{"id":12529,"date":"2021-12-10T18:43:47","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T18:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ci029465a7d00826c3"},"modified":"2025-10-01T13:29:48","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:29:48","slug":"nigerian-minister-calls-for-fair-bitcoin-regulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/markets\/nigerian-minister-calls-for-fair-bitcoin-regulation","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian Minister Calls For Fair Bitcoin Regulation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Nigerian minister is calling for friendly Bitcoin regulation that would promote innovation and allow citizens to plug into the network\u2019s opportunities rather than suppress usage of the possibilities enabled by the technology, reported Bloomberg<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cClem Agba, minister of state for budget and national planning, said uncertainty in regulating cryptocurrencies risks denying government and citizens the chance to maximize opportunities from the technology,\u201d per the report.<\/p>\n

In February, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a reminder<\/a> that it had banned financial institutions from facilitating bitcoin-related transactions back in 2017 and ordered them to shut down accounts<\/a> that had transacted with cryptocurrency exchanges since. The central bank said the decision was necessary to prevent crimes and mitigate risks.<\/p>\n

As the renewed ban came into effect, trading volume in peer-to-peer (P2P) markets skyrocketed quickly. By April, P2P bitcoin trading in Nigeria had increased by 27% as citizens flocked to the alternative bitcoin on-ramp. Although the CBN had banned financial institutions from dealing with BTC, local media outlet Today AG<\/em> <\/em>reported that the central bank did not impose restrictions on Nigerians\u2019 bitcoin usage. That subtle difference, paired with Bitcoin\u2019s decentralized and uncensorable nature, allowed citizens to work around the ban on exchanges and resort to pure P2P solutions to acquire BTC.<\/p>\n

Despite being able to bypass the bitcoin trading ban, Nigerians pointed out the move by the CBN was likely related<\/a> to the \u201cEnd SARS\u201d protests, which in November of last year set out to try and put a halt to police brutality in the country. The CBN ordered banks to freeze protesters\u2019 accounts in hopes to stop the campaigns; however, Bitcoin provided an escape valve<\/a> in that case as well, enabling donations and funding to continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a direct line that can be drawn from the EndSARS protests \u2014<\/em> which carried on partly with funding from cryptocurrency even though CBN restricted several accounts \u2014<\/em> to these latest regulations,\u201d said<\/a> Joachim MacEbong, a senior analyst at SBM Intelligence in Lagos, in February. \u201cThis latest instruction will end up making the case for cryptocurrency adoption better than any other argument. One promises freedom, while the status quo only reinforces restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ten months later, a minister is stepping up to encourage a \u201chealthy cryptocurrency space\u201d in Nigeria. According to Agba, regulation should enable the promotion of Bitcoin and new developments in the industry rather than crack down on businesses.<\/p>\n

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Clem Agba reportedly said uncertainty in Bitcoin regulation risks depriving government and citizens of plugging into opportunities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2572,"featured_media":5184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[2686,220,219],"class_list":{"0":"post-12529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-clem-agba","9":"tag-nigeria","10":"tag-regulation"},"author_data":{"id":2572,"name":"Namcios","nicename":"namcios","avatar_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/pfp-96x96.png"},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/nigeria.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2572"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}