Central Bank of Nigeria Denies It Has Placed New Restrictions on Cryptocurrencies — Uses Debunked Claims to Justify New Directive
Following the outcry over the Central Bank of Nigeria’s latest directive that targets cryptocurrencies, the institution has reaffirmed its stance with another statement. In the latest five-page document, the CBN insists that this directive is intended to protect the country’s financial system from the “risks” that are associated with cryptocurrencies. Debunked Claims Still, the central bank claims the directive has “not placed any new restrictions on cryptocurrencies” but is only regurgitating what was said four years ago. In January 2017, the CBN published a circular which claimed then that the use of cryptocurrencies was against the “key mandate of the CBN as the issuer of legal tender in the country.” Nevertheless, the country has since seen the use of cryptocurrencies grow and now Nigeria ranks as one of the leading cryptocurrency markets in the world. Despite the apparent embrace of cryptocurrencies, the CBN statement appears to ignore this evidence. Instead, the statement