Bitcoin News and Finance Nigeria Central Bank Governor: Cryptocurrency Is a Product ‘Embedded in High Level of Illegality’ Skip to main content

Nigeria Central Bank Governor: Cryptocurrency Is a Product ‘Embedded in High Level of Illegality’

Nigeria Central Bank Governor: Cryptocurrency Is a Product 'Embedded in High Level of Illegality'

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, has claimed that a majority of cryptocurrency transactions are embedded in illegality. He also asserts that there is no room for cryptocurrency in the Nigerian banking space.

Pushback Against Endsars Protest Claims

In his latest anti-cryptocurrency salvo that was published by the Punch, Emefiele however appeared to push back against the claims the CBN had abruptly decided to exclude cryptocurrency entities from the banking system as punishment for the industry’s perceived support of the Endsars protests.

When the CBN froze the bank accounts of individuals that were involved in organizing the Endsars protests in late 2020, the protest leaders began to ask for donations via bitcoin. As reported by Bitcoin.com News, this switch to bitcoin donations ultimately enabled organizers to continue funding protest activities.

Therefore, when the CBN suddenly announced the exclusion of cryptocurrency entities from the banking ecosystem, some observers in Nigeria speculated this decision had been made because the central bank had failed to stop the flow of funds to organizers of the Endsars protest.

Emefiele’s Viewpoint

However, in his response to these claims, Emefiele is quoted in the report explaining why the CBN is generally against cryptocurrency transactions.

“Like you said, the Endsars issue came up in October 2020 and we came up with the issue of saying that we would not make our banking and payment system space available to those who were involved in cryptocurrency business because we feel that a substantial portion of the transactions going on there are illegal,” he explained.

Emefiele then suggested that the CBN, just like many of its counterparts around, does not support cryptocurrency transactions because they are encrypted and cannot be decrypted by any central bank. He said:

Look at it this way: what is there to hide? Why are the transactions so hidden? Why are they encrypted? If I conduct a transaction and a regulator or security authority wants to see the nature of the transaction, those (transactions) can’t be encrypted for people to know what happened. It means that cryptocurrency is a product that is embedded in a high level of illegality.

In fact, according to Emefiele, donations to the Endsars movement had nothing to do with the CBN’s February 5, 2021 directive. Rather, this directive is consistent with the stance that has been taken by many central banks around the world, Emefiele explained.

Do you agree with Emefiele’s remarks about cryptocurrencies? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl...

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju...

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and...

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r...
Blogarama - Blog Directory