The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said cryptocurrency will come to life in Nigeria despite banning the nation’s financial institutions from facilitating payments for crypto transactions earlier in the year.
Speaking at the 79th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held on Tuesday in Abuja, Godwin Emefiele, Governor of CBN, said “We are committed in the CBN and I can assure everybody that digital currency will come to life even in Nigeria.”
Emefiele explained that an investigation conducted by the apex bank revealed that there were legitimate and illegitimate crypto traders and investors in Nigeria.
However, he said Nigeria is ranked 2nd in the crypto space but ranked 27th in the global economy. Suggesting that the apex bank may be looking to explore opportunities in the crypto space to complement the fragile Nigerian economy.
Emefiele said, “We have carried out our investigation and we found out that a substantial percentage of our people are getting involved in cryptocurrency which is not the best. Don’t get me wrong, some may be legitimate but most are illegitimate.”
“Under cryptocurrency and Bitcoin, Nigeria comes 2nd while in the global side of the economy, Nigeria comes 27th. We are still conducting our investigation and we will make our data available.”
Commenting on the risk associated with the crypto space, the CBN boss said Elon Musk boosted the value of cryptocurrencies after announcing a $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin and its acceptance as a means of payment for Tesla vehicles immediately the apex bank restricted financial institutions in Nigeria from facilitating crypto payments.
Elon Musk, who later tweeted otherwise, crashed the entire crypto market after raising concerns on the energy usage of bitcoin and its implication on the ecosystem.
“We saw the market collapse. Initially, when Elon Musk tweeted around the time when we said our banking and payment facilities are no longer available for cryptocurrency transactions and he tweeted that he will invest $1.5 billion and the price (Bitcoin) went up. He now tweeted and raised a few concerns and the thing (Cryptocurrency) plunged.”
Emefiele was insinuating that the apex bank was making an informed decision and not just a knee-jerk reaction to an unregulated crypto space with several frauds.