Nigeria Became 2nd In The World For Bitcoin Trading

[Igebotz]

Is no longer news that cryptocurrency is banned in Nigeria and there is a serious penalty for anyone caught in crypto or linked to crypto transactions. The ban led to many bank accounts being frozen, many arrested and persecuted but that only motivated Nigerians because they believe whatever the government is against is the real deal, the love for Bitcoin in Nigeria is beyond imagination. According to the bitcoin trading platform Paxful, Nigeria is now second only to the US for bitcoin trading. The dollar volume of crypto received by users in Nigeria in May was $2.4bn, up from $684m last December, according to blockchain research firm Chainalysis


More details here

[Charles-Tim]

When I click on the link you provided below, this is the article title, 'Out of control and rising: why bitcoin has Nigeria’s government in a panic'. The Paxful link you posted more addressed your topic, and this is now stale because the article was released early this year. But I am thinking if we can focus more on the recent article which is addressing the reason Central Bank of Nigeria banned cryptocurrencies in the country, from there I realized it could be as a result of high trading volume of cryptocurrencies in Nigeria, especially as Nigeria emerge the second with the highest trading volume, while some people think EndSARs has triggered the reason as Bitcoin was used after banks block the bank accounts used for EndSARs funding. But, I still do know that Nigerian government are not hostile against Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies generally, only CBN do not show support.

[Igebotz]

But I am thinking if we can focus more on the recent article which is addressing the reason Central Bank of Nigeria banned cryptocurrencies in the country, from there I realized it could be as a result of high trading volume of cryptocurrencies in Nigeria.

This could be one of the reasons but I feel they were misinformed on how cryptocurrency works, remember there was a time they banned spraying of dollar at events in attempt to save the Naira against the US dollar.

Nigeria emerge the second with the highest trading volume, while some people think EndSARs has triggered the reason as Bitcoin was used after banks block the bank accounts used for EndSARs funding.

No doubt the EndSARs protests did play a vital role in the high adoption of bitcoin in Nigeria, there were several people who made their first bitcoin transaction during the protest donations and we both know the government hate whatever they don't have control over.

But, I still do know that Nigerian government are not hostile against Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies generally, only CBN do not show support.

Top government officials are still into cryptocurrency; the ban decision was made by few people.

[blockman]

I am not surprised to see Nigeria becomes 2nd in rank for bitcoin trading volume. It's written in the news early this year that the surge for bitcoin traders in the country has been recorded. There are a lot of people there that became engaged in bitcoin trading because the profit that they want from it is enough to sustain their needs and every expense that they have. And that's why many of them have learned how to trade and that made their government look at it as a threat.

[RILWAN]

have the government of Nigeria persecuted any citizen for cryptocurrency trading, I have been following up with the events from the central bank of Nigeria and the accountant general of the federation and have seen no one being arrested or in court for cryptocurrency trading in Nigeria. what the federal government was trying to do was to warn citizen about volatility and animosity of cryptocurrency.

[hugeblack]

Calculate trading volumes in dollars will be no value given the volatility of the value of bitcoin but inflation is what paid people to buy bitcoin more than not to love the government.
I do not remember that there are people from Nigeria who were arrested because of crypto trading but easy for governments to freeze bank accounts.

Overall, it is good to see more adoption on the African continent.

[SFR10]

@igehhh
Great way to grab our attention with the slightly misleading title in the subject field
Nigeria is a perfect example to show how having an extremely conservative approach, could be like shooting yourself in the foot!
^{- What they've done has led to most trades moving to less secured underground platforms [as stated in the above article] and they've even lost the little control they once had [SMH].}

There are a lot of people there that became engaged in bitcoin trading because the profit that they want from it is enough to sustain their needs and every expense that they have.

I strongly believe it's a bit more than just for its potential profits.

[dataispower]

Nigeria is such a thriving nation with people of diverse beliefs, norms and agility. They are so hardworking and honest. I'm not surprised with this stats about Bitcoin usage in the country. Businesses are built on the shores of Blockchain technology, it creates an avenue for employment I wonder why the government is hellbent on banning its citizens from using Bitcoin and doing any transaction relating to Cryptocurrencies in general.

[suzanne5223]

Honestly, I don't expect this to happen in a Nation where the government ban banks and other payment services from rendering their service to any crypto-related transaction but what I don't understand is how serious the crypto restrictions was in Nigeria because I saw a video of their ongoing BigBrother program on Instagram and one of the programs sponsored was a crypto company.
Is there something I am missing here?

[stompix]

Correct title:

"Nigeria Became 2nd In The World For Bitcoin Trading" on Paxful"
Not in the world at a global scale considering all exchanges, but simple on a platform that probably is most used in that country.

Btw, the only claimed back by number about the 2nd place I got it from here:

In the last five years, Nigeria has traded 60,215 bitcoins, valued at more than $566 million which, apart from the US, is the largest volume worldwide on Paxful, a leading peer-to-peer bitcoin marketplace. The data scraped from Coin Dance  shows from the beginning of May 2015 to the middle of November this year, bitcoin trade in Nigeria have increased yearly at least 19% in volume since 2017, and the highest volume (20,504.50) was traded in 2020.

12k BTC per year or 60 coins per day is hardly something surprising or mind-blowing for an entire nation.

[Lucius]

Correct title:
"Nigeria Became 2nd In The World For Bitcoin Trading" on Paxful"
12k BTC per year or 60 coins per day is hardly something surprising or mind-blowing for an entire nation.

You have an eye for detail and you would certainly be a good journalist, but it would be hard to find a job in all these click-bait media - they are only interested in a sensation that doesn't really exist.

These 12k BTCs a year really seem ridiculous considering that this is a country with over 211 million inhabitants (data from 2021), where interestingly as many as 53% of the population is between 15 and 64 years old. However, it seems that Nigeria is always at the top when it comes to cryptocurrencies, so according to this survey, as many as 32% of respondents said they own or used cryptocurrencies in 2020. Yet somehow it doesn’t seem to me that more than 70 million people are in some way involved in crypto - I think we’ve already commented on that sometime in the past.


Source

[stompix]

However, it seems that Nigeria is always at the top when it comes to cryptocurrencies, so according to this survey, as many as 32% of respondents said they own or used cryptocurrencies in 2020. Yet somehow it doesn’t seem to me that more than 70 million people are in some way involved in crypto - I think we’ve already commented on that sometime in the past.

I simply want to say ***** to every damn survey!
And yeah, I remember a stupid discussion in which Turkey had about 20% of the population owning crypto, then maybe Romania (?) with something over 15% and Brazil. I'll search on tryninja's website for that one. Bottom line was that if we took only the top countries in that article and added their population number it would have been more than half of all transactions in the blockchain.

Actually, I searched it already

https://news.bitcoin.com/latin-america-and-turkey-have-the-most-cryptocurrency-users-poll-shows/



This one is from 2018:


Now compare this with your image...do we even have to discuss it anymore?
USA with 25% down in percentage from 2018?
70 million crypto users and 3 LN channels with 200$.

You have an eye for detail and you would certainly be a good journalist

I wish I hadn't. It makes reading articles really a pain in the ass rather, unlike the picturesque image of enjoying a newspaper with your morning coffee.

[Charles-Tim]

I read about crypto trading volume by continent on the news yesterday but I was too busy to post it until now. Despite the Nigerian Central Bank ban of cryptocurrencies, Nigeria still continue to trade cryptocurrencies and the trading volume never get low but increasing.

Nigerian cryptocurrency adoption continues to rise despite a government crackdown, with peer-to-peer (P2P) trade volume for Bitcoin (BTC) posting its second strongest week on record last month.

According to data from Google Trends, Nigeria still ranks No. 1 by search interest for the keyword “Bitcoin” as of this writing. P2P Bitcoin trading denominated in the Nigerian naira has also steadily increased in 2021, with Nigeria ranking behind only the United States as the second-largest market for peer-to-peer BTC trading, according to Useful Tulips.

The growing Bitcoin adoption in Nigeria has helped Sub-Saharan Africa emerge as the leading region by P2P volume, with the region posting $18.8 million in weekly volume to beat out North America’s $18 million this past week.

Bitcoin - Explore - Google - Trends

https://www.usefultulips.org/Combined_World_Page.html




It is clear how this is impossible without Nigeria crypto p2p trade not counted among.

[syedakhlaque]

It is good news that Nigeria is now 2nd in the world for bitcoin trading. I think as awareness will develop about cryptocurrency, the legal issue will solve. Because it is essential for a better economy, providing employment to the young, and to rid of poverty. Bitcoin is a good project for self-employment. As time will pass, most countries will legalize the cryptocurrency and its trading.

[Obito]

And the funny thing is that the government of Nigeria is active against banning and prohibition of bitcoin knowing that they are the biggest in the African continent when it comes to bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading. Hopefully they can see that instead of just banning it altogether and end up not benefiting from it and instead oppress the people.

[aoluain]

Honestly, I don't expect this to happen in a Nation where the government ban banks and other payment services from rendering their service to any crypto-related transaction but what I don't understand is how serious the crypto restrictions was in Nigeria because I saw a video of their ongoing BigBrother program on Instagram and one of the programs sponsored was a crypto company.
Is there something I am missing here?

I was actually thinking the same, having such restrictions at entry and exit points to
exchanges would seriously hamper anyones ability to buy and sell crypto, there are
ways around that of course so either the restrictions are not being policed or many
people are side stepping the banks by using friends, family or escrow abroad
or using localbitcoin.

It just shows in this case restrictions dont have any affect.

[suzanne5223]

Honestly, I don't expect this to happen in a Nation where the government ban banks and other payment services from rendering their service to any crypto-related transaction but what I don't understand is how serious the crypto restrictions was in Nigeria because I saw a video of their ongoing BigBrother program on Instagram and one of the programs sponsored was a crypto company.
Is there something I am missing here?

I was actually thinking the same, having such restrictions at entry and exit points to
exchanges would seriously hamper anyones ability to buy and sell crypto, there are
ways around that of course so either the restrictions are not being policed or many
people are side stepping the banks by using friends, family or escrow abroad
or using localbitcoin.

It just shows in this case restrictions dont have any affect.

The government restrictions or banned won't stop people from you using cryptocurrency and this reminds an article published by the
Chainalysis team advising the government that's it impossible for them to stop Bitcoin and the best thing they can do is to support and get benefit through it by taxing it or else they won't stop it and also lose the fund they ought to get from it.
Government needs to face this fact and support Bitcoin.

[trannguyenbtc]

Nigerians are often restricted on international platforms such as PayPal, which does not allow payment to Nigeria, and local banks place a cap on international transactions and charge high fees for transactions due to dollar deficiency.
People want to be able to buy and sell, transact internationally and the more the traditional channels are being restricted the more people trade crypto and mainly bitcoin. And the best thing about it is that it’s almost impossible to stop. If you block the exchange it moves to Peer-to-peer platforms that are non-custodial.

[Gozie51]

And the best thing about it is that it’s almost impossible to stop. If you block the exchange it moves to Peer-to-peer platforms that are non-custodial.

The records have now shown that bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading may not stop in Nigeria, after the restriction from the banks Nigerians have not given up on it and it doesn't look like it will stop. There is a kind of social awareness going on in Nigeria and that is championed by social media. Online businesses have really grown in Nigeria and youths are no longer waiting for the government to provide unlike decades of years back and taking their lives into their hands is part of the reason that some of these social media opportunities now exist. Youths learn fast and also are their brothers keepers, so they exchange, share information and knowledge got daily. In Nigeria, there are now bitcoin and cryptocurrency analyst that you can listen to to get the direction of the market. Is that easy to follow up someone through the social media channels and the positive effect is the kind of records on bitcoin trading on t public space.

[Mpamaegbu]

Gozie51, I believe the Buhari led administration learnt a big lesson how the youth pioneered the #endsars demonstration that it frustrated the political class and its cohorts. Of course, the aftermath of that movement was what brought the ban on cryptocurrencies in Nigeria as the ruling class felt mobilization for the demonstration came from Bitcoin/cryptocurrencies they couldn't trace. The good thing is that the irresponsible action of government further exposed the crypto community in Nigeria to other methods of trading and withdrawing their assets without confiscation by government. It's a fact that no single individual or government can stop the Bitcoin phenomenal. Not in Nigeria, not anywhere in the world.