Nigeria going cashless

[Upgrade00]

The Central Bank of Nigeria in a bid to encourage a cashless society, introduced a project to dissuade users fron using cash, by charging a certain percentage on withdrawals and deposits above a certain amount daily.
Link: https://www.cbn.gov.ng/cashless/

There are many clauses and terms, but the summary is individuals would pay a fee on withdrawals and deposits above N500,000 and above N3,000,000 for cooperations.

This has caused quite an uproar among the citizenry, bemoaning the high cost on transactions involving cash, and the Senate has requested the bill be suspended in the states it is currently in effect- https://www.google.com/amp/s/punchng.com/cashless-policy-reps-ask-cbn-to-suspend-charges-on-deposits/amp/

Some proactive entrepreneurs has set up agencies to circumvent the charges, by offering to deposit amount in batches as a service i.e. if an individual wanted to transfer 1.5 million naira in a day which is above the minimum, they would pay it into three different bank accounts and the send it via mobile money into one.

This could also open up options in cryptocurrency. Bitcoin could be an effective tool to move large amounts without having your transactions monitored.

What do you think about a policy which places a penalty on transactions involving physical cash to encourage cashless ones?

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[blockchain master]

 such policies are not very good and will affect only the common man for we already know the big guns already have their way out...
for me crypto is an answer ... many crypto projects out there that will charge 0 fee to transfer any amount Etherzero is one of them and incredible fast too....

[TheCoinGrabber]

I feel this is more a move to increase government revenue. Since this only applies to bank transactions, it won't really affect people who are still using cash for daily consumption. In the meantime it's banks rather than crypto that will benefit as people just switch to using credit/debit cards for purchases.

[Upgrade00]

it won't really affect people who are still using cash for daily consumption.

But it could affect the merchants receiving the payments. If they accrued higher than the maximum amount and have a policy of depositing into the bank, they would be paying a charge on the excess amount daily - https://twitter.com/cenbank/status/1174982489288237058?s=19
This may force them to use incentives to coerce customers to pay using the internet or POS.

...

It technically affects everyone who handles lots of cash daily.
I really do not mind much, as the world is going cash less already. But such policies, forcing the citizens down a path, does not sit well with me. Instead of penalizing cash transactions, why not reward cashless ones? The citizens shouldn't bear the cost of transition.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

There's a big misunderstanding of the new policy (that's what causing the uproar) and also a clever way to avoid the fees. First the policy implies that transaction below the stated maximum amounts won't be affected that's deposit of N499999 won't be affected by the new policy. But if you deposited above the maximum amounts e.g N510000 you get charged extras fees on just the N10, 000 and not the total deposit that's what many don't understand.

Now to bypass the new policy, joking you can easily do this,


Although just like other deposited/withdrawal policy I'm guessing there would be a 24hrs limit so you can always deposit your remaining funds the next day to avoid the charges. Nevertheless the policy is intended to force Nigeria into transacting online (cashless transaction) so it isn't that bad of an idea although the charges are just too much in addition to the unnecessary ridiculous charges we get charged for sms/Email fees on withdrawal and deposit.

It isn't the fault of Nigerians for not patronizing cashless transaction as the fees associated with it are just too much and discouraging. Therefore, if they're trying to encourage cashless transactions, they should first look into lowering the fees associated with the services.

[TheCoinGrabber]

it won't really affect people who are still using cash for daily consumption.

But it could affect the merchants receiving the payments. If they accrued higher than the maximum amount and have a policy of depositing into the bank, they would be paying a charge on the excess amount daily - https://twitter.com/cenbank/status/1174982489288237058?s=19
This may force them to use incentives to coerce customers to pay using the internet or POS.

It won't immediately affect them but as for the merchants I can't see them rushing to flock to crypto since there are existing cashless options. This is likely just going to increase the adoption of debit/credit cards. I don't know what fees those have in Nigeria but I'm assuming it's not much of a hassle for the consumers, especially if they are receiving their salary in their bank account in the first place.

I don't like this policy though. It feels authoritarian to me. Better just give additional incentives when paying cashless like discounts, etc.

[robbylove]

I got many emails from Nigerian Princes. They are really not happy about this move.

[Swingle]

Reading about the policy now and then from various reports, one thing is certain that the Nigerians aren't pleased with the policy in anyway. Going by the policy, it goes to explain that a business owner will have to pay 10,000 - 15,000 naira on every 500,000 naira on ever deposit - withdrawal transactions carried out. Though CBN has tried to debunk such thought emphasising that the policy will only affect any extra cash paid/withdrawn above 500, 000 naira, that is, if a transaction of say 550,000 naira has been initiated then the charges will be implemented on just 50,000 naira since 500,000 naira is the benchmark.

[COCKSMUGGLA69]

The Nigerian gov't has a particularly nasty history of financially oppressing it's population too...

It'll be interesting to see how Nigerians handle this loss of financial privacy.

[mayureeana]

Is this real? this makes cryptocurrency adoption closer to reality

[kooboat]

The world is going digital and I guess this is what we need to reduce the use of cash or fiat which is highly dominated by a lot of flaws such as  a huge number of counterfeits.

[protEr]

This is great but is Nigeria ready to go digital

As things stand we know Nigeria has good people there but what of the hackers out there, will people be protected or taught how to protect themselves online..

[squatz1]

The Nigerian gov't has a particularly nasty history of financially oppressing it's population too...

It'll be interesting to see how Nigerians handle this loss of financial privacy.

+1 to this.

People forget that in this sort of environment, the government is going to be able to know everything that you're able to do with your money. Cash is one of the best systems for keeping things anonymous, digital payments are not.

[peter0425]

I think this is abused of power and authority because the right side of every individual to choose which form they will use is indeed and cannot be overpower by authorities
Yes I totally agreed in cashless society but in right manner of implementation and the fist in this is being agreed by the whole bodies and not just by governments
This is forcing people to do what they want and not by free will

[tvbcof]

People will just choose something to use for cash.

'Cashless' will only work in a truly locked down totalitarian _world_ (not 'nation' because people will just use some other nation's money.)  That means having such tight control that two people cannot even have a few seconds of privacy together to make even a verbal deal.

The only way to enforce cashless is to be more ruthless in enforcement than those who need to develop and use cash.  Namely mob enforcers and what-not.  This will create a back-lash.

The way to keep a plurality of people using your 'cashless' system would be to be so fair and benevolent that all people voluntarily use your cashless system exclusively.  But any entity who is of that nature wouldn't care if people used cash or not.  The purpose of forcing people to use your monetary system is to control and exploit them after all.

Another monkey-wrench is that those who operate a 'cashless' system are certainly not going to use it themselves.  They'll use something else to maintain their privacy.  Probably gold or crypto for transferring their resource assets around between themselves.  Won't be long before the higher-level plebs start using the same thing.

'Cashless' is a long held pie-in-the-sky pipe-dream for some in the upper caste, but for the more practical engineers it's nothing but an excuse to implement more totalitarian control measures.  Chip-in-the-brain and that sort of thing.  It doesn't really have a lot to do with monetary science as such.

[Niya]

Punishing cash users is very bad, because cash money is the only way to have full control of your (fiat) money. I think governments acts this way for 3 main reasons:

1. Surveillance and control
2. Raising banks' revenues
3. Raising taxes' revenues


Instead, cash is the only way I know to not pay fees (both for the sender and the receiver). Banning cash would be the ultimate dystopia.

[Hans17]

Is this real? this makes cryptocurrency adoption closer to reality

how come its closer to reality?? does being a cashless country can adopt bitcoin although its a cryptocurrency we cant say anytime now it will be their currency. But the fact also that the bitcoin is facing a crisis and i think going on or planning to go on lowkey it makes harder now to see bitcoin even my friends cant tell if bitcoin is still surviving. that is my own thought tho.

[Mometaskers]

How is the public responding? I suppose that once businesses starting to have their operation cost go up because of this, they'll start charging more for cash transactions.

[KingScorpio]

The Central Bank of Nigeria in a bid to encourage a cashless society, introduced a project to dissuade users fron using cash, by charging a certain percentage on withdrawals and deposits above a certain amount daily.
Link: https://www.cbn.gov.ng/cashless/

There are many clauses and terms, but the summary is individuals would pay a fee on withdrawals and deposits above N500,000 and above N3,000,000 for cooperations.

This has caused quite an uproar among the citizenry, bemoaning the high cost on transactions involving cash, and the Senate has requested the bill be suspended in the states it is currently in effect- https://www.google.com/amp/s/punchng.com/cashless-policy-reps-ask-cbn-to-suspend-charges-on-deposits/amp/

Some proactive entrepreneurs has set up agencies to circumvent the charges, by offering to deposit amount in batches as a service i.e. if an individual wanted to transfer 1.5 million naira in a day which is above the minimum, they would pay it into three different bank accounts and the send it via mobile money into one.

This could also open up options in cryptocurrency. Bitcoin could be an effective tool to move large amounts without having your transactions monitored.

What do you think about a policy which places a penalty on transactions involving physical cash to encourage cashless ones?

cashless regarding bills and coins

or cashless regarding money in general,

because: some people call crypto e-cash

[bitcoin-shark]

unfortunately also in my country (Italy) they are trying to introduce a similar law, a tax of 1.5% on withdrawals above 1500 euros a month at ATMs and a 2% monthly incentive for card payments i hope the law does not steps in parliament, i think they do it to help banks and be able to increase taxes more...