The Central Bank of Nigeria has ordered the Closure of Crypto Related Accounts
The Central Bank of Nigeria has via a circular ordered Deposit Money Banks and other financial institutions to close down bank accounts related to cryptocurrency.
The circular which was dated 5th February, 2021 (BSD/DIR/GEN/LAB/14/001) made reference to a previous circular published on the 12th of January, 2017 (FPR/DIR/GEN/CIR/06/010) cautioning Financial Institutions on the risk associated with transactions in cryptocurrency.
It reminded the financial institutions and general public that dealings in cryptocurrencies or facilitating payments for cryptocurrency exchanges is prohibited.
According to the circular, the Apex Bank directed all Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Non Bank Financial Institutions and Other Financial Institutions to identify persons or entities transacting in or operating cryptocurrency exchanges within their systems and close down such accounts immediately.
The Central Bank warned a breach of the directives would attract severe regulatory sanctions.
The circular was signed by Bello Hassan, Director of Banking Supervision and Musa I. Jimoh, Director, Payments System Management Department.
In September 2020, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a statement of its position on cryptocurrency. The SEC described all crypto assets as Securities unless proven otherwise and that Issuers or sponsors are expected to satisfy the burden of proving that the virtual assets do not constitute securities by making an initial assessment filing.
“SEC to regulate crypto-coin or crypto-token investments when the character of the investment qualifies as securities transaction” – SEC
A SEC Official also spoke on the growth of the technology in Nigeria saying via the SEC’s research, they discovered that lots of young Nigerians are trading cryptocurrency and they won’t leave any stone unturned
The current statement by the CBN is quite in the opposite of the SEC’s language as well as the NITDA that says the Federal Government plans to raise $10 billion from blockchain technology.
What do you think of this story? Please share your opinion via the comments
How To Open a Huobi Account and Make Your First Trade.
Huobi is a crypto exchange where users can buy, sell and borrow cryptocurrencies, creating a complete ecosystem for knowledgeable crypto...
Gala FIlms: Web3 meets Films
Gala Film Nodes are services provided by the Gala team where anyone can purchase a Node to grant access to...
List of African Countries That Have and Will Launch CBDC
African countries are exploring the virtual form of their currency which can improve their approach to exchanges and cash flow...
A comparison of Aptos and Sui
Last year, functional Layer 1s had great fundamentals that facilitated ecosystem pumps. The pumps were associated with L1s that had...
A detailed insight into Nomad bridge protocol exploit
The Nomad bridge was recently exploited for over $190m. While the complete story of the hack keeps unfolding gradually, we...
[…] circular also warned financial institutions of regulatory sanction if they do not comply. In the circular, […]
[…] Central Bank of Nigeria had on the 5th of February, 2021 prohibited regulated financial institutions from facilitating cryptocurrency transactions. The Central Bank […]
[…] would be driven down and this was the result of the Feb. 5th ,2021 Central Bank of Nigeria prohibitions on financial institutions from facilitating cryptocurrency transactions. And to investigate and […]
[…] February, specifically 5th, the Central Bank of Nigeria published a circular prohibiting financial institutions from facilitating cryptocurrency transactions and ordered the […]
[…] February, specifically 5th, the Central Bank of Nigeria published a circular prohibiting financial institutions from facilitating cryptocurrency transactions and ordered the […]
[…] in Nigeria, on Friday, February 5, 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria ordered the closure of crypto-related accounts. Speculations have it that the #EndSars movement […]