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The Nigerian fintech Vella Finance recently informed users and subscribers that it would stop offering crypto related services starting on Oct. 30. According to co-founder Tolu Adedayo, offering crypto and banking services at the same time is not feasible, hence the decision to drop the former.
Business Decision
The Nigerian fintech startup, Vella Finance, has reportedly dropped crypto services and will instead focus on providing banking services to small and medium-sized businesses. Co-founder Tolu Adedayo claimed that the decision to drop crypto services was based on business reasons.
According to a Techcabal report, Vella Finance informed users and subscribers on Oct. 23 that the fintech startup would stop offering crypto-related services from Oct. 30, going forward. Explaining why the startup chose to pivot away from crypto-related services, the co-founder said:
We’re going fully into SME Banking. Banking requires playing in regulatory confines. We already serve businesses from the onset backed by user and transactional data. It just makes sense to offer an end-to-end banking system to better serve them.
Adedayo added that in his opinion, providing cryptocurrency and banking services at the same time is not practical.
Rising Nigerian Crypto Interest
However, Vella Finance’s decision to drop crypto-related services has been made at a time when interest in digital assets like bitcoin and tether is seemingly on the rise. As indicated by the latest Chainalysis report, Nigeria is among the only six countries in the world’s top 50 “whose crypto transaction volume grew year-over-year.” In addition, Nigeria’s rapidly depreciating local currency is also reported to be fueling interest in crypto assets.
Despite the apparent interest in crypto and related services, Adedayo is quoted in the report stating that his startup is already planning to introduce new features which will “solidify [Vella Finance’s] full entrance into the business banking space.”