Topic: Nigeria Economy before and Now after cryptocurrency Ban. (Read 364 times)

Definitely no reason to be banning crypto.

It's not going to stop the depreciation of a faltering fiat currency, that's for sure. And I'm not exactly sure how they plan on enforcing these rules on P2P transactions which are obviously going to occur in spite of regulations.

Perhaps if they positioned themselves a bit more positively towards crypto it'll actually help with their efforts of economic recovery. Have some incentives for quality talent and crypto companies to come to Nigeria - that's the model that Malta/Singapore etc. followed to perfection.

Reminds me of Zimbabwe when they had inflation they banned the stockmarket for being the cause of it.  The logic was that the share prices rising so much and 'creating' money was the main engine of inflation.   Of course halted trading of stock prices did not alter anything, those companies just had no official price but still people will keep their own book value and possibly even exchange shares anyway so whats the use in banning the public knowledge of a price or the price discovery mechanism of a free market.   
   Nigeria is large enough to be part of OPEC, they should be benefitting from the high oil price.  Thats the easiest way for them to fix their losses, increase efficiency of trade done in their main resource not ban any freedom elsewhere.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies came to Nigerians as a lifeline, which is why they will not get rid of them for more prohibitions made by the government.

On the other hand, the Nigerian government attempts to introduce the eNaira to serve its population without a bank and provide them with tools to boost the economy. As long as corruption levels do not decrease, economic growth is unlikely. In addition to stopping the violence in the creation of plans to make the nation safer.

The prestigious firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) did a study and revealed the following:

The elites in the third world nations hate their citizens that are trying to do well in the society, that is why there is no employment to the youths. Nigerian Universities graduate thousands of graduates every year but these graduated youths are just keep or left on the street to survive, yet if these youths are doing well from the street, the government will send EFCC , police and SARS to go after the person. Nigerian Government is not for the Citizens but for the elites only.

Talking of Nigerian Economy. It's even laughable, I am not criticizing the country but that is the fact and true. In any country, if the following are found higher than the normal life style of the citizens, that state or Country is a fail Country.
1. Inflation
2. Unemployment
3. Squarlor
4. No electricity
5. No pipe born water.
6. No free government hospital

All these things are found in the Nigerian State. And we call them macroeconomics deficiencies

A country whose economy isn't managed by the best brains a degradation of the economy and living conditions is inevitable. As for the ban on cryptocurrency affecting the value of a country's currency is what I can't envinced, cause the value of the currency is not dependant on Bitcoin or cryptocurrency.

Although it may be true, the ban must have in a lot of ways affected many youths that had taken solace in the cryptocurrency space for a stream of income. 

Even before the Nigerian government decided to ban cryptocurrency, their economy was already depreciating. If they really want their economy to get better I believe that they have much work to do and I don’t really think it’s something that has to do with cryptocurrency.

But, I do agree with you that cryptocurrency would have provided more jobs because there were already some cryptocurrency exchanges that we are opening their offices in Nigeria such as binance.com. By doing so that would have provided a lot of job opportunities. And also the youths can as well rely on cryptocurrency trading to make income. But cryptocurrency shouldn’t be your only source of income, you should also have something else doing, because this is an unstable business.

I think it all started during the #ENDSARS protest that took place in Nigeria in 2020. The government were trying to stop people who were funding the protest and a lot of them utilized the use of cryptocurrency to fund the then ongoing protest. And that was why the Central Bank of Nigeria decided to ban cryptocurrency by stopping banks from dealing with centralized crypto exchanges and blocking suspected accounts that traded crypto.

I don't know how far they have gone with it now. But, in the case of decentralized trading or peer-to-peer, we all know for sure that there will be no way for the government to stop the people from doing that, even if they want to.

It's not just about more job opportunities but you have to understand that something like Bitcoins, connects the whole world's economy with each other, making it better for the people to engage in world's economy and find international jobs which they otherwise cannot do  under normal circumstances since the less developed countries do not have such an integrated system.

Banks are more or see like the middle road, when you are trading, you need them undoubtedly therefore the government should not only provide better rules and regulations but they should also understand that banning won't do a thing since people can also use it without letting them know about that.

They are just going years back now because of banning cryptocurrencies which is getting more and more important in today's world.

Banks should be stayed out of this, that is the reason CBN fineed those banks, CBN banned crypto transactions in Nigeria. But p2p, the CBN has no power, Nigerians can transact from one person to another without the bank knowing. There are centralized exchanges that Nigerians are using, they should have been restricted if truly there was total ban on cryptocurrencies in Nigeria.

The CBN is the central bank of Nigeria, the governments are the president, senators and the judiciary. Government have control over centralized p2p trading, but the government do not yet interfere with crypto trading in Nigeria, only CBN banned cryptocurrencies. Only what could be hard and would be hard for the government is decentralized means of trading, government can restrict Nigerians not to trade on centralized exchanges but yet left Nigerians to trade cryptocurrencies.

You guys must have forgotten the situation on ground then was to stop money laundering and how unstable the Naira was before the ban ,so there was Increasingly high Demand for crypto transaction and less for Naira , So most investors in the country saw what was about to happen and hedge their funds by moving their money into digital asset as crypto were seeing a significant increase in price.

Who is Central of Bank of Nigeria? and what is the difference between central Bank and the Government of Nigeria ? By you having to respond this way. It will be interesting to know if you can give detailed differences between the two.
Your point is mainly based on the fact you can have access to p2p trading platform and the Government does not have control over it. Aside that you should known the full effect and therefore believed it was a Ban.

What do you mean by not completely ban, ban is ban can you transact legaly using your bank or bank card?. when a Government of the country  stopped crypto transactions then whom else will do so for you to call it a ban, anything your doing right now is illegal and back door business in the country, secondly there has been clamp down on accounts and fines placed on banks recently involved in helping out people to carry out crypto transaction. Go do more research on Access bank , UBA , Zenith etc recent fine if you're not current.

A ban on crypto trading is a form of regulation.

I think what you mean is, regulators might have tried for a more even and fair type of regulation. As opposed to adversarial and heavy handed banning. If I remember right, nigerian regulators were surprised at the response and aftermath of the bans they themselves implemented. Perhaps what is needed are better regulators who better understand crypto markets, who can better predict outcomes.

African nations like zimbabwe are known for hyperinflation and negative economic conditions. Good leadership at the highest levels is not common there. Good leadership is becoming less common around the world as we speak. This negative trend reduces the reliability of regulation, across the board, unfortunately.

The system of the Nigeria government has always been to suppress the citizens that they become their mini gods and worship (do) what ever they comma. They do this to the citizens so when the next election comes they can buy their votes easily as a result of the citizens not been financially capable of handling their everyday needs. The merge of Bitcoin (most especially trading of the currency against other fiats or crypto), has given the citizens of the country (especially youths) a livelihood. People can now take care of themselves from their profits without having to rely on the governments (Job) which resulted to them speaking out constantly on social media and through organized protest.

The government are seeing all this unfolds and knows they are losing their power and are threatened. All this bans from the twitter ban to crypto are all targeted at the youths to silent them. Nigeria politicians are very smart, the government didn't come out themselves to ban trading of cryptocurrency both used the CBN. All this government bodies are controlled by the president as they all report/take instructions from him. The economy could have benefited from the trading of cryptocurrency in regards to taxes and job creations but the politicians don't want the citizens to be financially stable., They want total control and best way to do that is by controlling the finances.

Nigeria is the most populous country in africa, i didn't expect nigeria to be banned cryptocurrencies, but the positive news i heard is the growth of cryptocurrencies is fantastic in africa, reports from economic sites stated that crypto growth in 2022 reached more than 2500% and i'm sure the impact of nigeria being banned crypto will not have a big impact.

Take away cryptocurrency related issue from Nigerian economy because it doesn't relate to it or causing any fall of the local currency just like any other countries, cryptocurrency doesn't lead to the fall of the currency. Nigerian problem in economy is very clear, Nigeria is highly an importing country. Nigeria hardly produce anything even as little as rubber by products from crude oil. They only depend on the importation of finished product of their exported raw materials and they rebuy at high price, so how will such improve the economy and strengthen the naira?

Example of Russia trying to recover the strength of their currency, ruble, and have made policy to receive payment in ruble, this is being focused and determine but these qualities are lacking in Nigerian leadership.

Just replace cheap price of oil and gas and see how transportation fees will reduce and that will instantly drop inflation rate and exchange rate also.

I haven't seen a country where banning bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will boost their economy. They are just trying to justify their lies, as they cannot control bitcoin and fear their power will wane. But a complete ban on bitcoin and crypto is not possible, which can make it difficult for miners but investors can still trade using peer-to-peer.

Instead of banning crypto, I hope they will soon reconsider taxing it, instead of banning it outright. This will benefit both the government and investors.

CBN can not do anything so far it is p2p, not mentioning the purpose of a transaction as cryptocurrency in bank transactions, then no problem. After the ban, crypto p2p adoption increased. Nigerians are trading cryptocurrencies very well.

Nigerians are even able to use centralized exchanges, the centralized exchanges are not restricted from Nigeria. Nigerians are buying and selling cryptocurrencies.

Like I have said before. Before the ban, was inflation. After the ban, the inflation continue. The ban is not the case of the inflation.

Possible that most of the crypto that is being bought in the Nigerian universe was being transferred to the off shore accounts. These days it’s way easy to trade with your broker and what could be best place than than off shore brokers who can make you money like hell if done right.

But above all I’m not sure if that is the main reason. Rest it could be people of Nigeria just finding way to grow their devalued niara using the crypto currency and have their daily needs completed.

That is very much true! Many countries in Africa is facing unemployment crisis. So banning an entire ecosystem means, even less jobs for the technically sound youths of the country. Cryptocurrency could have opened doors to hundreds of jobs in Nigeria for the educated mass which they are currently missing out. But it seems the case for every corrupt government. They just don't want people to have money otherwise, they will start raising their voice for other infrastructures. If the government can keep the people busy for their basic needs like Food and housing, they will be suppressed and busy on those things only. That's the basic of any corrupt government and that's how they rule for years after years. They are just afraid of the shifting of power from their own hand to the commoners. 

https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/nigerias-central-bank-fines-access-bank-stanbic-ibtc-and-uba-dollar19-million-for/dtxh3kc

The link above shows that, Federal government of Nigeria are not responsible for Crypto Currency Ban but the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Yesterday a fine was imposed on three big banks for not listening to CBN about blocking accounts that are directly involved in Crypto Currencies ( United Bank of Africa) (Access Bank of Nigeria) and lasty (Stanbic IBTC Bank)

But honestly speaking, the Countries economy getting no further but rather backwards, it's simply been ruled and governed by self-centered, scavenging old dickheads who are simply old school.
But that hasn't stopped Nigerians from holding and buying Bitcoin and other Crypto Currencies, over my ends at a certain time, if you're cut having a trust wallet of Bitcoin wallet, you'll be held by the police, but gradually all of that are no longer done.

With the general elections coming up next year, I'll advise Nigerians to vote for a president that will infuse Crypto Currencies in the system.

Regardless of the ban, I assume Bitcoin is still very much vibrant among a certain population in Nigeria. The ban didn't eradicate Bitcoin. If I am not mistaken, there are a number of users from Nigeria in this forum. And they could probably testify that despite the ban on Bitcoin in their country, they could still buy and sell Bitcoin quite easily.

So whatever happened to the fiat economy of Nigeria, it mustn't have anything to do with their policy on Bitcoin. I doubt the ban has contributed to the falling value of Naira.

If Nigerian government really cared about their people then the living condition there isn't that much worse there even before the ban and the covid, these politicians care about filling their pockets by exploiting the natural resources and again illiterate government make the life of such people by restricting the available opportunities as well. But people have the choice of selecting the right leaders so until majority of them realize it then nothing is going to change.

Yes they should evaluate those situation since if they didn't act right towards those results and they let their people suffer from unemployment or things that can give them benefits then they are not putting a right person in the set of power. If there government continue to ban crypto on their circulation they should take action on next election day and vote those person who support it and who aim the welfare of their people.

We know crypto creates good in life of all people especially to those unemployed and chances for youth  to change their lives is so high so I guess this one really needed to take action especially to their government.

Every government will have clear visibility of the country's situation. Taking the same into account it needs to make changes to the system. There is a huge number of people who depend on cryptocurrency for their living and this will affect the people. Apart from this the government ranks on the top order in corruption. Making a solution for the same could boost its economy than making bans over the cryptocurrency usage by the common people.

their government should have evaluated their crypto situation first before moving to this action. they have people who are trying to earn a living via crypto, and if they will remove it, where will they get their money to buy food from. because earning few bucks from crypto matters to these people. and now, their government is hindering them to at least achieve a decent life. just hoping that they will re-consider their position very soon.

Even if its banned but doesnt mean that citizens couldnt really still engage with crypto thing but well we know that it is risky because once caught then you know the consequences but we know that this isnt something

that impossible for someone to deal with without being traced nor being watch.Its not surprising that government would really be having that aggressive stance towards crypto due to decentralization aspect.

We've seen several countries had already done such decision but what are the differences or changes? None right?

How are the investors affected? They can still buy and hold. What is affected are crypto institutions which will not be developed which can be as a result of what CBN did.

You can still use cryptocurrencies, then you still have the freedom. Check Nigeria economy before February 5, 2021 when crypto was banned by CBN and compare it to 2015, you will know how Nigeria economy has been bad right from 2015 when Nigeria had the highest gross domestic product. Even the economy has been bad since independence.

It is still legal to own cryptocurrency in Nigeria since its not totally banned but since we are talking about their Central Bank, it affects the decision of the investors. Yes, their economy is not on a good position since then and their politicians still preventing their people to have a decent life at least and have a financial freedom with a help of cryptocurrency, if the government listen to central bank and fully banned crypto, I think they will stay left behind as many countries already sees the importance of cryptocurrency to their economy, Nigeria is still far from rising and becoming a great country, there’s still a lot of problems that needs to be address on this place.

Cryptocurrencies are banned in Nigeria by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the government did not ban cryptocurrencies, Nigerians are still easily buying, holding and trading cryptocurrencies. The Nigerian economy is not good right from the beginning after colonial masters left the country, before CBN banned cryptocurrencies, the economy has been falling, it is also falling after cryptocurrencies were banned by the CBN, not that the bad economy is unusual.

How can high volume of cryptocurrency transactions affect a country's currency, maybe you are mistaking what the actual reason for the depreciation was. Printing more money to help the covid situation which caused inflation, and bad economic decisions probably could have caused that negative impact to the economy you are referring to.
From my research, crypto is not completely banned in Nigeria, banks and other financial institutions are only restricted from handling cryptocurrency transactions, so don't you think you are making more out of it, people in Nigeria can still use crypto through peer to peer method, and i know they are all doing it that way and nothing changed for them. If a crypto ban is going to have a serious effect like you are saying, then it will be a complete ban, and even if it is people will still use crypto, though illegally then.

Before the ban on crypto trading in Nigeria it was as if the high volume of cryptocurrency transactions in the country was the major issue facing Naira at that moment and being the cause of its depreciation in price and so have a negative impact to the Economy. As at then the exchange rate Naira to Dollar was around #400-#500 to a $1 dollar.
Before the ban living were a bit easier then than now for most youths without jobs who engaged on crypto trading and investment.
Then the ban came and brought more suffering and hardship to the youths who was restricted from crypto transactions because to most of them, it was only source of income and they were leveraging from that opportunity due to in availability of job for already graduated and fresh graduating youths.

Taking a look at the Economy then and now there isn't much better changes done to the Economy for banning cryptocurrency transaction, rather the Economy is experiencing high inflation and the price of goods and services are skyrocketing.
Instead of the Naira to even gain value it has suffered further depreciation in price and as at the time of writing, the exachange rate a dollar ($1) to Naira is currently around #580-#600 black market rate compared to what it was before the ban.

SOLUTION
therefore what the Federal Government and central Bank of Nigeria should have done is find a way to regulate cryptocurrency and it activities, this would have created more Job opportunities and help bolster international remittance from profits generated from crypto investment and transaction.

In general I see no sense or positive impact on Nigeria Economy for  banning crypto transaction,  rather it worsen the state of living for the youths who found thier selves in the business.