Following CBN’s ban of crypto trading in Nigeria, Nigerian senators have reacted with a majority arguing against the ban.
However, Senator Sani Musa of the Niger East Senatorial District argued for the ban insisting that Bitcoin was responsible for the naira’s decline rather than mounting foreign debt, decades of poor economic policies, and corruption.
According to the senator in his remark: “Cryptocurrency has become a worldwide transaction of which you cannot even identify who owns what. The technology is so strong that I don’t see the kind of regulation that we can do. Bitcoin has made our currency almost useless or valueless.”
On the other hand, Senators against the ban during the plenary session include Senator Biodun Olujimi of the Ekiti South Constituency. According to Olujimi, the goal of crypto regulation in Nigeria should be focused on preventing its use by rogue actors, adding:
“We didn’t create Cryptocurrency and so we cannot kill it and cannot also refuse to ensure it works for us. These children are doing great business with it and they are getting results and Nigeria cannot immune itself from this sort of business.”
The CBN ban has been met with criticism from several stakeholders in the Nigerian crypto scene. Many crypto exchange platforms have taken steps to disable fiat funding while encouraging their customers to make use of peer-to-peer channels.
The panel, however, resolved to invite the CBN governor to a hearing before the appropriate committees to discuss issues related to crypto regulations in the country.