The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ordered banks and other financial institutions to immediately close accounts interacting with cryptocurrencies.

According to the circular sent by the central bank of Africa’s largest economy, such deals are “prohibited,” and failure to comply with the directive will result in “severe regulatory sanctions.”

The bank regulator has ordered deposit money banks, non-bank financial institutions, and other financial institutions to “identify persons and/or entities transacting in or operating cryptocurrency exchanges within their systems and ensure that such accounts are closed immediately.”

Nigeria’s capital inflow plummeted from $24 billion in 2019, to $9 billion in 2020. Every serious nation is looking for how to attract capital. Yet, @MBuhari shut down #Crypto #Bitcoin, because he and his family have access to public funds, he doesn’t care about the rest of us!

— Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) February 6, 2021

In 2017, CBN said it would not license cryptocurrencies, and any crypto transactions would be outside the protection of the law.

Back in September, the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission also said it would regulate trade in digital assets to provide investor protection.

Out of all the problems we are facing in Nigeria, how is banning cryptocurrency the solution??
For goodness sake!!!
A lot of Nigerians are largely invested in cryptocurrency.
How do you make decisions like this without considering the effect it will have on the people??

— DeboMacaroni (@mrmacaronii) February 5, 2021

Interestingly, the anti-crypto stance from CBN comes after protests in October against SARS, excesses of the police’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad, saw the organizer accepting Bitcoin for funding following the government blocking local payments platforms from accepting donations.

“There’s a direct line that can be drawn from the EndSARS protests — which carried on partly with funding from cryptocurrency even though CBN restricted several accounts — to these latest regulations,” said Joachim MacEbong, a senior analyst at SBM Intelligence in Lagos.

If people had confidence in the monetary policies of @cenbank and the fiscal policies of @NigeriaGov, people won’t resort to #Crypto #Bitcoin dealing. This decision won’t stop it. Only sound economic policies, that the people have trust in, can. https://t.co/eNxnomlJPp

— Osasu Obayiuwana (@osasuo) February 5, 2021

“This latest instruction will end up making the case for cryptocurrency adoption better than any other argument. One promises freedom, while the status quo only reinforces restrictions,” MacEbong added.

According to Paxful, Nigeria recorded the world’s second-largest Bitcoin by peer-to-peer trading volume in 2020.

Out of all the problems we are facing in Nigeria, how is banning cryptocurrency the solution??
For goodness sake!!!
A lot of Nigerians are largely invested in cryptocurrency.
How do you make decisions like this without considering the effect it will have on the people??

— DeboMacaroni (@mrmacaronii) February 5, 2021

Leading spot exchange Binance has disabled deposits “to prevent more NGN coming in,” after receiving notice from their channel partners, shared exchange CEO Changpeng Zhao “CZ” on Twitter.

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