The Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Adamu Lamtek has reportedly said that the citizens of the country are free to trade in cryptocurrencies. Just last month, the Nigerian Central Bank said that dealing with cryptocurrencies was prohibited. The bank recently clarified that the cryptocurrency ban was only applicable to financial institutions/ banks and not individuals. Citizens in Nigeria are Free to Trade in Cryptocurrencies Earlier last month, the Central Bank of Nigeria announced in a circular that it had placed a ban on financial institutions from facilitating cryptocurrency-related transactions. The ban ordered all the commercial banks in Nigeria to close the accounts of those related to cryptocurrency exchanges and other transactions related to cryptocurrencies. In case of any breach of the directive, the banks were warned of severe regulatory sanctions. Following the announcement, banking institutions began to comply with the directive. Reportedly, some of the account holders at Nigeria’s Access Bank had to face account closure. Subsequently, volumes on centralized exchanges went on the downhill while peer-to-peer trading went on the rise. Speaking on behalf of Godwin Emefiele, Adamu Lamtek, the Bank’s Deputy Governor clarified at the 30th seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors: “The CBN did not place restrictions on the use of Cryptocurrencies, and we are not discouraging people from trading in it. What we have just done was to prohibit transactions on Cryptocurrencies in the banking sector.” Nigeria has the Highest Cryptocurrency Trading Volume in Sub-Saharan Africa In reality, the Nigerian Central Bank tried to draw a distinction between crypto-related banking activities and its citizens using cryptocurrencies. The bank had actually not banned Nigerians from trading cryptos but prevented the banking sector from the activities of cryptocurrencies. Within the Sub-Saharan African region, Nigeria is the country with the highest Bitcoin trading volume. Just last week, the country moved about $8.8 Million in Bitcoin, according to data from a metrics platform. That amount itself is more than the combined trading volume of the entire continent.
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