Advertisement
AD

Main navigation

Nigeria's Central Bank Bans Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies

Advertisement
Fri, 5/02/2021 - 13:02
Nigeria's Central Bank Bans Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies
Cover image via stock.adobe.com
Read U.TODAY on
Google News

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has banned Bitcoin and other digital assets, according to a Feb. 5 report by local news publication Peoples Gazette.

Nigeria's banks have been instructed to "immediately" close the accounts of those clients that are linked to cryptocurrency exchanges.

Advertisement
A circular
Image by @Omojuwa

The country's central bank introduced a circular to prohibit cryptocurrencies back in January 2017, but it then adopted a rather middle-ground approach toward the industry.

It is worth noting that Nigeria—the largest economy on the African continent—has one of the fastest-growing cryptocurrency communities in the world. Last December, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange Paxful revealed that Nigeria was its second-largest global market, behind only the U.S. Its total trading volume surpassed $566 million.

Related
Twitter's CEO to Support Bitcoin in Africa

Bitcoin bolstered the #EndSARS movement

This blanket ban is likely related to the #EndSARS protest against police brutality that swept the nation last year.

Young and tech-savvy Nigerians—whose bank accounts were shut down by the government—relied heavily on Bitcoin donations to finance their cause, even getting support from none other than Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

Dorsey
Image by twitter.com
Advertisement
TopCryptoNewsinYourMailbox
TopCryptoNewsinYourMailbox
Advertisement

Latest Press Releases

Our social media
There's a lot to see there, too

Popular articles

Advertisement
AD