CBN Never Banned Cryptocurrency Trading in Nigeria
The Claim
Central Bank of Nigeria banned cryptocurrency trading.
News posted on
Emerging story
A circular sent out to regulated financial outfits by the Central Bank of Nigeria on 5th February set tongues wagging on social media.
Central Bank issued a warning and reminded the financial institutions of its stand against having anything to do with crypto. It warned the financial institutions that anyone found with crypto-related accounts would face its sanctions and further directed that all statements of persons or entities seen transacting in or operating cryptocurrency exchanges be closed.
Nigerians interpreted this to mean that the CBN had banned cryptocurrency in its entirety.
Notable social and political commentator Reno Omokri’s tweet in which he said that rather than Buhari fulfilling his promise of creating jobs, the CBN under his government has instead banned cryptocurrency, rendering youths unemployed garnered more than 1k retweets and 2k likes. Another post by former radio show host Daddy Freeze on Facebook gathered more than 147k views, and another video here got more than 18k pictures.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation shows that the Central Bank refuted the claims earlier via a press release on its official website.
The bank further reiterated its stand and clarification on this issue recently, saying it did not ban trading in cryptocurrencies by Nigerians but rather only protected the official banking system against the emerging currency's effects.
According to TodayNG, Decrypt and Business am the Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Adamu Lamtek, who represented the Governor at a recent conference for Business Editors and reporters in Abuja, said what the bank did was to protect the banking sector from the effects of cryptocurrencies.
“The CBN did not place restrictions from the use of Cryptocurrencies, and we are not discouraging people from trading in it. What we have done was to prohibit transactions on cryptocurrencies in the banking sector,” he said.
Reports that Nigeria bans cryptocurrency trading are misleading.
