I saw
this while checking crypto news today, but it is actually not true.
This year, USD increased above ₦850 before it dropped to around ₦750 now. I have read about bitcoin selling at premium, but I noticed that people are getting this wrong at times, if it is pertaining to Nigeria.
If you use search engine, you will see central bank of Nigeria dollar to naira conversion rate which is the official rate of dollar conversion to naira
CBN rate,
$1 = ₦460 naira as of when I wanted to ost this
Parallel rate
$1 = 752
CBN rate is the official rate of converting dollar to naira, it is what search engine would likely bring up if you searched for dollar to naira conversion. But in Nigeria, people use parallel rate, which is also called the black market rate. The parallel rate is usually nothing new and it is what Nigerians are using to convert to naira and what crypto exchanges are using for p2p and trading pairs, but while CBN rate is only displayed as mark price but not the rate Nigerians are actually using to buy or sell bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.
USD CBN rate today is ₦460
Bitcoin price now at $23700
Multiply both to get bitcoin price in Nigeria which is ₦10,902,000
But not what people are using for the conversion to buy or sell their bitcoin
USD parallel rate today is ₦752
Bitcoin price now at ₦23700
Multiply both to get bitcoin price in Nigeria which is ₦17,822,400
This is the rate bitcoin buyers and sellers are using
This is the news:
The price of Bitcoin in Nigeria has skyrocketed to well above market levels amid continued efforts by the central bank to push its citizens into digitalized cash.
At the time of writing, the price of 1 BTC on Nigerian crypto exchange NairaEX is currently 17.8 million Naira, equating to a whopping $38,792.
This represents more than a 60% premium over the current market price of Bitcoin, which is around $23,700 at the time of writing.
It comes as the Central Bank of Nigeria has continued to impose limits on ATM cash withdrawals amid an ongoing effort to accelerate its shift to a cashless society.
The bolded part of the quote pissed me off, how can it relate to bitcoin selling at premium. Bitcoin is digital too while cashless policy is about digital. Nigerians can still withdraw above ₦500000 ($665, parallel rate) while organizations can withdrawal up to ₦5 million ($6650, parallel rate) before extra charges.