CBN Governor says Crypto will ‘come to life’ in Nigeria
Nigeria’s central bank governor says the country’s authorities will put in place proactive measures that will prevent the use of crypto for money laundering. Godwin Emefiele, the governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank, has expressed optimism about using digital currencies in the country. Speaking at the monetary policy committee meeting (the 279th edition) in Abuja, Emefiele said that there would be measures such that citizens won’t use virtual currencies such as bitcoin for any illegal financial transactions.
While he didn’t make any remarks regarding the CBN’s ban or reversal of crypto trading activities, he did mention that the apex bank’s investigation regarding the crypto industry is in progress. “Our commitment in the CBN about cryptocurrencies remain undiluted, and everyone can rest assured that cryptocurrency will come to life in this country…
Nigeria ranks second in cryptocurrency and bitcoin trading. Even globally, Nigeria is ranked 27th in the use of cryptocurrency and bitcoin. We are making tremendous progress in this industry, and we will soon publish details of our findings.”
The CBN governor further reiterated that the Nigerian authorities would put in place all necessary steps to ensure that virtual currencies are strictly used for legal, financial activities. “we have discovered that most of our citizens are getting involved in crypto activities, but the majority of those involved do so for illicit reasons.” he further remarked.
Possible Cause of Recent Crypto Market Crash
The apex bank governor also expressed his worries regarding the crypto market crash some two weeks back. The crash may have been caused by Tesla’s decision not to accept bitcoin payments for their cars and Elon Musk’s harsh criticism of bitcoin mining.
Emefiele said, “a market collapse happened recently. You would recall that Elon Musk tweet about Tesla’s $1.5 billion investment in bitcoin coincided with our decision not to allow crypto transactions with our banking and payment facilities. However, his tweet caused an uptrend in Bitcoin price. Now, the recent BTC crash was also a result of his tweet where he raised a few concerns.”
While this news was being collated, the CBN hasn’t acceded to any request for comments. Per Paxful, a bitcoin P2P marketplace, Nigeria’s bitcoin trading volume is the highest in Africa. Thus, the country is one of the fastest-growing crypto markets globally. A December 2020 research showed that Nigeria’s crypto trading volume is the highest after that of the united states. Perhaps in a bid to remedy the cryptocurrency ban in the country, Emefiele disclosed that the country might soon launch a digital currency for the citizens. He disclosed in a brief chat with the media after the meeting mentioned above.
Crypto Trading in Nigeria and The Naira
The value of Nigeria’s national currency, the naira, continues to plummet, and a few persons are attributing the depreciation to the rising adoption of cryptocurrency in the country. A senator from the Niger East district, senator Sani Musa opined early this year that “digital currency is making the naira almost valueless or useless.” The naira even dropped further by 1.2% on Thursday after Emefiele’s latest observations. This latest drop will be the lowest over the past 3-and-a-half years on the black market.
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