By Valentine Amanze, Online Editor
Nigeria’s apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has denied banning transactions in cryptocurrency.
The bank was reacting to criticisns, which followed the statement it issued last month that ordered financial institutions to shut down all accounts associated with cryptocurrency trading.
But the apex bank official has clarified that the directive
was not to be mistaken for an outright ban. Instead, the bank said that it had reiterated an already imposed 2017 ban on institutions facilitating cryptocurrency transactions.
The bank’s governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who spoke through Deputy Governor, Adamu Lamtek, insisted that the bank never banned cryptocurrency activity in the country.
His words: “The CBN did not place restrictions from use of cryptocurrencies and we are not discouraging people from trading in them.
“What we have just done was to prohibit transactions on cryptocurrencies in the banking sector.”
He spoke at the 30th seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors held in the country’s capital, Abuja.
Confusion arose last month when the CBN said that it was reminding regulated banking institutions that “dealing in cryptocurrencies or facilitating payments for cryptocurrency exchanges is prohibited.”
Institutions were told to “identify persons and/or entities” transacting with cryptocurrency or operating crypto exchanges.
That prompted many bitcoin users in the inflation-hit Nigeria to take to social media in anger, seeking clarification on the bank’s order.
