Nigeria's SEC says central bank's crypto ban disrupted the market

[Charles-Tim]

I hope this is a clear evidence that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are indispensable part for a nation to grow and develop the more, according to the latest news by the Nigeria SEC, it is said that CBN crypto ban is causing significant disruption in the Nigerian market. Some Nigerians has even prefer p2p, not paying withdrawal charges that banks do charge while sending from exchanges to bank account directly. P2p is even also more private.

Lamido Yuguda, the director-general of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission has said the central bank’s crypto ban has caused significant disruptions to the market.

According to a report by The Guardian, the SEC director-general made this assertion known during a press conference organized after the meeting of the Capital Market Committee on Thursday.

Following the CBN crypto ban, cryptocurrency buying and selling is only possible via peer-to-peer channels leading to massive premiums on virtual currency prices. In March, the central bank governor remarked that the CBN was not against crypto trading in the country but that such transactions cannot occur through commercial banks.

Although, p2p only remain the alternative, but even better. The statement that cryptocurrencies are selling at premium in Nigeria is not true, it is like that on exchanges like Luno that do not support p2p l, and in which withdrawal can not longer be possible until the ban is lifted. But, p2p exchanges in Nigeria are using the normal rate which is around $485 to $495 in average.

[(o)(o)ilikeboobs(o)(o)]

A difference of $ 500 is acceptable because currently the P2P exchange rates on Binance, Houbi or other P2P exchanges are similarly different for Bitcoin.
I believe that the charm of cryptocurrencies overcomes legal hurdles. Governments such as China and India have banned cryptocurrencies, but cryptocurrencies are still popular there.

[avikz]

It is evident that the crypto ban in Nigeria didn't largely affect the crypto holders. They quickly find out a different route to trade on cryptos and that alternative route is booming during the ban. Now that's a risky proposition because the traders are doing something illegal as per the court of law in Nigeri. Premium always comes with such kind of things. No matter what is the premium percentage, at least the traders are getting some route to liquidate their holdings whenever needed.

The only looser here is the government. The government could have earned a good amount of tax revenue from the crypto exchanges and traders which they are loosing right now. Traders and holders have nothing to loose here. The premiums are just for the risks associated with it.

[lifeforcepools]

Did they really expect good economic performance after this decision?

[Mpamaegbu]

Of course, the loss was expected; only that the inept Godwin Emefiele and his CBN led institution didn't see what the common crypto trader saw sitting down. The CBN thought it could cage those indulging in crypto trade as a way of destabilizing funds from getting to agitators of the Buhari led administration during the #endsars demonstration and all that but it didn't realize that Bitcoin is a global phenomenon. No single government can disrupt it. When China tried it in 2017, the Chinese government knew how much it lost. The Nigerian government is yet to even ascertain how much it will finally lose because of that thoughtless action of the CBN. It's the same way now that Emefiele is also strangulating the transfer of Naira from Nigerians abroad to their dependent relations back home. It's crazy. Money transfer has become a big issue in Nigeria under Godwin Emefiele and the Buhari led administration. Soon, the government will also count losses arising from that too.

[Ryker1]

Well, in my own opinion -- I can feel the emotions of these traders who have been using p2p as their trusted currency and being banned by the central banks. Central banks are so bully and we expect the disruption banning cryptocurrency. It is really bad as the traders might be considered as money launderers if in case they were caught. They didn’t even realize how the cryptocurrency could help their losing economy. Banning it would make it worst.
Unless, officials have a percentage with traditional banks and they see cryptocurrency as a threat, and that is unacceptable as that is their personal agendas. But this is not new at all, even China and India have the same reason why they banned cryptocurrency.

[lionheart78]

The only looser here is the government. The government could have earned a good amount of tax revenue from the crypto exchanges and traders which they are loosing right now. Traders and holders have nothing to loose here. The premiums are just for the risks associated with it.

True that, unless government tracks down and shutdown these P2P activities/services (which is almost impossible) they will never stop BTC trading.  The government should take advantage of the cryptocurrency boom especially the Bitcoin market in order for their country to at least profit from this industry.

[Ebede]

I think all these are fallacy because, bank in Nigeria can't ban crypto they can only restrict it according to the instructions of the country because some persons in that country really wants to hijacked cryptocurrency, because Nigeria central bank management is really attacking cryptocurrency in general so the secret behind their plan is to stop uses of crypto most especially Bitcoin which the order of the day of crypto, understanding these from another way crypto indirectly ban in Nigeria is affecting central bank of Nigeria ( CBN), so this is my own suggestion.

[Hydrogen]

I suspect the market has been "disrupted" for some time now.

AFAIK crypto has always sold at a premium in africa since bitcoin's ATH (all time high) in 2017. There was an african crypto exchanged called golix io that consistently traded bitcoin 20% to 30% higher than exchanges located in other regions of the world.

Between hyperinflation of the zimbabwe dollar and african states instating taxes on utilization of american social media platforms. Not to mention branching events like the war being waged on VPNs and proxies. It could be fair to say disruption rather than stability is something of a norm there.

Whether the crypto ban made by central banks there made waves larger than the ones already in existence, I would be interested to know.

[sunsilk]

It's now causing them a worry that this will continue and who cares if they ban bitcoin if there's a peer to peer type of transaction? If that's what they want, crypto people of Nigeria can keep on going without even being charged by the banks but only has to pay the transaction fees that can be set to regular to priority or even lesser.

They have to embrace that crypto transactions are helping their economy and they should be in the favor of it instead of halting or being the hindrance of its growth to their nation.

[Slow death]

in my opinion as someone who lives in africa and i know how cruel and intolerant african governments can be i advise people from nigeria to avoid exposing themselves if they have any cryptocurrency. the African is not united, it is enough that a neighbor denounces that you have bitcoin or altcoins for the person to be arrested. in africa envy and intolerance is something that is on the minds of many people mainly because the people of the colonial times do not want to adapt to the new reality of the world

[Charles-Tim]

True that, unless government tracks down and shutdown these P2P activities/services (which is almost impossible) they will never stop BTC trading. 

And it is not possible, unless the government want to become a criminal by making sure citizens become subjected to lack of freedom with criminal laws from them. Even countries that ban cryptocurrencies do not restrict their citizens to buy, but not buying using bank directly. But, p2p can be used. There should still be freedom of the citizens to decide what they want, and p2p is highly effective.

The government should take advantage of the cryptocurrency boom especially the Bitcoin market in order for their country to at least profit from this industry.

Some governments are so primitive and do not want to advance, copying other countries, I hope it is obvious you know Nigeria is obviously led by primitive leaders that makes the country undesirable by the citizens with all forms of poor standard of living.

[DapanasFruit]

Can I then conclude that Nigeria's SEC is not really agreeing to the crypto ban as imposed by the central bank? I really hope they realized that actually "poor" countries can have a good opportunity to promote more growth with its economy with the use of cryptocurrency. Nigeria should take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime lifeline to improve its economy and help a lot of people. What they should do instead is to make sure that no players are taking advantage of the people by strengthening laws on scams and shady platforms. They should educate the people on how to be legally part of the cryptocurrency movement and how they can increase their finances by adopting healthy mindset and strategies.

[cabron]

They should rather be unbanning it since there is no difference when users are now going to use P2P. And it's more untraceable instead when there is more transparency if users are using exchanges and withdrawing from there. There is a positive sign when the country didn't really make it illegal but just ban crypto and this is why users could just take another route. There is just no use in banning because whenever there is internet, cryptocurrency is accessible even in China crypto are being used.

[intelligentdude]

Crypto traders in Nigeria did not see the news coming. We had to resort to the old way of trading which is Peer to Peer.

However, we used to do bulk buy and sell via whatsap buy/sell arena but the beauty of it all is that we have a good number of crypto exchanges which now support Peer to Peer platform.

Traders can now buy and sell their crypto assets with Peace of mind. Personally, I use Quidax.com to buy and sell and my experience with the platform is great.

You will need to do your level 3 verification before you can buy or sell using Quidax platform.

For details on how to use Quidax Peer to Peer platform, please visit this link : https://blog.quidax.com/make-way-p2p-is-live-on-quidax/

[TastyChillySauce00]

If they so afraid they should've made CBDC to compete with it like any other countries has proposed to but they choose to isolate themselves from this technology. At least the countries that still allow crypto could gain taxes if taken advantage properly and now people in nigeria choose P2P that's a potential loss for the country's income and just making it left unmonitored.
Best course of action is just to allow it like it was before and they could start to build system that allows them to tax and monitor the crypto users there if they really intend to take things in their control.