The vice president of Nigeria speaks good about cryptocurrencies and blockchain, that it is better to regulate cryptocurrencies rather than ban. You can check the link below or click on the image for the YouTube video, he speaks on cryptocurrencies and blockchain around 13th minute 10 second of the video, quoted below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIAmxeBy0eYNow on the topical issue of blockchain technology, digital assets and and cryptocurrencies, let me say two things
First is that there is no question that blockchain technology generally and cryptocurrencies in particular will in the coming years challenge traditional banking, including reserved banking, in ways we can not yet imaging, so we need to be prepared for that...shift, and it may come sooner than later. Already remittance systems are being challenged, blockchain technology will provide far cheaper options to the kind of fees paid today for cross border transfers by banks.
I am sure you are all aware of the traditional swift system is facing from new systems like ripple which is based on the blockchain distributed ledger technology with its own crypto tokens...
Clearly the future of money and finance especially for traditional banking must be as exciting as it is frightening. But as we see in many other sectors, disruption makes room for efficiency and progress.
Secondly I fully appreciate the position of the CBN, the SEC and some of the anti corruption agencies on the possible abuses of cryptocurrencies and their other well articulated concerns. But I believe that their position should be the subject of further reflection, there is a room for regulation here, and is in the place of our monetary authorities and SEC to provide a robust speculatory regime that addreses these serious concerns without necessarily killing the goose that might lay the golden eggs, so it should be fruitful and knowledge based regulation and not prohibition in my view. The point I am making is that some of the exciting development we see call for prudence and care in adopting them, and this has been very well articulated by regulatory authorities. But we must act with knowledge not with fear. We must ensure that we are in a position to benefit and in a position to prevent any of the possible halfaside effect or even criminal acts that may arise in consequence of adopting or taking any of these options.