Topic: Is VASP guidelines helping Bitcoin adoption in Nigeria? (Read 94 times)

The government should lift that ban of crypto currency transactions within the government financial institutions and facilities because that would bring best encouragement to the public believing the government is in support of Bitcoin with the fact that we can run our transactions in the bank.

That would give much privilege that even most bank shareholders may easily diversify to Bitcoin investment and would be easy for our expert traders to run their international transactions while the capitalization of the universal digital currency as Bitcoin gives dealers equality of their funds in as much they are holding on Bitcoin.

Lots of people are ready to adopt Bitcoin in the country, but they are skeptical on the governments next move on Bitcoin adopters and the next policies affecting cryptocurrency in general. It makes people want to play safe by totally avoiding anything that has to do with crypto in order to avoid victimization by government when they ever policies against Bitcoin as we've seen in the past.

Well from my own perspective the government are somewhat cocky in their dealings with crypto and crypto related activities. Although the VASP licenses are there to  validate a government approved Crypto business activity, the same government has stopped financial institutions from dealing directly with crypto transactions. Then which people are to patronize these crypto businesses? Are they not still those people who have accounts with financial institutions that you've restricted from dealing with crypto directly?

This is a form of trap to me to fish out individuals that are involved in crypto related activities and victimize them. I'm pretty sure they would be monitoring these accounts linked to the organizations that owns the Bitcoin ATMs and track any local transactions involving citizens accounts, then wait for bigger sums to land into it, block it and start prosecuting you for dealing with crypto with your bank account.

Personally, I'll not slot in my card into those machines unless I'm ready to forgo the funds in that account if things crystallize.

It is obvious that there had become some significant admissions that Nigeria is quite advancing to integrate accommodative reliance Bitcoin transactions.

This technological infrastructure of the VAST would encourage individuals with the insightfulness that government now supports this crypto digital currency.

I am sure it would create some good level of encouragements amongst enthusiasts and the public in general.
And the institutional VAST installation in Nigeria is sure to had created a source of revenue for the government. Tha is also an lucrative impact of generating incomes for the country.

VASP guidelines ought to help bitcoin adoption in Nigeria but the challenge is policy inconsistency in of the government. Today they are friendly with bitcoin, the next day they are coming hard on people and businesses dealing on bitcoin. This bring some form of distrust in operators and investors alike. We also saw the move to regulate cryptocurrency few months back but as of today, it is looking like such plans have been abandoned which further stresses the fact that our government have not really taken a stand in bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general. So, people will continue to navigate carefully and slowly until there is a clear and reliable policy in place that will protect who ever is dealing on bitcoin in Nigeria.

The truth of the fact is that getting a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license is always necessary for the operations of any financial company in any geographical location, but the only problem I think we have always had was CBN's inability to draft a clear and plain terms for companies to begin operations in this country. Inasmuch as they are genuine and offers legit services, since Nigeria has got the market potential for all Tech, crypto or online related stuff.
However, Nigeria already have a big market potential when it comes to crypto and Bitcoin in particular, despite the small issue our govt had with Binance. So if the rules and terms of this recent Virtual Asset Service Provider license can be made easy as possible for crypto firms, it will really be a welcome development.

Researches have shown that there are two Bitcoin ATMS in Lagos state. The first is located at Dazey lounge and bar, Ajah while the second one is at CI critical solutions Ikeja. There are also some exchanges like Yellow card,  Bitfxt Technology and other exchanges that operate financial accounts within the country.

Their existence is lawful because CBN released the VASP Guidelines and relaxed its over two-year restriction on financial institutions operating accounts for cryptocurrency service providers or processing crypto-related transactions. While financial institutions remained banned from dealing in cryptocurrency, the ban on facilitating transactions for crypto businesses was lifted. Therefore, pursuant to the VASP Guidelines, financial institutions are now permitted to open bank accounts for crypto businesses, provided they fulfil the requirements set out in the VASP Guidelines. One such requirement is that the crypto platform must have obtained a relevant licence or registration from the SEC.
Following the CBN’s issuance of the VASP Guidelines, there were high hopes that Nigeria’s cryptocurrency regulatory environment would become more favourable in 2024.
https://www.ibanet.org/overview-of-cryptocurrency-regulatory-landscape-nigeria

Do you think this VASP guidelines and operating financial accounts for crypto business is very instrumental to Bitcoin adoption in Nigeria?.
Are we making progress?
What other developments can better promote Bitcoin adoption?.