CBN ban Cryptocurrency Exchange in Nigeria.
Central Bank of Nigeria CBN bans cryptocurrency trading in Nigeria. The apex bank had directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Other Financial Institutions (OFIs) and Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFIs) local financial institutions against having any transactions in crypto or facilitating payments for crypto exchanges.
The implications of this policy on cryptocurrency dealers (people who trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other crypto coins) is that they can no longer make withdrawals of cash in banks when a payment is made using cryptocurrency in Nigeria. Also, the Cryptocurrency exchanges like Luno and the rest will need to source other alternative means to make transactions and payments using cryptocurrencies.
Experts in the financial sector of the economy have continued to roll out implications of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s, CBN directives on cryptocurrency. According to a financial analysis handle on Twitter, StearsBusiness, “The problem with these restrictive policies is that they starve the real economy. When the CBN banned maize imports, prices shot up, and they had to turn back on the policy slightly. This new policy has a similar effect in that it does more to reduce the welfare of Nigerians than anything else”.
The President Bank Customer Association of Nigeria (B AN) Dr. Uju Ogubunka, however said that the CBN’s directive does not stop people from dealing in crypto currencies but they cannot make any transactions with cryptocurrency through the banking system. He said: “Cryptocurrency is not the approved legal tender of Nigeria. The CBN approved the naira as the legal tender of the country. It is within the statutory procedure of CBN that the banks and financial institutions must operate.
According to Dr. Ogubunka, “The CBN is not stopping Nigerians not to deal in cryptocurrency trading but they cannot do it through the banking system.” A Tier 1 banker who spoke to Vanguard on anonymity said: “The CBN has been issuing this warning on cryptocurrency exchanges for a long time. “With the recent circular, the CBN is saying that any person or entity who is receiving cryptocurrency as payment in his bank account and withdraws it as cash cannot do that again. “Such a person is being called to come and close that account because it will not be functional. The bank is not saying it wants crypto dealers money. It is saying that as a crypto dealer, come and take your money and close your account.
