Cryptocurrency traders and other experts have advised the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to introduce regulations for cryptocurrency trading.
This, according to them, is because there are a lot of benefits that the country can derive from cryptocurrency trading.
The President of Stakeholders in Blockchain Association of Nigeria (SiBAN), Senator Ihenyen, said that the efforts made since 2017 to engage the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to regulate the cryptocurrency market in Nigeria had not been successful.
According to him, regulation is the approach most developed countries in the world have taken as many have designed a robust regulatory framework.
The United State currency regulator recently allowed banks to trade in stablecoins.
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Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that attempt to peg their market value to some external reference like the US dollar.
Singapore, Iceland, and Malta are other countries that have become top destinations in blockchain investment because of their approach to regulating the market.
On Sunday while speaking on Channels Television, Former Presidential aspirant and Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Kingsley Moghalu, also said that the directive from the apex bank was not the best approach.
He explained that the directive was a ban on financial institutions not to engage in cryptocurrencies, not on trading activities.
He said, “It is mainly targeted at cryptocurrency exchanges. Hence, it does not criminalise individuals trading in cryptocurrencies. Individuals would likely have difficulties in making transactions since the activities of the exchanges are limited.”
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“The CBN has said it is not a legal tender but they don’t have to tell you or me what we can exchange for value. If I want to give you my shirt and you give me your shoe the Central Bank has no business with it,” he added.
The CBN had on Friday last week issued a directive to deposit money banks (DMBs), non-financial banks, and other financial institutions not to provide banking services to entities dealing with cryptocurrencies including exchanges.
On Sunday the apex bank issued a statement explaining that it did not place any new restrictions on cryptocurrencies, given that all banks in the country had earlier been forbidden, through CBN’s circular dated January 12, 2017, not to use, hold, trade, and/or transact in cryptocurrencies.
