Cashless Policy & Redesigned of Banknotes Make Citizens to Use BTC in Nigeria

[Mate2237]

The cashless policy which has been implemented by Nigerian Government is causing a lot calamity in the country. The market women who don't know how to operate phones and other internet devices for transactions are crying seriously that they are dying for hunger. Since the banks are not paying cash and the AMT machines are already configured to pay only $43.45 (#20,000) per account and this also make some bank customers to use multiple accounts ATMs. And because of the long line to withdraw from the ATM, many customers who are already cryptocurrency friendly ones are now swapped to BTC to avoid the stress.
That is, the cashless policy forces many customers to changed their Fiat currency for easy p2p transaction since the Fiat bank cashless transaction is not smooth because of network issue. Nigeria age group is crying for help. Nigeria government did not plan it well before implementing it in the country. But if it continues Nigerians will adapt to it.

Banking hall drama as cashless policy kick off.


ATM queue

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[Charles-Tim]

And because of the long line to withdraw from the ATM, many customers who are already cryptocurrency friendly ones are now swapped to BTC to avoid the stress.

Why? Because bitcoin would be used instead of naira to pay in cash? See how untrue this is. If you do not have the knowledge to make online fiat transactions, how can you make bitcoin transactions?

[Mate2237]

And because of the long line to withdraw from the ATM, many customers who are already cryptocurrency friendly ones are now swapped to BTC to avoid the stress.

Why? Because bitcoin would be used instead of naira to pay in cash? See how untrue this is. If you do have the knowledge to make online fiat transactions, how can you make bitcoin transactions?

It is only for the cryptocurrency friendly citizens and not for all the people in the country. Many people have called me today to have deal with them for the swapping, so I will give them cash but I told them that small cash I have is for my survival to buy little things that I can't use transaction.

[Charles-Tim]

It is only for the cryptocurrency friendly citizens and not for all the people in the country.

Cashless policy is a way of making use of online payment dominating the traditional paper cash fiat means if exchange, people that know about bitcoin are educated enough to know how to use bank apps or making use of web payment. All banks in Nigeria have apps that can be used for online payment. I am not affected because I paid 99% of the goods I am buy using using online transactions, I can not because of that think of bitcoin, we think of bitcoin because it is a means of investing, and in the process of investing, we also use it to make transaction with bitcoin lovers.

[Adbitco]

I think swapping to cryptocurrency is only common to the young youth, those who are already familiar with cryptocurrency trading. I don't think those market women would go as far starting to transact with bitcoin, either to those who are not into digital currency to have the idea to immediately start using bitcoin as means of payment. As a matter of fact, I don't think it has anything to do with bitcoin transaction because, you and I are still free to send and receive money via local banks, I think the only issues there is having physical cash at hands; However, the system is still functional you can decide to use bitcoin or you can use your ATM cards for shopping and paying any amount of bills you want, besides since the cashless policies I have been using my cards for spending, like buying Fuel, food stuff, and paying my utility bill as well as paying for my movement within the city by ordering BOLT, I don't feel any stress.

[Nwada001]

I wouldn't doubt you if you said many people are having difficulty making payments for purchased goods because of the scarcity of physical cash. On Tuesday, January 31st, I had a nearly identical experience in which I was unable to use my UBA debit card to pay for my purchases because I had previously used the card to withdraw $10,000, which I believe is the card's daily limit, and I also attempted to use my mobile app, which was also experiencing network downtime. My saving grace that day was that I didn't rely on one bank, which gave me the option of using my KUDA to make a transfer; however, did you know that the party to whom I transferred had to wait about 32 minutes before he could see it? If the crypto payment system was available that day, I could have offered to pay with crypto and saved myself the stress.

[Wiwo]

Why have there been so many misconceptions in the general atmosphere even the so-called educated and enlightened citizens of Nigeria have no adequate knowledge and understanding of how a policy should work, and what to believe and what not to and the problem with Nigeria is Nigerians who are too lazy to even read the manual of the mobile device talk more of to study and understand complex subjects as regards to financial inclusion and digitialization of the financial sector and this thread have further proven that fact because what I can understand with this whole ops statements.
*Lack of adequate understanding of the concept of bitcoin adoption and financial inclusion,  because of issues in the financial sector such as the bank at this current time I don't see any role Bitcoin will perform to ease your financial condition, since you can't use bitcoin to pay for pepper,  meat and other glossaries.
*note the $43 you mentioned is actually around #31,000+ at an exchange rate of #740 to 1$ so you need to correct the figure you put in the ops unless you are just playing around with figures which are not something that is appropriate in this discussion.,
*We are in a critical time in our financial sector as the reform will bring in a new phase so we shouldn't expect the process to be automatic so we need to be patient enough and work with the system instead of creating more fuds in the already politically intense environment in Nigeria.

[348Judah]

As a matter of fact, Nigerians have already been involved in this era of cashless policies since the introduction of bitcoin began, the citizens have always been on a look for an alternative to their financial freedom asude banks/fiat, this makes the bitcoin adoption rate boom in Nigeria as most of its teeming youth soughted out for this unique decentralized opportunity with, bitcoin, currently the newly introduced fiat notes are scarce and banks been unable to help through the availability and most of their networks as well went shut down and those already into bitcoin see this as best decisions for them to enjoy what a decentralized network offers and engage more in using bitcoin in performing their transactions than fiat.

[Gallar]

In my opinion, the first step that the Nigerian government must take is to be able to improve the banking system first, because very many Nigerian people use ATM machines to withdraw money.
if people are directly transferred to bitcoin or crypto assets, how do they transfer their money, while they want to withdraw the money, of course for their daily needs.

because what I know and I have learned, if you invest in an economy that is experiencing a decline, it will be difficult to develop, why?
because the money invested will definitely be withdrawn for their daily needs.

my advice, if the economic situation is weakening, it is better for the government to immediately find the weak point and continue to fix it all.

[stompix]

The market women who don't know how to operate phones and other internet devices for transactions are crying seriously that they are dying for hunger. ~ And because of the long line to withdraw from the ATM, many customers who are already cryptocurrency friendly ones are now swapped to BTC to avoid the stress.

This doesn't make sense!
Somebody who can't shop with a debit card or isn't able to implement a debit card payment for his shop will definitely not be able to pay or receive bitcoins either, common, it's not like it gets any easier than using a debit card nowadays. If one can't master that bitcoin is on a completely new level!
It's like telling a person who can't remember his pin number how to enroll his card in Gpay and use his phone at a terminal, what do you think the rate of success is? Besides, if there are enough merchants tech savvy to allow people to convert their cash or their debit funds to cryptocurrencies through portable PoS, why aren't merchants implementing card payments directly? I agree that some will explore alternatives to avoid wasting time there but I don't think the conversion rates from fiat to BTC would be anything spectacular.

Why have there been so many misconceptions in the general atmosphere even the so-called educated and enlightened citizens of Nigeria have no adequate knowledge and understanding of how a policy should work, and what to believe and what not to and the problem with Nigeria is Nigerians who are too lazy to even read the manual of the mobile device talk more of to study and understand complex subjects as regards to financial inclusion and digitialization of the financial sector and this thread have further proven that fact because what I can understand with this whole ops statements.

Nobody reads the manual on anything, it's not a Nigerian thing. I'm not reading the manual of any device unless it takes me an hour and I'm still not able to open the lid on some multicooker or wafflemaker I just brought.
But the danger with Bitcoin is a bit different, I don't see somebody who is unable to figure out how to make a simple online transfer being at the same time savvy enough to keep his coins secure and not getting scammed or hacked.

[The Cryptovator]

It seems ridiculous. How might someone go completely cashless without a strategy? Cashless transactions ought to be optional, not required. Still, I haven't experienced a history of a poorer nation. In any case, requiring cashless transactions does not indicate that the nation has developed. The government ought to prepare its people for such a choice. However, I don't believe it will benefit Bitcoin. Because the Bitcoin transaction is also cashless. Anyone who has access to the Bitcoin then they can use internet or mobile banking. Not much has changed, then.

[Davidvictorson]

The cashless policy which has been implemented by Nigerian Government is causing a lot calamity in the country. The market women who don't know how to operate phones and other internet devices for transactions are crying seriously that they are dying for hunger. Since the banks are not paying cash and the AMT machines are already configured to pay only $43.45 (#20,000) per account and this also make some bank customers to use multiple accounts ATMs. And because of the long line to withdraw from the ATM, many customers who are already cryptocurrency friendly ones are now swapped to BTC to avoid the stress.
That is, the cashless policy forces many customers to changed their Fiat currency for easy p2p transaction since the Fiat bank cashless transaction is not smooth because of network issue. Nigeria age group is crying for help. Nigeria government did not plan it well before implementing it in the country. But if it continues Nigerians will adapt to it.

This is not entirely true. You still need cash. Not everyone can accept Bitcoin. Infact, 98% of merchants don't accept Bitcoin, not even the eNaira. That's how bad it is. To go further, even the cashless transactions is not for everyone. The unbanked road side traders won't accept cash transfer they insist on receiving the physical cash. So over here, cash is still king.

[DaNNy001]

I wouldn't doubt you if you said many people are having difficulty making payments for purchased goods because of the scarcity of physical cash. On Tuesday, January 31st, I had a nearly identical experience in which I was unable to use my UBA debit card to pay for my purchases because I had previously used the card to withdraw $10,000, which I believe is the card's daily limit, and I also attempted to use my mobile app, which was also experiencing network downtime. My saving grace that day was that I didn't rely on one bank, which gave me the option of using my KUDA to make a transfer; however, did you know that the party to whom I transferred had to wait about 32 minutes before he could see it? If the crypto payment system was available that day, I could have offered to pay with crypto and saved myself the stress.

I dont think crypto would have saved you on the 32minutes stress you inquired that day, why? Because even the btc transactions can sometimes take up to that amount of time mentioned especially when the number of blocks required for your transaction to be successful Has not been reached. I remember a day when I sold some of my coins but its took more than 30minute for the coins to arrive

[Wiwo]

This is not entirely true. You still need cash. Not everyone can accept Bitcoin. Infact, 98% of merchants don't accept Bitcoin, not even the eNaira. That's how bad it is. To go further, even the cashless transactions is not for everyone. The unbanked road side traders won't accept cash transfer they insist on receiving the physical cash. So over here, cash is still king.

Bitcoin in Nigeria is only taken as an investment and for trading anything outside that is just fallacy of words just to make up stories, bitcoin usage is not rampant in Nigeria and Bitcoin is not really used as an alternative to bank in Nigeira because we don't have merchants accepting Bitcoin any where in Nigeria.
So bringing in Bitcoin into this current crisis in the financial sector will be a misplaced analysis and how the system works.

[SatoPrincess]

There are businesses that do not have POS machine in their shops talk less of accepting bitcoin as payment. The new policy would have been easier if the bank apps were working, for about 3 days and counting, bank transfers have been unsuccessful and customers have been complaining online bitterly about their experience. The photos speak for themselves, the system is failing. I think this is just a piece of a larger plan to promote the E-naira.

[Wiwo]

There are businesses that do not have POS machine in their shops talk less about accepting bitcoin as payment. The new policy would have been easier if the bank apps were working, for about 3 days and counting, bank transfers have been unsuccessful and customers have been complaining online bitterly about their experience. The photos speak for themselves, the system is failing. I think this is just a piece of a larger plan to promote the E-naira.

I agree with you, the most challenging aspect right now, is the inability of the internet banking systems to meat up to the demands of customers as there have been massive outcry of bad bank network over the last few days, and since the beginning of this new month of February when the cashless policy received its most attention due to the inability of Nigerians to make financial transactions due to lack of banknotes in circulation and bad internet banking networks it now look as if the bank is in collaboration with some individuals and corrupt citizens to sabotage government efforts by holding the banknote and selling it to Nigerians, this has led to the hard conditions for many Nigerians but I believe, as time goes on everyone will get used to the new system and the panic withdrawals will be normalized for us to see the real effect of this new policy.

[suzanne5223]

There are businesses that do not have POS machine in their shops talk less of accepting bitcoin as payment. The new policy would have been easier if the bank apps were working, for about 3 days and counting, bank transfers have been unsuccessful and customers have been complaining online bitterly about their experience. The photos speak for themselves, the system is failing. I think this is just a piece of a larger plan to promote the E-naira.

From what I know, if institutional banking wants to work with the E-naira as payment and the use of the E-naira has to be executed through the bank's online banking activities, isn't it? If the bank's mobile application and online banking activities not working as supposed how is it possible that the concept of what is happening is just to promote the country CBDC?
I believe the cause of this is just mismanagement done by the country's Central Bank and the institutional bank in the mobile application area.

[Scripture]

This is a big problem when you implement the cashless transaction without any study of the possible problem, you can’t just force people to adopt right away and that’s a big problem if you have a incompetent government. Now people are rushing on many establishments, and I read also a thread here about paying the hospital bills thru Bitcoin because they are having problem with their fiat money. This is a poor system that can result into a big panic.

[Mr.suevie]

This is a big problem when you implement the cashless transaction without any study of the possible problem, you can’t just force people to adopt right away and that’s a big problem if you have a incompetent government. Now people are rushing on many establishments, and I read also a thread here about paying the hospital bills thru Bitcoin because they are having problem with their fiat money. This is a poor system that can result into a big panic.

it has already resulted into massive problems in my region because lots of people are causing riots and chaos in the bank, imagine you going all around the city looking for where to get cash for your transactions and now you can find any because of the scarcity of the naira. Our politicians and government are always fund of causing problems for the masses because of the lack of strategies in their planning. Although a cashless policy isnt a bad idea but the first approach to implementing this is very poor.

[Cantsay]

There are businesses that do not have POS machine in their shops talk less of accepting bitcoin as payment. The new policy would have been easier if the bank apps were working, for about 3 days and counting, bank transfers have been unsuccessful and customers have been complaining online bitterly about their experience. The photos speak for themselves, the system is failing. I think this is just a piece of a larger plan to promote the E-naira.

Exactly what I had in mind, after my recent experience with a local trader the hope that Bitcoin will be used as a payment method because of this scarcity of cash just dropped drastically. I don't know how someone who doesn't even know how to operate their bank account will be able to comprehend how Bitcoin works.
Even the normal bank transfer most traders don't even allow it in their businesses and you want them to accept Bitcoin that's just unthinkable.

If the government doesn't find a way to solve this problem more quickly it's going to result in a more devastating case.