As Nigeria’s cryptocurrency sector faces intensified regulatory scrutiny, TradePal AI, a fintech startup founded in 2025, is creating tools to help over-the-counter (OTC) crypto traders stay compliant with emerging rules.

OTC trades—private crypto deals conducted outside formal exchanges—have long relied on informal channels such as WhatsApp, with proof of payments often limited to screenshots. While speed has been prioritized over structure, regulators’ increased oversight of digital asset transactions now threatens traders who cannot clearly document the origin, destination, or legitimacy of their funds.

Bridging informal trading and regulation
TradePal AI does not facilitate crypto trades itself. Instead, it provides a RegTech solution that functions as a digital ledger and compliance toolkit for digital asset merchants. The platform offers transaction monitoring, automated reconciliation, risk assessment, and tax compliance features.

“TradePal AI is like a bridge between industry players, regulators, and policymakers,” said co-founder Femi Adegolu. “We are building a platform to help the government understand the insight into the digital asset markets.”

Traders can log transactions in real time, creating a structured history that reveals activity patterns. The system also integrates wallet-scanning tools to flag high-risk addresses linked to money laundering, terrorism financing, or past breaches. A built-in tax calculator allows users to determine their obligations under Nigeria’s updated tax regime, covering personal, corporate, and capital gains taxes.

Designing for how traders actually work
Recognizing that most OTC transactions occur over WhatsApp, TradePal AI built a WhatsApp chatbot that automatically records voice notes or text summaries into a structured ledger.

“We didn’t want to alter how they do their business; we wanted to build around it,” Adegolu said.

Unlike global crypto tax platforms such as Koinly and CoinTracker, TradePal is tailored specifically for Nigeria’s OTC market and local tax framework, which has seen OTC trading surge by over 106% in 2024, according to TechCabal Insights and Quidax.

The startup operates on a tiered subscription model, offering plans from $5 to $150 monthly after a seven-day free trial, targeting both small-scale traders and larger enterprises. In January 2026, TradePal AI raised $50,000 in angel funding to strengthen its security infrastructure and protect sensitive user and transaction data.

In a market long built on trust, screenshots, and speed, TradePal AI is betting that compliance will soon become unavoidable, and its tools could be the bridge turning informal WhatsApp trades into structures regulators can understand.