Economy
Crypto Exchanges – How to Choose the Right One
With the prevalence of cryptocurrencies in the digital age, many businesses and investors regularly use the crypto market to build their portfolios and gradually amass a passive income. However, due to the volatility of the market and fluctuations in prices, trading can be risky, as prospectors may lose all their deposited funds with no reward. Crypto exchanges operate as platforms to help you navigate the cryptocurrency market.
Qualities of a Digital Currency Exchange
These facilities make accessing the crypto market more convenient for you. Before exchanges existed, you had to use a command line and type in a command to send crypto coins to your peers. Over time, developers designed user interfaces to make the process easier as cryptocurrency acquired a mass audience of people interested in the cryptoverse and performing related transactions.
Financial Security
Whether you want to buy Bitcoin in Nigeria or another digital coin, you must be cautious of scams and frauds that could mislead you into giving away your personal information. Secure exchanges will offer transparent services and be open about what they contribute and how they use your sensitive information. They will provide a privacy policy describing what details they employ and for what purpose. Secondly, legit services typically have a physical address for their headquarters. You will know the legal ramifications of your expenditures and how to confront issues if you have the address. Otherwise, you will lose money and need to understand where it went.
Reputable Services
The best cryptocurrency exchanges will have positive reviews with testimonies about the offered services. Remember, you need to be able to trust this financial institution before you confide your private data, including identifiable and monetary information, in it. What have other users said about the platform’s security? How is the exchange’s customer service? Reviews should be able to answer your questions about the facility and whether you should invest in it.
Pairs and Transaction Fees
Some platforms offer access to hundreds of pairs, while others provide trading options for only a few. The platform you choose depends on your needs and how diverse you want your portfolio to be.
Remember that most exchanges may incur transaction fees depending on the transaction size, network-related costs, and your account activity. Because crypto transactions occur on the blockchain, blockchain participants require a processing fee for their work on the chain. Some exchanges may charge fees for the transaction, so if you plan to trade daily, consider one with a fair payment.
ChangeNOW As an Effective Service
Founded in 2017, ChangeNOW is a quick and efficient exchange facility. Its headquarters are in Seychelles, and it is operated by proficient blockchain developers. It has over 70,000 trading pairs and 700 coins available with no trading limits. You may perform a high-value transaction at will, and ChangeNOW will process it as swiftly as possible. Typically, its processing speed is between 5 and 20 minutes, but larger blocks take longer to convert.
As a non-custodial exchange service, ChangeNOW has your personal safety and financial protection in mind because it does not require registering to use its services. Instead, you only need a crypto wallet and its payout address to hold your assets. In this way, you do not need to worry about financial theft while using the platform. Its servers do not store identifiable information; you remain anonymous with ChangeNOW.
When you are ready to make a crypto trade, ChangeNOW finds and offers the best exchange rate, ensuring you get the best price. Multiple trading platforms like Binance and Kucoin have integrated ChangeNOW to provide these rates. With any swap, the platform only charges network or mining fees; it does not impose service fees.
In addition to swapping cryptocurrency pairs, you can buy crypto through ChangeNOW using fiat currency. The platform uses Simplex, a third party, to handle these transactions so you can utilize Visa, Mastercard, and other card providers to purchase crypto. Keep in mind network fees apply to these transactions depending on the currency.
The Bottom Line
Do your research before officially choosing a platform, and be aware of the associated risks with crypto trading. If hackers compromise a service, your funds may disappear. However, knowing an exchange’s trustworthiness and authenticity can help you decide how secure your digital assets will be.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
HBM Nigeria Plc, formerly Lafarge Africa Plc, recorded a 31 per cent surge in revenue in the first half of 2026 by 31 per cent as a result of an 11 per cent jump in volume growth, enhanced operational stability and improvement in distribution efficiency.
Also, in the first six months of this year, the cement maker grew its operating profit by 51 per cent to N291 billion after sustained efficiency gains across the business, while operating margin soared to 43 per cent from 37 per cent in H1 2025, with the net profit increasing by 57 per cent to N208 billion.
HBM Nigeria is a leading provider of innovative building solutions and manufacturer of a wide range of cement, ready mix, mortar and Plaster of Paris brands.
“Our H1 2026 performance demonstrates the continued strength of our business and the successful execution of our strategic priorities. These results reflect disciplined cost management, operational excellence, and prudent financial stewardship.
“We are focused on further improving supply reliability, advancing our cost leadership agenda, driving innovation, accelerating our sustainability initiatives, and maintaining the highest standards of health and safety,” the chief executive of HBM Nigeria, Mr Lolu Alade-Akinyemi, disclosed.
He assured that the cement firm would remain focused on building on a strong operational momentum by leveraging the industrial and technical expertise of Huaxin Building Materials Ltd to drive operational excellence and improve efficiency across the business.
In light of this, HBM Nigeria has commenced the engineering design for its third production line at Calabar, a state-of-the-art 3-million-ton integrated cement facility. The project is progressing through the requisite development processes, with completion expected within 12 months following commencement of construction.
On HBM Nigeria’s business outlook for the rest of the year, Mr Alade-Akinyemi said, “Nigeria’s demand outlook for cement remains positive, supported by ongoing infrastructure development, urbanisation, and resilient activity across the construction sector, despite a dynamic global operating environment.”
“As macroeconomic conditions continue to improve, we expect demand across our key market segments to remain supportive of sustainable growth.
“We plan to continue focusing on capturing volume growth opportunities while maintaining disciplined cost management and operational excellence to strengthen profitability and preserve margins.
“The company remains well positioned to create sustainable long-term value for its shareholders and all stakeholders by leveraging its resilient operating platform, a strong balance sheet, and disciplined execution of strategic priorities,” he stated.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The management of Africa Prudential Plc has charted five strategic priorities to drive the company’s growth through the second half of 2026.
These goals were announced by the organisation at its investor call, attended by various stakeholders in the capital market.
Addressing participants at the call on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, the chief executive of Africa Prudential, Ms Catherine Nwosu, said one of these priorities is delivering sustainable business growth through core registrar and new business lines.
She listed others as accelerating product and service innovation leveraging technology, strengthening Africa Prudential’s brand equity and market leadership, investing in talent development and organisational capability, and deepening corporate governance and institutional excellence.
At the event, a key question from investors focused on the company’s ability to sustain earnings growth in an environment where interest rates may begin to moderate.
In her response, Ms Nwosu said, “Interest rates influence our treasury income positively, but that is why we are deliberately diversifying our revenue streams. Our strategy is to grow recurring fee-based business lines such as our digital solutions, KYC services, AGM technology, Probate services, and the SabiVest mobile app. Over time, this will reduce our reliance on interest income and create a more balanced and resilient earnings mix.”
“With capital market activity nearly doubling over the past year, demand for seamless digital investor experiences, improved market efficiency, and stronger compliance standards continues to grow.
“We are investing in technology-enabled solutions that position us to capitalise on these opportunities while delivering sustainable value to our shareholders,” she added.
In the first half of 2026, Africa Prudential, a leading provider of share registration services and capital market solutions, reported another strong performance, demonstrating strong corporate governance and resilience, and the effectiveness of its growth strategy despite an evolving macroeconomic environment.
Its gross earnings grew by 27 per cent to N4.28 billion from N3.34 billion in the same period of the previous year, while net operating income rose by 27 per cent to N4.21 billion.
In H1 2026, profit before tax soared by 22 per cent to N2.41 billion, while the profit after tax surged by 18 per cent to N1.59 billion, with total assets expanding by 13 per cent to N46.53 billion, and shareholders’ fund also up by 13 per cent to N12.52 billion.
It was observed that the impressive results were driven by sustained growth in the company’s core registrar business, increased corporate action activities across the Nigerian capital market, stronger treasury performance supported by the prevailing interest rate environment, and increasing adoption of Africa Prudential’s technology-enabled solutions.
Beyond the numbers, management reaffirmed Africa Prudential’s strategic evolution from a traditional registrar into a diversified technology and business solutions company serving the broader capital market ecosystem.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The 7th Africa Emerging Markets Forum has commenced in Abuja, Nigeria, with critical stakeholders in the financial services and other industries in attendance.
The programme commenced today, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, and will end tomorrow, Thursday, July 30, 2026.
It is taking place at the headquarters of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Abuja.
The hybrid forum is themed Building Resilience Amidst Geoeconomic Uncertainties. It brings together distinguished policymakers, economists and development leaders to explore practical solutions for strengthening Africa’s resilience in an increasingly complex global economy.
Speaking at the conference are the CBN Governor, Mr Olayemi Cardoso; the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele; and the chief executive of Emerging Markets Forum, Mr Harinder S. Kohli.
The organisers have provided an avenue for those unable to attend the programme physically to catch up with it via their social media platforms, including on the YouTube channel of the central bank.
