shared our vision. Shout out to our OG Quidaxians. Those guys were the bomb!
2020: The Pandemic, And A Surprising Market Rally
When the pandemic hit, first off, the biggest concern was for the safety of everyone who worked at Quidax. Fortunately, we had already been working with a hybrid model – a few days at the office, a few days at home. But, when COVID came, we moved fully remote like everyone else. And, we’ve largely maintained that model to this day.
Away from the company, we also saw that interest in crypto started to ramp up again. Everyone was at home, so there was more time for people to learn about crypto and test it out. And, when the year started drawing to a close, we saw coin prices rising and more people getting into the space.
At Quidax, we kind of already anticipated this. And, it helped that we had built our capacity for this from the very beginning. All that early work started paying off as we saw more people come into the platform to buy and trade crypto.
The CBN Love Letter
2021 started with a blast. The market was still rolling in the gains, and it was like nothing could stop us.
Then, the CBN issue came. At the time, the ruling meant that crypto companies like ours could no longer access bank accounts or make transactions using banks. And, up to that point, Quidax’s customers could deposit and withdraw money using their bank accounts.
For a few days, it was definitely rough. We had a lot of customers worried about the safety of their funds. But, we were quick to reassure Quidaxians that everything was fine, and the response was actually very positive. Shout out to everyone for sticking with us through that one.
Besides our ability to get ahead of things, this period also allowed us to evolve quickly. We knew we had to help our customers access their money again, and that led us to the creation of Qdirect.
With Qdirect, Quidaxians could now use our peer-to-peer deposit and withdrawal channel. And, it made more sense for them because they get to transact with a Quidax-certified agent; not someone on the other side that they don’t trust. So, we were able to maintain that safety we had been known for.
Qdirect is still functional, bigger and better. And, since then, we’ve also added Vouchers and PocketApp (fka Abeg) as transaction channels. So, our Quidaxians are eating good!
Navigating The Bear Market
When we headed into 2022, we had lofty goals. We had set out for a major expansion, and we were really pushing to up our game and level up. But, the market had different plans.
2022’s bear market was unlike any other that came before. Coin prices tumbled quickly, and it was a pretty rough one. Then, combine that with the fact that several big names in the crypto space also started to struggle.
I’m thankful that we had been able to prepare for this possibility beforehand. Starting out, we’ve always been big on being financially responsible. And while we had to make some more adjustments internally, we were able to largely weather the storm.
Looking back, I think we did a pretty good job overall. Once again, shout out to the awesome team at the Quidax HQ.
Dollar Savings: Money For Everyone!
The Dollar Savings product has been a big hit from Quidax. And, its origins were also quite interesting.
So by 2022, we knew we were in a bear market. This meant that a lot of people were starting to stay away from crypto a bit – but, they still wanted to find ways to earn money.
We decided to examine the market, and we found that one major issue that everyday people face – especially in Africa – is inflation. I mean, in Nigeria alone, the Naira fell by over 20% against the Dollar in the first nine months of 2022 alone.
So, we decided to find a solution to that. With the Dollar Savings tool, anyone who is a bit scared of crypto can still earn money. And, they get dual benefits – they can protect their money by saving in USD, and they still earn up to 10% interest on their savings. That’s like the perfect one-two hit!
So, What’s Next?
Right now, I’m really just soaking up the fact that it’s really been five amazing years. The journey so far has been beautiful, and I think we can take a few moments to look back at what we’ve achieved so far and be proud of it.
I don’t know if there’s any turn up planned, but I think our People & Culture team is cooking up something pretty exciting. Ain’t no party like a QUidax party!
But, the show must go on. The team at the Quidax HQ is more excited than ever, and we have a lot more stuff coming to our Quidaxians. So, all I can say is, “Watch this space.”
