Protesters in Nigeria used Bitcoin as alternative of banks as CBN blocked accts.

[Bitcoin_bullish]

I can only see one problem if the government will declare btc or digital coins as illegal, then what will happen next?    

Bitcoin is P2P and doesn't need government approval. These people are already considered outlaws just for protesting. Bitcoin is proving to be an alternative to the banking system in Nigeria and Bitcoin's popularity is growing in this region. Maybe they will not need to use the government printed fiat anymore and Bitcoin can be a parallel system of payments, although similar to a black market in case it is declared illegal.

[cheezcarls]

Just like what happened in Hong Kong and Belarus unrest. They are using cryptocurrencies to raise funds because the banks are freezing the accounts of these protestors. There's no way that the government could stop these transactions from happening no matter what amount we send or receive. This is the beauty of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Good move by Nigeria protestors in using Bitcoin.

[Josefjix]

Just like what happened in Hong Kong and Belarus unrest. They are using cryptocurrencies to raise funds because the banks are freezing the accounts of these protestors. There's no way that the government could stop these transactions from happening no matter what amount we send or receive. This is the beauty of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Good move by Nigeria protestors in using Bitcoin.

I don't think they will be able to stop the transaction and money getting to the people around; they labelled the protesters as "terrorist", the CBN as of yesterday suspended Flutterwave from functioning. Democracy is just too derogatory.

[carlfebz2]

I was about to make a thread about this. Came across the #freeFlutterwave on twitter trend list and decided to check it out.

For those who don't know, Here's a breakdown of what happened:

- Nigerian youths have been protesting for over a week over policing brutality currently happening across the country with several people getting killed on daily basis just because they're been tagged as criminals by law enforcement officers. The funny thing is every Nigerian youth that is living above the average standard of living is tagged as a criminal - web developers, crypto and forex traders, designers, small - medium scale business owners, entrepreneurs etc.

- Since the situation worsened with each passing day, Nigerians have embarked on peaceful protests across the country and was using a payment platform called Flutterwave (Even binance use this platform for crypto payments on their exchange) for funding the protests with food, medical supplies  and also for bailing our protesters that were arrested during the protests.

So.... what happened?

The central bank of Nigeria flagged the the platform saying it was used to fund "criminal" activities. So Nigerians turned to using Bitcoin as the payment solution abandoning all other traditional payment solutions.


This might not seem much for the global crypto community, but it's a huge win for the Nigerian crypto community on and off this forum. The citizens of Nigeria are beginning to realize that the crypto is the future and would help drive its adoption.

Thanks for the breakdown and it do really give out some boost of feeling that they should've done this earlier rather than make use of that Flutterwave because it can anytime be tagged up
and would really be stopped as long its a centralized system.

Now that they do switch up to Bitcoin then its a good step yet everything cant really be traced.Wondering on how Nigeria government would deal on this one.

Thing on my mind on how the hell they do charged up those above average earners as criminals? is there any consideration or how the hell they do make out such conclusion?

[Jaered]

Nice one here. I just sent some bitcoin to help out. CARS must be uprooted from Nigeria

[Silberman]

There has been protest against poor policing in Nigeria for over a week now across different cities, earlier today the CBN sanctioned the bank account used by the protesters to solicit for funds across the country. Immediately they noticed this development, the opted for Bitcoin payments system.
A big plus for the organisation.


https://twitter.com/feminist_co/status/1315998200944263168?s=19

It is good to see people protecting their rights and to see bitcoin be part of that is important, governments have an immense amount of power at their disposal and this is a clear sign of why they want to eliminate cash, if they were successful on their goal and bitcoin did not existed then any movement that protested against it even for legitimate reasons will be easily silenced as all their participants got their bank accounts blocked and they had no means to obtain food or shelter, but luckily for us bitcoin exists and it will allow people to express their opinions knowing they have a way around the fiat system.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

The protest has opened alot of nigeria youth eyes to the fact that the government care less about them. I have been following the protest from the onset and even did a thread about it on the forum at the politics board titled; EndSARs: The movement for police reformed as a result of police brutality in NiG. I love the fact the youth has an answer for every attempts by the government to end the protest without solving the worries of the youth. First they try to distract the youths by desolving the SARs unit and created a new unit called SWAT immediately.

This new development is a welcomed one, I wasn't happy when the news of fundraising to support the injured or other welfare of the protesters were done via bank accounts. We had other options that were far better than the banks although they aren't that different for the centralized aspect but atleast the government won't have had access that easily to shutdown the fundraising like they just did.

Hearing about bitcoin been used is just another win for the enthusiast in the country as just few weeks back we saw the news of SEC legally reconsidering the currency as a security in the country. The country is slowing becoming a strong ground for the bitcoin, something I never saw in such a short period of time.

[goldade]

It is nice to know that people can now see that they really do not have any control over the money they keep in banks. The government has control over these money and can be blocked by them.
I happen to follow the incident quite closely and it's great to know that the youths and the Nigerian people at larger are beginning to see the advantage bitcoin has over fiat in giving us total control over our money.
Although this might possibly cause a crypto ban in Nigeria, it is a huge win for the crypto community in and outside Nigeria. Now people in and outside Nigeria will readily adopt bitcoin because of this

[lixer]

They are protesting against a division/arm of the Nigerian police force that is known as the SARS. If you checked Twitter these past days you would have seen the trending #ENDSARS hashtag that was trending worldwide. I think the main duty of this SARS was just to capture criminals when they need be, but they left their main duty to start extorting the youths of the country and labeling them as criminals.

From the information I have gathered, these people were evil and brutal in the way they deal with people, they were killing youths for no reason and misusing the power that were given to them. Worst part of it is that their government was doing nothing about the situation. So the youths decided to go for a protest. I pray there be a solution.

[Debonaire217]

They are protesting against a division/arm of the Nigerian police force that is known as the SARS. If you checked Twitter these past days you would have seen the trending #ENDSARS hashtag that was trending worldwide. I think the main duty of this SARS was just to capture criminals when they need be, but they left their main duty to start extorting the youths of the country and labeling them as criminals.

That was actually a good reason to start collecting funds whenever they want to execute a plan. A control to the bank account they are using is already an indication of abusive force to avoid their people to fight. It's kinda a form of Martial Law if they will extort the youths and labeling them as criminals even if they aren't.

From the information I have gathered, these people were evil and brutal in the way they deal with people, they were killing youths for no reason and misusing the power that were given to them. Worst part of it is that their government was doing nothing about the situation. So the youths decided to go for a protest. I pray there be a solution.

Meaning that it was really great help that bitcoin was used to collect funds to help these people. They can't even trust their government, so how come they could have trusted their banks which is in the first placed, control by the government. Perhaps, next time, they should've prioritized the use of BTC to avoid being tracked by the authorities.

[oprahwindfury]

This is a sad thing that Nigerians are protesting and facing problem what they do not deserve.But here is something that I am happy about that  even in this situation bitcoin and digital currency is the way how they are getting help and protesting for their rights.Digital currency is one of the main weapon  of  digitalization.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

From the information I have gathered, these people were evil and brutal in the way they deal with people, they were killing youths for no reason and misusing the power that were given to them. Worst part of it is that their government was doing nothing about the situation. So the youths decided to go for a protest. I pray there be a solution.

There's a solution and that's why we're protesting for the government to EndSARs. If you're a youth in the country you'll understand why there's this so much emphasis on the unit getting dissolved and not rebranding to another unit like they just did with the SWAT crab. The men and women that were working in the SARs unit aren't human, the level of inhuman behavior carried out daily on youth was just uncalled for.

The government has to make things fair for the policing system in the country. As a result of this protest that I have been passively involved in, it has come to my noticed that the police aren't been treated right in regards to their monthly salary meanwhile the government bodies are enjoying massive allowances although this doesn't justified then taking their anger on youth lively or dressing nicely.

In regards to the donation, well as a result of the impressive retweet from prominent names in the space like Jack (CEO) of twitter etc, the information has been circulating round and hopefully the protest will be fully funded.

[larus]

Only people from countries like nigeria really want to use crypto. People from first world country doesnt need it

[ekeh]

The protests that is really happening in Nigeria all about uniform men (police), called Special Anti Robbery Scout (SARS) approved by federal government, instead of save life and properties, but busy stilling from the masses, been the young Nigeria youths.. including bitcoin business men are tags as internet scam. Which end of SARS protest across the state.

[dificanovi]

I've also seen some people use bitcoin in times of urgency.  we should use bitcoin wherever we are because bitcoin is a very valuable crypto currency and has many benefits.  I also see some people who underestimate bitcoin but in the end they use bitcoin as additional income.

[gabbie2010]

I hope this incident doesn't cause a crypto ban in Nigeria.

I will be quite impossible to ban crypto in Nigeria, the Central bank had once issued a statement advising the citizens against investing in crypto and to stay clear from it  because it is illegal https://nairametrics.com/2018/02/28/cbn-says-cryptocurrencies-are-illegal/ that statement didn't deter the youth from trading and investing in it, anonymous use of cryptocurrencies makes it difficult to be ban.
The government even contemplated of shutting down internet when the #ENDSARS protest was gaining ground this will affect usage of the social media which was the tool used to propagate messages across the protestants.

[plvbob0070]

I was about to make a thread about this. Came across the #freeFlutterwave on twitter trend list and decided to check it out.

For those who don't know, Here's a breakdown of what happened:

- Nigerian youths have been protesting for over a week over policing brutality currently happening across the country with several people getting killed on daily basis just because they're been tagged as criminals by law enforcement officers. The funny thing is every Nigerian youth that is living above the average standard of living is tagged as a criminal - web developers, crypto and forex traders, designers, small - medium scale business owners, entrepreneurs etc.

- Since the situation worsened with each passing day, Nigerians have embarked on peaceful protests across the country and was using a payment platform called Flutterwave (Even binance use this platform for crypto payments on their exchange) for funding the protests with food, medical supplies  and also for bailing our protesters that were arrested during the protests.

So.... what happened?

The central bank of Nigeria flagged the the platform saying it was used to fund "criminal" activities. So Nigerians turned to using Bitcoin as the payment solution abandoning all other traditional payment solutions.


This might not seem much for the global crypto community, but it's a huge win for the Nigerian crypto community on and off this forum. The citizens of Nigeria are beginning to realize that the crypto is the future and would help drive its adoption.

I haven't heard of this news, and thanks for giving the information. It's a good move for the protesters to still find ways even if the authorities are trying to stop them from protesting, and that bitcoin can be a help to them.

I've already heard a lot of police brutality, even in my country it's visible. This happens because central authorities get so much power that sometimes they abuse it. So I just hope they will win with their protest and their system would improve.

[Silberman]

Only people from countries like nigeria really want to use crypto. People from first world country doesnt need it

According to what we know the citizens of the US and China are the ones that are holding  the most bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, if what you said was true then that would be impossible but it is not, bitcoin does not discriminate, whether you are rich or poor you can buy it and get in as easily as any other person, that is what makes attractive, if you want to become an investor in other markets you need to become a qualified investor and for that you need to have a lot of money already.

And while some only see bitcoin as an investment opportunity this thread proves otherwise, bitcoin can be used as a tool to resist a tyrannic government, the banks did not doubted on closing the accounts of the protesters even if their demands were legitimate simply because they were a threat to the government but that does not work with bitcoin.

[Gozie51]

This might not seem much for the global crypto community, but it's a huge win for the Nigerian crypto community on and off this forum. The citizens of Nigeria are beginning to realize that the crypto is the future and would help drive its adoption.

This is not only a plus to Nigeria but the entire bitcoin adopting nations. It is bitcoin proving another point on how it can help a situation where the use of fiat is difficult or restricted as we have seen in the op. Bitcoin also came for help during the covid-19 by different nations by using bitcoin instead of fiat to avoid contact to infected fiat.

[scolary23]

It is high time to enter the era of digital currency (the era is at its initial stage in the countries of the African continent), which is difficult to manage and which is more effective in combating lawlessness, violence and police brutality.