Bitcoin Forum

Just read this news https://www.coindesk.com/nigerias-central-bank-again-warns-on-crypto-investments/ (https://www.coindesk.com/nigerias-central-bank-again-warns-on-crypto-investments/)

One of the probably most corrupt countries in the world, with a currency that is hiper-inflationary and that has lost any respect inside or outside its border now is issuing a warning agaist crypto. Frankly, if I lived there I would just have all my cash into cryptos.

The governments that have awful economic policies are one of the "use cases" clearly.

Since the introduction of bitcoin the Naira has fell in price vs the USD by a factor of approximately 3.5. Bitcoin on the other hand has increased by a factor of near infinity. If only those Nigerian princes who keep wanting to give me their money would have invested it in to Bitcoin, they could give me much much more.

Many governments and their banks act like this. They don't give any example to be followed, they don't give any incentive to their citizens, they aren't transparent, but the real danger here is Bitcoin and AltCoins. They are already feeling threatened by Bitcoin and the changes it can promote... That is why they spread these notes.

Central banks are all the same, they are deceiving the population of the world it's just that some do it better than others and no one gets fooled by the central bank of Nigeria anymore, I know it is very hypocritical for them to say such things but they have to, it is not like they are going to have a change of heart and accept all the damage they have done to their citizens and accept their responsibility for it, they are just trying to keep their monopoly that is all.

It is incredible, I do remember also that bitcoin is much more expensive in Nigeria or at least it was a few months ago. Is like when it became cheap in Korea or China when there were ban news.

It's not only the the bank of Negeria, but people from Nigeria 🇳🇬 is also funded of humor and that's one I like about them too, it's no wonder that their bank will support if they know it will help their people earn something from it.

What you guys are honestly surprised that a Central Bank wanted to keep the status quo? They have two choices fight it or adapt and seemingly most financial institutions are choosing to fight it. Don't think that is wise because we all know how that battle is going to end ;)

I think this is vein in front of the crypto currency and underdeveloped countries like Nigeria wont understands the proper use of it. I dont think they will be able to regulate it any way because they dont even have proper financial framework. If they cant even regulate the centralised currency in proper way then how could they blame the crypto currency users in their own country. I think this is just laughable thing that they are speaking all about it and not even focusing on their own countries other problems. If those people are earning money from the crypto currency then they should allow it as thats the only great way to earn for them. 

it is not a new thing as we have seen so many times the banks of the most unstable economies and corrupted one keep warnings on cryptocurrencies, maybe they think that the only problem in their perfect system is just crypto.

The problem is that they can't cashout everything to bitcoin, they don't have where to buy the bitcoins, it's not like they have local exchanges in Nigeria, so they are actually locked, that's the reason bitcoin's price on 3rd world countries is usually much higher than usual.

On the other hand they can't keep the situation as it is because the price of their local currency is just going down and they are losing the value of their savings.
That's why everybody should hold a small amount of bitcoins, so just in case something like that happens, they won't stay empty-handed.

People in Nigeria who have crypto just need to move from this country. I would do that in their place. Best decision.

Their currency is trash and worse than many cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, litecoin and even bitcoin forks but most tokens are very risky investments, I think tokens and currencies are very different in risk.

Well, basically, all states which have central banks and print money uncontrollably are money countefeiters.

Same action the government in my country did. Banks and government had collaborated to issue an agenda warning people and investors about bitcoin and cryptocurrency. They said that cryptocurrency promises nothing and investors might lost their investments for they’ve just invested in nothing. Bitcoin is nothing, not guarantee and not physical and so on and so forth.

And then what? If you don't have sufficient resources to move away from your country, even if you convert your wealth to crypto, you basically leave your job and everything behind to face uncertainties in another country.

It only makes sense to move out of your country when you can maintain yourself appropriately for many years, even when you don't have an actual income at all during the initial period.

Also, the only crypto I would ever trust my wealth to will be Bitcoin. Altcoins depend on too many variables to increase in value, where with lightning network in mind, altcoins aren't a good long term investment at all.

It's either Bitcoin or nothing.

With all the major banks all over the world are declaring and warning users against crypto currency investment and the risk it contains ,i really think that the Nigerian bank was forced to come up with this news because they did not want to be left out from the entire warning saga. :D But one thing i can tell is that i would not bother listening to any corrupt government or banking speeches,warning is their option and making a decision what is best for me is my choice. ;D

If moving out and settling out was an easy task i am sure everyone would do that,unless you have the financial stability to have a good life and the life becomes so hard that you are unable to stay there and there is a risk involved with it,then i would consider moving out,other than that is it not a realistic solution. :P

They are probably not aware that their economy suffers because of their own policies and bad regulation and not because of the crypto. Their people are just looking for a backdoor to avoid the faulty system of their government. That backdoor is crypto and the banks of Nigeria are in fear of losing the population to the crypto.

They are probably operating through their regulations a with a shady background and their greed is rising. This can be also seen in some other countries in which the term democracy is not known.

Well actually there are other big banks that releases warning statements for the people in investing on bitcoin, why? because most of us know that investing and keeping money into bitcoin is a lot better than saving it in fiat because of the price and demand it is getting from the community. don't mind banks, they are simply "threatened".

It is not surprising that nigeria bank issued warning about bitcoin, whatever  currency exiting in any country that is not controlled by the central bank of that country will definitely be  considered by the government as a threat to her citizen so the need to warn their people against any loss that may arise fromany transtion with such currencies.

Lol...this got me laughing. What an awkward advise. So you advise them to move from their country to where exactly? Having crypto do not guarantee you will make it in the next country you settle. Does it occur to you that their living standard somehow differs from other country? And the rate of1 bitcoin turned to their currency can make them wealthy? Simply, they should ignore their banks and keeps on with cryptos.

Well the warning that was issued by the Central bank of Nigeria is a right step at the right because it is not the Nigeria government that is the first to issues such warning against bitcoin and crypto currency in general. If allowed at this time when there is no regulation or control by the government i believe that will pave way for more Capital flight abroad without government monitoring.

I think you should be able to differentiate between developing and underdeveloped country. Nigeria cannot in any way be refer to as underdeveloped country if you have ever been to Nigeria. I strongly believe that Nigerians understand more about Bitcoin and crypto currency in general contrary to your insubstantial submissions.

This sort of remind me of what happened in India. Guess you really can't just expect governments to take bitcoin lightly. It is after all, competition. In time they will find that they are better off incorporating it into their economy. In time.


Agreed. Not everyone's capable of just moving out and never coming back. Going abroad for work is kinda common in my country (and I sure hope the workers hear about bitcoins and invest) but those people eventually retire to come home.

in year 2017, the nigeria apex Bank has already threw their weight behind digital currencies in the country and that was why we some Nigeria banks like guaranty trust bank trying to have their own coin called GTcoin. they actually felt threatened that the adoption of digital currencies can affect the local currencies which can eventually give room for fraud, that was why they reversed a bit on thier decision

The warning by the Nigeria apex bank is to safe gard the Nigerian investors from crypto currency volatility as the is no insurance to safe gard their investment. And encouraging crypto currency at this stage may encourage money laundry, so the directive by the apex Bank is a good one.

It's not about humor, it's a simple disclaimer. After all, it's true that cryptoinvestors are not protected by law. And aside from "normal" cryptocurrencies there are thousands of scam projects promising over 9000% benefits. Assuming that in Nigeria there's millions of financially ignorant people wishing to make money out of nothing, the disclaimer sounds quite reasonable.

Well, it is only typical of what the bank and government of any country would do so as not to liberate its citizens from poverty. Instead, they will really block every means of Cashflow in the economy of the country. I did read the news/official letter from the Central Bank yesterday and I was really smh.

You see, they are very short sighted, they could actually embrace the new technologies and make something good instead of insisting on a clearly wrong policy.

Lol. I can imagine, but funny enough, Nigerian citizens are not falling for this bullshit because they have been kept in the dark for long and most of them who are smart are already liberating themselves. You should check out the way the adoption of cryptocurrency in this country, as well as the the interest is increasing daily and I also read recently in an article of how Luno exchange (former bitx) boss, since the exchange is operational in Nigeria, saying the rate of adoption is growing pretty fast.


So I guess the government is losing pretty fast on this one!

If a country having this kind of aggressive approach to stand against cryptocurrency only show something is happening within the government officials who are controlled by the same person who hated bitcoin personally.. The central banks hostage a shallow minded public servicemen who are in the field being they’re spokesperson.. They have been used because they allowed it..

Government + Central banks = Corruption..

The most funny aspect of this news is that Nigeria is especially known in the world for the so called "Nigerian 419 Scam", which consist in all those letters that each of us has received at some point of people who allegedly need to send you millions of dollars for the most surreal reasons. Many people worldwide have been falling at this scam, which alone is responsible for a consistent part of Nigeria's GDP. So the Bank of Nigeria should have better been warning the world about the Nigerian scammers. But, as said, they have really a great sense of humor.

with the internet anyone can recognize bitcoin. so, any country can not be said to be an underdeveloped country as long as they can access the internet.
Bitcoin is rapidly widespread with internet information in various countries possibly including in Nigeria.

Certainly because they feel threatened and I am not surprised with a country like Nigeria where corruption and Monopoly has really gotten so deep, and even the house members from what I heard even get paid more than the president of some countries, coming to try to sway the attention of the public from cryptocurrency.

It absolutely will not work, as these guys are in dire need to survive and as long as the government is not giving them that, they are busy outsourcing by themselves. However, China is even doing worse than this.

It is understandable that they feel threatened by the existence of cryptocurrency and from the look of things, Nigerians really do not care about whatever the government tells them which is why it has been so easy for the likes of the scam TBC, Onecoin and Ponzi schemes to really affect most of the citizens while on the verge of trying to get themselves free from government policies.

However, the rate of adoption in Nigeria for bitcoin is increasing hugely from some of the news I have been reading and I am sure the their Central Bank must have seen that coming and trying every means to pour some cold water on their soul, but who listens to the government these days anyway?

Move where? Just because of a warning that is not yet even a ban? Easier said than done or you think migrating to other country is an easy task, right?

But what would anyone expect from a Central Bank coming from Africa where mediocrity is king. The warning is even coming too late.

Lol...You got me laughing there. You sure have a sense of humour too like the Nigeria government officials. I guess you are wiser than the Nigeria princes then for not allowing them keep your money for you.

I once read an article where some dude claimed his miners from France were sent back to France after they arrived the Nigeria seaport. The Nigeria customs summoned him while trying to clear his parcel as they couldn't figure what they were thinking they could be some explosive devices...Lol. Dude was lucky not to have been locked up after he struggled to educate them on what a miner was.

Africa is really backward in technology, not just on leadership alone. Not even South Africa.

One of the funniest things to me is that they are trying to fight bitcoin without fighting bitcoin directly after all they know very well there are going to lose, so it will be embarrassing to fight bitcoin and then fail and then admit they never had any chance to win to begin with so they are trying to make it seem as if they are accepting it but behind the curtains they are trying to do everything to stop adoption.

Musa Gimon said that they can not confiscate the crypto currency and this is very troubling. We understand him ;D.

I understand what you are getting at and obviously from a corruption ridden country, I would not expect less as the banks feel threatened the most, which unfortunately they can do nothing about. However, with corruption aside, I feel this is just a normal trend for the Central Bank of most countries, and in their mind, they are doing their own part but they are all just some bunch of hypocrites who have no knowledge and would rather want the citizens to be in the dark.

Exactly, so we cannot just conclude on Nigerians alone. Is there really any corrupt country that has not been in this category? Was Venezuela not even worst? At least they were warning their citizens, but not clamping down on them or stopping the operations.

In fact, I was in this country last year for some business deals (they have the bucks and the environment is good for some oil and gas deals) and you won't blame a man right? ;D and I got a hint of some of the locals trying to struggle for living talking about bitcoin and even though they do not know much about what they were saying, the interest really got my attention.

From what I could thereafter deduce online, these guys are not really giving their governments any attention with whatever bullshit that is being said by their Central Bank, and they never will. I guess they gave up on their government to make decisions for them a long time ago.

I understand the article since most popular scams came from Nigeria, ever heard of Nigerian prince scam?

One of the most entertaining things to me is that they are endeavoring to battle bitcoin without battling bitcoin specifically after all they know extremely well there will lose, so it will humiliate to battle bitcoin and afterward bomb and afterward concede they never had any opportunity to win regardless so they are attempting to influence it to appear as though they are tolerating it however behind the shades they are attempting to do everything to stop appropriation.

That is a dumb argument made by the Central Bank of Nigeria. I mean of course NairaEx won't be registered to CBN as it of course is handling cryptocyrrencies not their own Fiat Currency. They should at least point out that the exchanges should be registered in their SEC.  What sickens me the most is they are encouraging banks not to transact with people who are involve with cryptocurrencies. They are basically blocking their own citzens way of earning.

Specifically because government can't earn from citizens who takes profits from bitcoin because there are no tax laws implemented related to cryptocurrencies. Government either think of a way how can they implement taxation on cryptos OR just ban it.

And it seems that the unregulated population of the state institutions will leave the country's own currency, this is very heartbreaking.

No wonder, each government has its own strategy and reaction to crypto-currencies. Maybe the crypto-currencies have very much helped people who live there to gain financial freedom and independence, but the government thinks differently.

This is exactly true of most country's Central Bank or financial institutions. It is a protective role they play to wade off financial fraud against their citizens but then, it keeps the fish hearted citizens away from taking up internet business as a serious business where money can be made if one is careful enough not to fall in the hands of the real fraudsters . Such business also includes forex trading on the internet.

That is the point. We must take some positive vibes within us that can lead us to better results. As far as this case is concerned, definitely we are thinking on individual level where government has to care about many things. From different point of views, these government officials have to take everything in account while we think they are doing nothing about bitcoins. Everyone is working according to their mindset.

Yeah, I agree that Nigeria is not a kind of country with an economy on the sufficient level to blame cryptocurrencies. I guess they just don't want the situation to get even worth if Nigerians sell their local currency and invest in cryptos instead.
However, their coin is not doing that bad. It dropped 2x in relation to dollar in the last 2 years, while cryptos sometimes drop the same amount in a week.
As for corruption, this country definitely has a high corruption rate, but there are still about 40 countries behind it (more corrupt).
No, I guess it's rather about moving out of the country in general, since it doesn't seem to be a good place to live. Warning about cryptocurrencies is nothing to worry about. However, immigrating is a problem. One needs money and is putting at risk one's life this way.

what is nigeria?what is it represented?a country?lol this country has nothing to do in crypto.they dont even represent a enough user to make the market move if they banned cryptocurrency in their country so lets just laugh about this and bother nothing about its capabilities

Nigeria is a country if you have no idea, though the pronouncement by Central Bank Governor may not have strong effects on the crypto currency world over but within the Country it really negative effect on the demand for crypto  currency. Remember that crypto currency ban was not only pronounced by the Nigeria government Apex Bank but there are so many other countries that make such pronouncement.

As of 17 of January 2017, the Central Bank of Nigeria  (CBN) has passed a circular to inform all Nigerian banks that bank transaction in bitcoin and other virtual have been banned in Nigeria.

However, during the year, the CBN (through its deputy director on banking and payment system, Musa Itopa-Jimoh) clarified the circular and its stance on bitcoin, citing that alot of people misinterpret the central banks recent warning. It noted that "Central bank cannot control or regulate bitcoin. Central bank cannot control or regulate blockchain. Just the same way no one is going to control or regulate the internet. We don't own it.

Later on, the committee set up by the Central Bank of  Nigeria and Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation to look into possibility of the country adopting the technology during bitcoin and other digital currencies. BLOCKCHAIN- The committee has submitted its report but several subcommittee's are still working on the issue "according to the Director Banking & Payment System Department at CBN, Mr. Dipo Fatokun.

Many people in Nigeria is actually trying to do so, but it is not as easy as we think. First of all, they need enough money in order to pay all the corrupted border-agents they will find. Second, they probably get killed if they try to cross a border.
Issues in Africa are huge. We can't even imagine how dark and hard the life is in there (I can because I was..., but... I can't even describe the painful situation Africa is living...).
Sometimes we think something is easy, just because we can achieve it at no cost. But in Africa, the usual cost is your life and your relatives one. Not a joke.

This particular question in not new for me, because also my country doing already on such warn issue towards bitcoin business, although a verbal warning from any top personalities were having a true basis, thats why they take a legal actions to their living people, but only a verbal warning, because they are concerning on their living people, and also it is there job to make a legal verbal action. But it is not suppose to be a big deal or a big problem in crypto business, because it is only a form of verbal warning and not a total ban.