Investors will lose crypto assets in coming years – SFS Capital CEO

[Charles-Tim]

The Chief Executive Officer of SFS Capital Nigeria Limited, Patrick Ilodianya, in interview with Temitayo Jaiyeola, examines how technology has been impacting investment in Nigeria. In the interview, he talked about cryptocurrencies along some questions answered.

https://punchng.com/investors-will-lose-crypto-assets-in-coming-years-sfs-capital-ceo/

Crypto investments have gained ground in Nigeria. A lot of Nigerians are investing in crypto. Why do you think this is happening?

Cryptocurrency is an exciting innovation supported by blockchain technology. Generally, Nigerians are very adventurous, and some people believe it provides a hedge against devaluation. Unfortunately, cryptocurrencies are unregulated. And this is a major problem. Due to the lack of regulation, many people would lose the bulk of their investments in the coming years.

In my opinion, putting money in cryptocurrency now is not investing; it’s more of gambling. So, many things can go wrong. The crypto exchanges basically act like banks, fund managers and trading exchanges, all in one without any regulatory oversight. There will be many problems in the future. I believe enthusiasm would deepen massively. But I also believe when regulation catches up and regulators become actively involved, the abuses would reduce and the attractiveness would increase.

He deemed cryptocurrencies as gambling. Some members on this forum on general board including myself deem most altcoins as gambling. One of the reasons I consider many altcoins as gambling is because they are shit coins, they devalue more during bear market and they may not attain all-time-high after bitcoin has attained all-time-high. During the recent bull market that got bitcoin above $20000, many altcoins like Filecoin, Solana, Gala, APT and many other pumped almost or over 100%, but also can be their fall.

I consider cryptocurrencies to be under-regulated, not unregulated because the government are trying ways cryptocurrencies can be regulated.

I can not consider exchanges to banks because banks are safer unlike exchanges. Fiat can be kept in bank because it is the safest place to keep fiat, or the use of eNaira wallet but which its adoption in Nigeria is very low as Nigerians are not using eNaira. Exchanges are not safe to keep your coins, the safest place to keep your coins are on noncustodial wallets (like cold wallets or hardware wallets which are the safest) where you have the full control of your coins, unlike on exchanges that can even be hacked or exchange owners misappropriating your money, like FTX.

I will against if it is about bitcoin, also as the market is still not in the bull direction in long term yet, in coming years (2024/2025), we should expect bull run, but I will consider it correct too because some people will prefer to invest on shit coins that will make their investment to be in the money loss direction.

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[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

No be lie, excluding Bitcoin wey be say him get a pathway wey if you study am well you no fit dey on the losing side, same can't be said about altcoins. Altcoins investment are pure gambling. You can never know which coin go pump or dump. The only thing wey you fit do wey go help you small na to follow where the money is going. Example if we dey Defi season, best thing to do na to invest in Defi projects. If you go dey claim stubborn head thinking say you be one expert like dat, market go just show you shege.

Same thing can be said about memecoin season, if no be e season avoid investment in them as e go crash your own portfolio to zero. Now if you dey invest in altcoins make sure you understand which season dey on board and always take profits. No get married to any project in the sense that when people dey sell, you go refused to offload your bags, na mumu you dey be be dat. Even though you over believe the project, take profits as e go give you better chance to acquire more bags during the dip.

At the end of the day na for you wey dey find ur belle to use your head, Patrick Ilodianya fit sit-down dey advise say make we no invest because him get food to chop but wetin the local man go do. Just no put all your eggs in one basket. Make him statement no discourage you from investing in Bitcoin or cryptocurency entirely but use your no 6.

[Coyster]

Nigerians will lose crypto assets if they are investing wrongly and storing their crypto assets wrongly. If you as a Nigerian purchases crypto that has no utility and shouldn't be held for the long term, thus you are prolly gambling, and if you don't sell before the coin starts to dump, you'd lose your crypto. Same thing goes for how you store your crypto assets, if you store them on crypto exchanges, or leave your seed phrase exposed, then you could also lose your crypto assets.

Having said that, i for one do not consider Bitcoin to be gambling, or to be synonymous with pump and dump schemes, if you are patient and make zero mistakes whilst storing your Bitcoin, then you wouldn't lose it; investors have to choose the best and safest option if they are to make the most out of the network.

The crypto network is more of a 'be your own bank network', so it is different from the traditional banking system, as its users are meant to protect themselves by being their own bank. But even the traditional banking system is no longer as safe as people think, there have been numerous cases of people's naira vanishing from their bank accounts: https://www.legit.ng/business-economy/money/1513978-nigerians-drag-zenith-bank-n4-million-vanished-ladys-account/ thus maybe more attention should be directed at the security of traditional banking than on crypto and crypto regulation.

[Smartvirus]

Wth respect to the quote way dem SFS, I no go say them no sabi watin dem dey talk becus, d resources as per human nd tech way dey available to en office, he must hav enof info at en disposal. Watin e talk no bad o, na somtin way ft happen or not nd na why we call am risk. E no get any investment way no get risk but the most we ft do be say, we go dey compare risk to reward ratio before we dive in.

So the speculation say, we Naija crypto investors go lose because of lack of regulation, e also get the others side way carry say we ft gain too, either regulated or not.
One thing we gat realise na where to place the more risk. Altcoin has more risk than bitcoin and so, in looking out for an investment, you know where to place your funds and watin to expect.

[Agbe]

First of all thank u 4 bringing dis egberi 2 dis place. and also thank u 4 di articulations. From what Patrick Ilodianya said in the article, he said, things will be fine after the general election in Nigeria. Because the government is going to  shift power so the Naira will also appreciated and real estate will also be improve. According to Patrick Ilodianya many people will loss in cryto investment because it is unregulated but i don't see any issue with the unregulated nature with cryto currency abi na me no understand am well. Fiat bank wey be sae goverment dey regulate wan kill pesen for naija like dis.

Yes I agree with Charles-Tim that fiat banks are more far beter dan exchange platforms 2 keep money, na cry u go cry won day. make we see weti go happen for naija in the crypto space dis year and next year.

[Coyster]

According to Patrick Ilodianya many people will loss in cryto investment because it is unregulated but i don't see any issue with the unregulated nature with cryto currency abi na me no understand am well. Fiat bank wey be sae goverment dey regulate wan kill pesen for naija like dis.

If your money lost for fiat bank you go fit start case/sue the bank go court, publicly drag the bank, etc and as them they regulated they are obliged by law to reply you, provide answers to your questions and try to see if them fit find your money wey lost, if you sue them go court, them gats find lawyer try defend themselves as to wetin do your money, they have to do all these things, because them they regulated. But you see for unregulated market wey no get law, no central body wey go talk say see as things be, the risk choke oh, person fit scam/hack you and you no fit find am or do anything, you no go fit even report to police, for unregulated market na you go gats be your own protection. Regulation go good for some aspects of crypto no be lie, especially crypto exchanges, though most of them don they regulated small sha, if crypto exchanges they unregulated, them go dy carry people crypto play and if them lose am you no go fit sue them or do anything. The only reason why them fit arrest SBF, come charge am to court for wetin e do with people money na because the exchange they regulated, if not the money don go be that oh.

Yes I agree with Charles-Tim that fiat banks are more far beter dan exchange platforms 2 keep money, na cry u go cry won day. make we see weti go happen for naija in the crypto space dis year and next year.

Fiat banks and crypto exchanges na two different things oh, whilst fiat banks na place weh people they save their fiat, exchange no be place wey people suppose save their crypto, e suppose be place wey you go enter, do your crypto trade, comot sharp sharp, but people no know, they come they use exchange the way them they use fiat banks.

[DaNNy001]

Yes i agree with what Patrick llodianya said that many people will loose their investments in the coming years in cryptocurrency( in altcoins not bitcoin) because of most of these of coins can just loose value overtime for no reason some of these altcoins dem sef are created as a means of scamming investor money, just take luna wey crash for example from no where nai the coin just crash leaving many investors stranded and true say e no dey regulated so you no fit anybody anything, but this one no be the same case with bitcoin because bitcoin has proven to be the best crypto coins for investment since its launching. But the problem many Nigerians was dey like to put money for something wey go give them hat break. Just take a look how bitcoin has been consistent overs the year although e get some time wey the value dey but the certainty dey say e go still go up very high again.

[Mate2237]

Yes i agree with what Patrick llodianya said that many people will loose their investments in the coming years in cryptocurrency( in altcoins not bitcoin) because of most of these of coins can just loose value overtime for no reason some of these altcoins dem sef are created as a means of scamming investor money, just take luna wey crash for example from no where nai the coin just crash leaving many investors stranded and true say e no dey regulated so you no fit anybody anything, but this one no be the same case with bitcoin because bitcoin has proven to be the best crypto coins for investment since its launching. But the problem many Nigerians was dey like to put money for something wey go give them hat break. Just take a look how bitcoin has been consistent overs the year although e get some time wey the value dey but the certainty dey say e go still go up very high again.

How do you know that pple will lose investment in next year? Please can you give us your statistics of agreeing with Patrick? My brother as for me I see progressive progress in next year, cryptocurrency investment will boom next year, so I see the opposite of  Patrick. Though I don't know the algibra used by Patrick to determine the investment outcome of next year. But I used the 3 M to analyze the outcome which are Mean, Mode and Median to forecast the future.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

Nigerians will lose crypto assets if they are investing wrongly and storing their crypto assets wrongly. If you as a Nigerian purchases crypto that has no utility and shouldn't be held for the long term, thus you are prolly gambling, and if you don't sell before the coin starts to dump, you'd lose your crypto. Same thing goes for how you store your crypto assets, if you store them on crypto exchanges, or leave your seed phrase exposed, then you could also lose your crypto assets.

All of una don talk very wisely regarding this issue on the ground, and the only statement wey sweet me for belle, and I think can be the solution to what Patrick Ilodianya said is what Sir "Coyster" just yan given above here. Because looking at the rise in crypto adoption in Nigeria, if only we can invest our assets rightly (i.e by only purchasing Bitcoin and no other shitcoins that have a high tendency of losing their value very quickly), and store our crypto assets rightly (i.e by storing it in a non-custodial wallet) just like what "Charles Tim" said earlier, definitely, the rate at which people will lose their funds in the coming years will be reduced to the lowest minimum.

Because, what people need now is the right orientation about crypto security, and the government is not giving enough chance for that

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

That's a warning he is passing on to the public, or perhaps just a reminder that has been overlooked by some crypto investors. I believe that cryptocurrency knowledge is becoming more solid now than before. In the past, a lot of people preferred altcoins because they felt they yielded a higher ROI, but I think many are now realizing that Bitcoin is more solid than other cryptos.

Although no one can tell the future, I think if Bitcoin is persistent, the only people that will lose their money to cryptocurrency in future are those that fail to understand the it's risk, probably those that store on CEX, those that don't store their assets on hard wallets but instead choose to have them on some centralized wallet like Trustewallet, and those that invest in shitcoins thinking it is a diamond. 

Yea, it's safer to store fiat money in the bank than in CEX, but bank frustration most times can just trigger that evidence of doubt in someone. What is happening in the bank these days is terrible. 

I feel that in time to come, either banks will increase their security or people will adopt the e-naira, or people will stop saving in the bank. 

I saw a video clip online of a woman weeping bitterly in the bank; she was lamenting that "all the while she has kept #300,000 at home, no thief saw her, but just recently that she deposited the money in her account, the money has disappeared from her account."

The bank needs to increase security for some specific spending limits.

[Igebotz]

I consider cryptocurrencies to be under-regulated, not unregulated because the government are trying ways cryptocurrencies can be regulated.

i think i also consider cryptocurrency to be unregulated because there are no laws or rules that govern the use and trading of cryptocurrency, and transactions may not be subject to oversight or reporting requirements. i can possibly create 10 altcoins without going through any regulatory process, put in the market, scam investors and move because there are little or no regulatory put in place to prevent a random/individual creating a coin.

there have been numerous cases of people's naira vanishing from their bank accounts: https://www.legit.ng/business-economy/money/1513978-nigerians-drag-zenith-bank-n4-million-vanished-ladys-account/ thus maybe more attention should be directed at the security of traditional banking than on crypto and crypto regulation.

This happens to the majority of market women who fall victim to local scammers; if you give out your sensitive information to scammers, the banks cannot help much, but if it is due to bank-related system errors, you will always get your money back; the same is true for cryptocurrency; if you give out your private keys to scammers, your chances of getting your coin back are nil, but with a bank, you have a chance of recovery.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

I consider cryptocurrencies to be under-regulated, not unregulated because the government are trying ways cryptocurrencies can be regulated.

i think i also consider cryptocurrency to be unregulated because there are no laws or rules that govern the use and trading of cryptocurrency, and transactions may not be subject to oversight or reporting requirements. i can possibly create 10 altcoins without going through any regulatory process, put in the market, scam investors and move because there are little or no regulatory put in place to prevent a random/individual creating a coin.

We shoudn't be bothered about this, it's a free world over here and not an industry that was meant to be regulated. It was because of the regulations and centralized nature of the fiat system that this industry was created in the first place so what good does it bring if that purpose is destroyed by introducing centralization into the industry through regulations. The scams are all part of the system. Both the real world and this world experience same scams. Here security is placed in the hands of the user and not a centralized body therefore you're responsible for whatever outcome that results from your decision.

We have to be able to protect ourselves from the scams all over the web, they aren't that hard to locate. Coins like Luna and FTX that crashed had clear signs of them going down the same path form their creation bit lack of research made many investors to trust this project with their funds. These aren't the only altcoins that were created with flaws from the begining but our greediness won't allow us to see through this project. We just have to research more and not blaming the scammers.

[Zaguru12]

Me I no too support Temitayo for tagging cryptocurrency coins gambling. It’s actually true except bitcoin. That aside the thing I deduce from this him talk be say him want make government regulate this coins and yes he go for those shit coins but my problem be say watin dem Dey do to those stuffs wey dem Dey regulate dem Dey hold this people accountable if things sour? No because even our regular banks na God go save u if ur money hang. Moreover what is decentralization when there is government regulation, I believe dem go to temper with some stuffs if not he no go bad to regulate am. Another thing come be say even some countries wey get some exchange wey dey under there regulations if something happen dem dey hold dem accountable?

The only thing for this crypto space be if you do anyhow lose your money for either exchanges or shit coins then na you go blame yourself and to me he good like that oo

[Obari]

I'm sure privacy is one of the major reasons  for the creation of cryptocurrency and having it regulated is like contradicting this purpose.
I'm not into altcoins not ever since I moved into cryptocurrency because  I was really talked against investing into altcoins (shitcoins) and this has already instilled a phobia in me against shitcoins.
But on the other hand, I think the Nigeria government always kicks against whatever seems to alleviate poverty and suffering from it's citizens and I'm sure that who ever comes into crypto should be aware of the risk involved due to the high volatility involved and the volatility is one of the things if not the major thing that makes it possible for people to make money.

[Igebotz]

Another thing come be say even some countries wey get some exchange wey dey under there regulations if something happen dem dey hold dem accountable?

NO, you get nothing; those regulations are the KYC you provided in order for them to easily combat money laundering through exchange because that is the only way to link transactions to real-life identities. Exchange is a market place where you should not keep your assets for too long because it is controlled and vulnerable to attack..

back to your question if an exchange get hacked the size of the loss can vary depending on the exchange's size and security measures. The exchange may have insurance or other forms of compensation to reimburse affected users in some cases, but this is not always the case. Some exchanges may also try to cover the loss with their own funds or by asking other exchanges to chip in. However, not all exchanges can compensate the victims so most of them prefer to appeal in the court and pay compensation to the government and that's all....

[Mate2237]

also as the market is still not in the bull direction in long term yet, in coming years (2024/2025), we should expect bull run, but I will consider it correct too because some people will prefer to invest on shit coins that will make their investment to be in the money loss direction.

Even now the market as not directed to the bull arrow. It is still struggling to penetrate to the bull line and this bull is the one everyone is waiting for in the forum and beyond. The bull signal will start from either the towards the end of this year or early part of next year. But what I am still doubting is the two years of the prediction. I have not seen bull market run in two years straight without a break. At least if it comes in 2024 then it has to jump 2025 and probably comes in 2026 but this one wey everybody is saying 2024/2025 e dey won kind for my side.

[Gozie51]

The only thing for this crypto space be if you do anyhow lose your money for either exchanges or shit coins then na you go blame yourself and to me he good like that oo

Na the thing be that. The warning don already dey now say people go lose money for crypto but na for those wey go see say coins don rise even more than 100% but dey go still dey hodling am while na short time investment dem even do. Those crypto coins wey be like shitcoins, na now be time to buy them so dat when bitcoin rise them too go rise and you dump collect your cash and fante because no be all altcoins go still dey after them rise and fall. To dey wise in investment is a key to success. To buy coins wey get low volume no too gel.