Central Bank of Nigeria Orders Banks to Close Accounts of Crypto Clients as Remittances via Traditional Corridors Drop by 97%

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has circulated a letter directing banks and financial institutions to identify and close accounts of cryptocurrency transacting entities. The directive, which took immediate effect, threatens “severe regulatory sanctions” to financial institutions that fail to comply. Banks Taking Immediate Action Immediately following the letter’s publication, some banks and other financial … Read more

Nigeria’s Yellow Card Processes $165 Million in Crypto Remittances So Far This Year

Nigerian crypto startup Yellow Card says it processed over $165 million in volume during the first eleven months of this year. The figure represents a growth of more than 1,840% over the amount of remittances processed in the last six months of 2019. Launched in June 2019, Yellow Card enables Africans at home and abroad … Read more

Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Decries the Use of Parallel Exchange Rate as Citizens Switch to Crypto

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele says the embrace of the parallel market exchange rate by some professionals in that country is unfair and unfortunate. The CBN governor says the parallel foreign exchange market only accounts for a share of the market that does not exceed 5%. He also adds … Read more

Former Microsoft Engineer Says Nigerian Expatriates Are Using Bitcoin to Circumvent Country’s Overvalued Exchange Rate

A former Microsoft software engineer and co-founder of Buycoins Africa Tomiwa Lasebikan says some Nigerians expatriates are now using bitcoin to circumvent the country’s overvalued exchange rate when sending remittances. According to Lasebikan, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s fixed exchange rate of $1:380 is robbing recipients 20-30% of their remittance value each time they … Read more

Nigeria Foreign Exchange Crisis: Worsening US Dollar Shortages Point to Further Devaluation

Pressure on Nigeria’s current exchange rate is likely to get worse in 2021, when the expected recovery of imports is set to force another devaluation of the local currency to N430/$ next year, according to two Bank of America analysts. Earlier rate adjustments, one in March and another in July, already appear to have failed … Read more

New POS Terminal by Pundix Allows Nigerians to Make Purchases in Bitcoin

Indonesian cryptocurrency and payments company Pundix has introduced a point of sale terminal at a shop in Nigeria, allowing people in the West African country to make purchases using cryptocurrency, including bitcoin. The move is seen as key to scaling up cryptocurrency adoption and development in Africa’s biggest bitcoin market. Also read: Payments Platform Wirex Launches … Read more

Senate of Nigeria Launches Probe of Bitcoin Trading in the Country

Nigeria is known to have one of the biggest and fastest growing bitcoin markets in the whole of Africa. The authorities in the country have apparently caught wind of this and now want to examine the phenomena and decide what they can try and do about it. Also Read: Bitcoin Tax Reporting Software Developer Node40 … Read more