Almost four months after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) banned all operations with bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies, the issuing entity backed down. Now the governor of the institution, Godwin Emefiele, confirmed that a high percentage of Nigerians use digital assets, a situation that he admitted without much pleasure.
The official said that the central bank is conducting its own investigation on the use of cryptocurrencies in the country. In relation to the results found so far, Emefiele highlighted that there is already a degree of adoption among the inhabitants , a fact that would have influenced the lifting of the veto imposed in February.
«We have carried out our research and have found that a substantial percentage of our people are engaging with cryptocurrencies, which is not the best. Don’t get me wrong, some may be legitimate, but most are illegitimate, “the governor was quoted as saying by local media.
After lashing out against bitcoin and threatening sanctions on banks that allow related transactions with cryptocurrencies, the CNB director assured that crypto assets “will come to life even in Nigeria.”
From the central bank’s decision, it follows that bank accounts will be able to process operations related to cryptocurrencies again. However, it is not clear if the new position of the issuing entity would encourage a adoption of bitcoin as a means of payment or investment.
Volatility and in the market cryptocurrencies
Another aspect that the governor touched It is that of market volatility and how it is possible to manipulate prices . In this case, he cited what happened recently with the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, who has shown different points of view about bitcoin and has made evident his partiality with the Dogecoin project.
Emefiele would have cited what happened with Musk because the bank’s ban on cryptocurrencies came just when Tesla reported that it had invested $ 1.5 billion in bitcoin, a fact reported at the time by CryptoNews. After this fact, the price of the asset increased to a peak of $ 64,000 in April.
Nigeria is one of the countries with the highest adoption of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies . According to an investigation by the intelligence firm, Chainalysis, the African nation ranks eighth in the world on the use of digital assets only behind Ukraine, Russia, Venezuela, China, Kenya, the United States and South Africa.
High inflation and the devaluation of Nigeria’s national currency, the naira, would be two one of the main reasons Nigerians are embracing BTC as an alternative to safeguarding value.
