Nigeria CBN false statements about Bitcoin

[Charles-Tim]

There was a topic I posted recently, that Nigeria government did not ban bitcoin or any other crypto asset that the CBN do. In the link were false statements about bitcoin generally which are not true. I charted with a friend recently, my friend told me that CBN said cryptocurrencies are used to fund Boko Haram, one of the deadliest terrorists in the world located in Nigeria majorly. The CBN really is misleading some people which do not know much about Bitcoin.

“Due to the fact that cryptocurrencies are largely speculative, anonymous and untraceable they are increasingly being used for money laundering, terrorism financing and other criminal activities.

Is Bitcoin anonymous?No. Many cryptocurrencies  have open ledger and are termed pseudonymous. Only few like monero, dash and zcash are anonymous because they do not have open ledger. While these anonymous cryptocurrencies take less than 5% of the crypto assets marketcap.

Is Bitcoin untraceable? Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies have open ledger and can be used to trace Bitcoin transactions only that the transaction can not be linked to individuals, but CBN just do not research about cryptocurrencies appropriately and educating people wrongly.

“Small retail and unsophisticated investors also face high probability of loss due to the high volatility of the investments in recent times.

I see this very wrong, first of all, people should know that bitcoin should be the most trusted cryptocurrency in the world but even altcoins since last year December have increased significantly in price. I do not know where they get their false information misinforming people about bitcoin and other crypto assets.

“In light of these realities and analyses, the CBN has no comfort in cryptocurrencies at this time and will continue to do all within its regulatory powers to educate Nigerians to desist from its use and protect our financial system from activities of fraudsters and speculators.”

People that do not know about bitcoin, I wonder how CBN have used wrong statements about Bitcoin to misinform people.

https://punchng.com/cryptocurrencies-breed-illegal-activities-raise-risks-cbn/

[Josefjix]

Posted an update on my Facebook timeline when the news of the regulation popped up tried by all means to educate the ignorant ones who do not know how Bitcoin work differently from the fiat currency beside it was not a ban but a regulation of how the Banks should issue the native currency into exchanges to help facilitate the buying and selling of bitcoin and other digital assets.

CBN is the main culprit in the false news, it headlined the news wrongly and caused chaos all over the country.  Beside people have been able to trade their coins via P2P and OTC. It is a win-win situation for crypto traders.

[Jb]

I mean...is anyone actually surprised the CBN published false information to begin with? I don't even expect the Federal Reserve or ECB to produce accurate facts...and definitely not Nigeria 

[DapanasFruit]

What can we expect? In many cases, it is the government itself that is entertaining false ideas with something that can be beyond their own control, and they usually use some flimsy alibis to rationalize something. And this is what happened with the latest decision from CBN regarding cryptocurrencies especially on Bitcoin. CBN should have some creativity of at least having a group of experts to look into this whole matter so they can come up with regulations that can obstruct financing of terrorism with cryptocurrencies while at the same time not totally banning the whole thing. Shame...but what can the people of Nigeria do? They can still own cryptos, of course but exchanging them to cash can be harder though not still impossible as peer-to-peer exchange can still be done.

[Lorence.xD]

Posted an update on my Facebook timeline when the news of the regulation popped up tried by all means to educate the ignorant ones who do not know how Bitcoin work differently from the fiat currency beside it was not a ban but a regulation of how the Banks should issue the native currency into exchanges to help facilitate the buying and selling of bitcoin and other digital assets.

CBN is the main culprit in the false news, it headlined the news wrongly and caused chaos all over the country.  Beside people have been able to trade their coins via P2P and OTC. It is a win-win situation for crypto traders.

The problem with their misleading information is that it is mixed with a hint of the truth which is that Boko Haram is a dangerous organization that are using money to funnel terrorist funds, we know that they are trying to find a way but we don't know if they are really using cryptocurrency to funnel those money to buy weapons. The problem with this one misinformation is that they mix fear with the information so people doesn't have a time to process the information or worse they do not even fact-check it. Good thing that P2P and OTC is still alive, I hope that this problem with Nigeria against cryptocurrency gets resolved.

[Charles-Tim]

The problem with their misleading information is that it is mixed with a hint of the truth which is that Boko Haram is a dangerous organization that are using money to funnel terrorist funds, we know that they are trying to find a way but we don't know if they are really using cryptocurrency to funnel those money to buy weapons. The problem with this one misinformation is that they mix fear with the information so people doesn't have a time to process the information or worse they do not even fact-check it. Good thing that P2P and OTC is still alive, I hope that this problem with Nigeria against cryptocurrency gets resolved.

All are lies, they can claim that very possible terroists can make use of cryptocurrencies but as of now, we Nigerians know how the fiat are so weak to allow terroists to make use of fiat. They use fiats for their operation, they have sponsors which make use of fiat and from US SEC, it is clear how we cryptocurrencies  are not that used in terrorism the way people are thinking of. Boko Haram has been existing before the creation of bitcoin, so do all other high ranked terroists. Fiats are used also for money laundering and many other criminal activities.

[slaman29]

All are lies, they can claim that very possible terroists can make use of cryptocurrencies but as of now, we Nigerians know how the fiat are so weak to allow terroists to make use of fiat. They use fiats for their operation, they have sponsors which make use of fiat and from US SEC, it is clear how we cryptocurrencies  are not that used in terrorism the way people are thinking of. Boko Haram has been existing before the creation of bitcoin, so do all other high ranked terroists. Fiats are used also for money laundering and many other criminal activities.

As an Asian I know the same. All the biggest crimes are committed with banks and with USD. Our local currency is laughable and you want to use BTC? All the criminals will laugh at you, they know now about blockchain and it is traceable. For small time crimes maybe but try sending millions of corrupt politicians money in BTC and it is an instant red flag on blockchain.

[Little Mouse]

Media always play such negative role in developing country most of the times. Same here in my country too. I don't know why they have negative perspective on bitcoin and always try to defame bitcoin. In a recent case with a hacker, bitcoin was more highlighted than the hacking things.

Only few like monero, dash and zcash are anonymous because they do not have open ledger.

Even DASH isn’t a privacy coin 

[fiulpro]

I do think we have to realize that it is not just the Nigerian government which is doing this but at this point of time other governments are also trying to mislead people into thinking that they know better whereas what they are doing is just giving up such an amazing opportunity to learn something new , the Nigerian government is sure to loose a step or two in the future if they do not allow cryptocurrencies like bitcoins to flourish well , honestly I have never seen people more serious and engaged with anything more. I live in a European country where there are many students from Nigeria and they are the ones who keep asking me if I do have some BTC that I would sell. This goes a long way since they helped me connect with p2p network. At the same time the western union creates a lot of problems around this area so people general use Bitcoins for international transactions. Imagine the government banned it ! The whole growth that we are seeing will be futile. I hope this issue gets resolved soon..

[LittleBitFunny]

If you have a headache, will you cut off the entire head?
Maybe CBN's guess is true, I don't know but, maybe Boko Haram has used cryptocurrency as a medium to finance it.
But there is no point in banning cryptocurrency as a whole.

Have they been able to stop the activities of Boko Haram by banning cryptocurrency? They will probably trade their money in an alternative way.

I don't know what are CBN trying to prove by banning cryptocurrency without any proper measures to stop the activities of Boko Haram!

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

When they can't control your finance, they won't have the power to control you. The government knows this which is why they're doing everything possible to end the trend in the country but we all know how this will end. They can't stop bitcoin, it isn't one of those centralized piece of shit out their been control by a CEO. The community own bitcoin and the government knows they can't control the community.

The nigerian stock market isn't doing great compared to the cryptocurency market which is why many investors are switching over. The government are losing money, they can't control the cryptocurency market as they do to the stock for their selfish interest. The government are losing and we all know they hate losing. I'm not surprised they're pushing all this agenda, they should enjoy it while it last as soon the real truth will surface and by then they'll lose the trust of the citizens more.

We know there's an alternative motive behind this banned that isn't related to the industry in any way. They're fighting a lost battle, it's just a matter of time, the community will bounce back better.