On Monday, the Senate Committee on Capital Markets demanded that cryptocurrencies be regulated in order to provide some degree of transparency and investor money protection.
Sen. Osita Izunaso, the committee’s chairman, made this statement while briefing reporters in Abuja following the committee’s closed-door screening of three executive commissioners and Dr. Emomotimi Agama, the recently appointed Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“The issue of cryptocurrency must be regulated because Nigerians are trading in crypto. “Since Nigerians are trading in crypto, why are we not regulating it? Where is the money going to if we don’t regulate activities in the crypto market?
“You can’t stop them from trading in the crypto market. So because we can’t stop them, you have to regulate it,” he said. He also said that investing in the stock exchange and capital markets would help boost Nigeria’s economy.
“President Bola Tinubu has told Nigerians that he is looking for a $1 trillion economy. That can only be done through the stock exchange, through the capital market.
“And I believe that we are going to see more of government activities in the stock exchange, capital market, commodity exchange, andcrypto. This is because these are the areas that will further inject money into the system.
“Because the problem we have is the problem of liquidity. We don’t have enough money; we don’t have enough liquidity in the system,” he said. He added, “That is what is crushing the naira and making the naira so little when it’s competing with other currencies. But if we develop our capital market and our crypto market, we will bring more liquidity into the system.
“That will help to cushion all the problems we have.” Also speaking, Agama promised to accelerate the development of the capital market in a manner that would boost wealth creation, attract investments, and create jobs for Nigerians.
“We are bringing innovation and development on board. We are going to change the narrative of the Nigerian capital market.
“We are going to turn it around. That is the essence of our appointment by President Bola Tinubu. With this team, we assure Nigerians that we’re going to do the best that the President has the desire to do.
“So, we should all wait to see what is going to happen. Our desire is to move this market forward. And to help in achieving the President’s N1 trillion economy in the shortest possible time.
“Yes, the president is going to be in office for a year in a few days. That is remarkable because, as an anniversary giver, the President has given us to Nigerians to do the best to change the market,” he said.
Agama also said that the commission would introduce innovation programmes that would create world-class companies in such a way that would ensure the redistribution of wealth.
