The Chief Executive Officer of SFS Capital Nigeria Limited, Patrick Ilodianya, in interview with Temitayo Jaiyeola, examines how technology has been impacting investment in Nigeria. In the interview, he talked about cryptocurrencies along some questions answered.
https://punchng.com/investors-will-lose-crypto-assets-in-coming-years-sfs-capital-ceo/Crypto investments have gained ground in Nigeria. A lot of Nigerians are investing in crypto. Why do you think this is happening?
Cryptocurrency is an exciting innovation supported by blockchain technology. Generally, Nigerians are very adventurous, and some people believe it provides a hedge against devaluation. Unfortunately, cryptocurrencies are unregulated. And this is a major problem. Due to the lack of regulation, many people would lose the bulk of their investments in the coming years.
In my opinion, putting money in cryptocurrency now is not investing; it’s more of gambling. So, many things can go wrong. The crypto exchanges basically act like banks, fund managers and trading exchanges, all in one without any regulatory oversight. There will be many problems in the future. I believe enthusiasm would deepen massively. But I also believe when regulation catches up and regulators become actively involved, the abuses would reduce and the attractiveness would increase.
He deemed cryptocurrencies as gambling. Some members on this forum on general board including myself deem most altcoins as gambling. One of the reasons I consider many altcoins as gambling is because they are shit coins, they devalue more during bear market and they may not attain all-time-high after bitcoin has attained all-time-high. During the recent bull market that got bitcoin above $20000, many altcoins like Filecoin, Solana, Gala, APT and many other pumped almost or over 100%, but also can be their fall.
I consider cryptocurrencies to be under-regulated, not unregulated because the government are trying ways cryptocurrencies can be regulated.
I can not consider exchanges to banks because banks are safer unlike exchanges. Fiat can be kept in bank because it is the safest place to keep fiat, or the use of eNaira wallet but which its adoption in Nigeria is very low as Nigerians are not using eNaira. Exchanges are not safe to keep your coins, the safest place to keep your coins are on noncustodial wallets (like cold wallets or hardware wallets which are the safest) where you have the full control of your coins, unlike on exchanges that can even be hacked or exchange owners misappropriating your money, like FTX.
I will against if it is about bitcoin, also as the market is still not in the bull direction in long term yet, in coming years (2024/2025), we should expect bull run, but I will consider it correct too because some people will prefer to invest on shit coins that will make their investment to be in the money loss direction.