Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin prices can vary significantly from country to country. Specific regions are subject to paying premium prices, with China being a great example. But Nigeria is warming up to Bitcoin as well, sending prices soaring to unseen levels. Just yesterday, the price per BTC touched US$1,251.18 across Nigerian Bitcoin exchanges. Considering how the average global price was US$725 at that time, such a  large cap is rather unusual.
Bitx is one of Nigeria’s most prominent Bitcoin exchanges to date. The platform attracts traders, consumers, and investors from all over the country. Interestingly enough, Bitx cannot provide ample liquidity to accommodate large trades right now. Due to this low liquidity, the price per individual BTC spiked to over US$1,250 yesterday.

http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/11/22/bitcoin-price-surpasses-us1250-nigeria-amid-surging-naira-value/

The ability of Nigerians to make money out of tight situations has long been a legend.
Nigerian localbitcoin traders are simply trying to earn a living in a hash economy.

Wow, that is some price gap and I thought China was paying premium, nice to see Nigeria on board though.

I smile at the various stories claiming that BTC is somehow bound by nation-state borders. The problems cited are always fiat-related, not BTC-related. Usually the local fiat is perceived as being of low value compared to BTC. It may be of such low value that exchanges in other nation states won't touch it at all. The story is typically presented as "BTC is expensive in jurisdiction X" but the reality is "the fiat currency of jurisdiction X is not considered valuable or is politically unwelcome in jurisdiction Y".

Such stories often convert the local currency into its official equivalent $USD value and convert BTC into its $USD exchange value at different exchanges in order to get the best "ain't it awful" story line.

This story suggests that BTC is "expensive" because the local fiat currency is "surging", then converts the details into fiat $USD to amplify its claim. Smoke and mirrors if you can step outside fiat-world.

One BTC is worth one BTC. Always will be. That's all that matters if BTC is money.

People who think of fiat as "money" and crypto as "a commodity" will always be caught in such binds. Stay away from fiat and the issues disappear.

According to a comment from someone in Nigeria, the dollar value is incorrect because the author is using the official NGN/USD exchange rate rather than the actual NGN/USD exchange rate.

Yeah, there is an official NGN/USD rate and a black market rate which is much higher than the official rate.

So the traders are selling at black market NGN/USD rate which makes the btc price seem huge.

Nigeria is facing a dollar shortage at the moment due to the fall in crude oil price.

I would sell all my BTC for $1250 US today.  I can replace it in seconds for under 800 everywhere around my home.  I was nervous buying another 6 a few months ago and its already going for 750+, which is up alot from my buy point.

That makes sense. Nigerians have seen access to foreign currency being restricted, ever since the oil price crashed and the country's foreign exchange reserves dwindled. So the official exchange rate is meaningless.

Don't be so hasty with this. Don't ever sell ALL your coins. Bitcoin is currently still under priced as we didn't reach full technology potential yet.
In 10 years you might regret this decision in the same way people who bought famous "bitcoin pizza" for 10.000 BTC are regretting this now.
Just wait - if people in Nigeria can pay +$1000 for BTC rest of the world can too.

I think it's just a matter of time before we see a chain reaction of related countries where the price will reach insanely high levels due to the lack of actual supply. If this really continues to spread across other countries where the market is nothing more than peanuts, I think the overall price will greatly benefit from this increased demand. I don't think it's enough to get the price on western exchanges to reach $1000 again, but it can be the beginning of a solid foundation that is being built.

It will take a long while for the rest of the world to buy bitcoins due to dollar shortage.
The price will reach $1250 not because of USD but due to mass adoption.

There is no need to buy BTC with dollars (or Naira). That kind of thinking just perpetuates the fiat system.

If you can think of BTC as "money" though, the obvious thing to do is offer your time/skills/labour in exchange for BTC - exactly as people are used to doing in exchange for fiat. It's a perception thing - many people just can't think of BTC as money, but instead see it as a "thing" to be bought with "real money". If people from the past could see their descendants treating green paper as "real money" they would find it very odd imho.

A Kuhnian paradigm shift got people thinking that green paper was money. The shift was triggered by a surprisingly small group of people (within my lifetime): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_Conference

The reassurance offered at the time was that the green paper was a surrogate for "real money" and could be converted to "real money" at any time - the paper was just to make commerce more convenient.

Once people got used to dealing with green paper - it really was much more convenient - once it became "normal", then the reassurance was removed and the green paper stood on its own as "real money": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_shock

A future shift will end the green paper era. When it will happen is anyone's guess, and whether the shift will be to crypto or not is unknowable, but a shift will happen. Crypto is a hedge against the inevitable, imho. People will debate this until history settles the issue one way or another - choose your position and settle in for the ride - it may (or may not) be a long one.

A couple of days ago there was also a big gap between the Bitcoin price in India and the major other Bitcoin exchanges. The gap has slowly closed since last days. I expect something similar with the current Nigarian Bitcoin price. Probably the market in Bitcoin is less big than in India and therefore the gap will not totally closed by $900-1000 by the end of the year is not impossible.

Didn't know that other countries other than China had overvalued their bitcoins to have them pay such a premium like this.

It's just the lack of available coins that is making people buy coins at such premium prices. It will be a short lasting effect as more and more people will try to use that higher price to secure profits at. If too many people are doing this, then the price will go back to normal levels in a very short time. The only thing is that you can't sell too many coins as there is barely any buy support worth mentioning. All tiny orders.

like what happened in India after the prime minister decision of banning the 500 and 1k currency
the bitcoin price went crazy in the exchanges up to 850 USD afaik because the asks exceeded the supply but in Nigeria aww it is a huge difference :)

I wonder if Bitcoin will be considered a foreign currency in Nigeria. The government is considering making it an offence to hold hard foreign currency  outside the banking system. The punishment will be 2 years imprisonment. :)


http://www.reuters.com/article/nigeria-currency-lawmaking-idUSL8N1DM2Y0

Yes that caused a recipe for disaster and then causing the overvalue of bitcoin over their fiat to take place.
That seemed like certain disaster for those not holding any and wanting some. Just like the perfect storm some might say. :-X

No, bitcoin is the least of the government's problems at the moment. I can assure you no one is going to jail for holding btc ;D

I would never sell ALL my coins in the sense that I think you meant it when you posted.  I am invested in BTC.  My comment was simply to say that I can and would sell all BTC I currently own at $1250.00 (today), knowing in seconds I can replace them and more at under 800 per BTC.  No brainer actually.

So are others here suffering from the same dilemma as me? i.e.-  I find I am starting to transact less then I used to.  I have abundance of fiat so when I need something I have been using fiat more and holding on to BTC.  I know its better to circulate coins, but I struggle with using mine lately since fiat is so easy to get and use for me.

The argument could be made that Bitcoin is the ultimate litmus test for any other currency.

If your currency unit values Bitcoin highly, like the Naira, then it means your currency is a heaping pile of shit, since so many units of your crap currency is represented by a small portion of Bitcoin.

This goes for the dollar, yen, euro and the rest too.

Use this as a guide, like you would Credit Default Swaps for a sovereign state's overall rating -- if it takes more units of their fiat currency, then it means their system is in decline.

Someone should make an index based on that idea, alone. It would be interesting to track.