…The CBN circular is retrogressive and a tacit sabotage of efforts of Buhari Presidency for Nigeria to lead Africa in digital currency race- Slug
The Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) should reverse its ban of cyrptocurrency and instead support ongoing efforts by the Security and Exchange Commission(SEC) to create a regulatory framework, a Nigerian cryptocurrency group, Blockchain Alliance has announced in a statement jointly signed by Abibat Ibrahim, Coordinator-Northern Zone, James Kudaisi, Coordinator, Western Zone and Elias Chukwudi, Coordinator, Eastern zone.
Reacting to the CBN circular, the alliance described the action as “a demonstration of ignorance of how block chain technology works, how no country can stop it and how great nations of the world are already falling on each other to embrace it.
“The value of just one Cryptocurrency exchange exceeds entire value of Nigerian Stock Exchange. This is a multi-trillion industry that transcends national governments. We suspect somewhere some fifth columnists from within the administration may be scheming to sabotage the Buhari Presidency which has been very adaptive to new ideas and innovations.
“Let us repeat that bitcoin cannot be banned by any country because the block chain technology behind it is used in a decentralized way so that no single person or group has control—rather, all users collectively retain control. Decentralized blockchains are immutable”, the group affirmed.
The alliance noted that “in practice crypocurrency is a people to people exchange where banks are not a prerequisite as in normal currency operations. So banning it only drives it underground and deny the authorities any opportunity for a regulatory role.
” Not even US or Europe has the capacity to stop it. China is already issuing Yuan coin and test running it in some of her cities. Governments worlwide are sponsoring their young ones to study and invest in the technology. We therefore find CBN’s circular to be retrogressive, Ill-informed and anti-progress and we call on the Presidency to order a reversal of the policy.
“We further called on CBN to rather support the Security and Exchange Commission which had last year kickstarted a process to engage stakehokders and create a regulatory framework for digital currency. The outcome will address all concerns the CBN and even the tax authority may have.
“The SEC position attunes with best practice worldwide as governments are scrambling to key into a global digital movement that is beyond their control. While we hope the CBN will have a rethink, we urge the SEC to push ahead with its efforts as that remains the best option”, the statement clarified.
While reiterating call for a reversal by the CBN or a superior order from the Presidency, the group warns that the ban if retained will set Nigeria back by more than a decade in global digital currency race and hamper efforts by Abuja to recover from recession.
