The ban of crypto currency by the Nigerian central bank has caused significant disruption to the market, according to the director-general of Nigerian’s Securities and Exchange Commission, Lamido Yuguda.
After the meeting of the Capital market committee on Thursday, was where the SEC director-general made the above stated statement, as reported by The Guardian.
Prior to this time, it was reported that servicing of Crypto exchanges was banned by the Central bank of Nigeria in February.
The planned cryptocurrency regulatory framework has been cancelled premised on the Central bank ban, Yuguda stated.
Until exchanges can operate bank account in the country, the suspension of the commission’s crypto regulatory plans will remain in place.
As part of his address, the SEC chief maintained that the commission was working with the CBN to create an optimal regulatory regime for cryptocurrencies in the country. According to Yuguda, the crypto ban aside, the SEC continues to make strides in supporting the growth of fintech in Nigeria.
Following the CBN crypto ban, cryptocurrency buying and selling are only possible via peer-to-peer channels leading to massive premiums on digital currency prices. In March, the central bank governor remarked that the CBN was not against crypto trading in the country but that such transactions cannot occur through commercial banks.
In a previous statement shared with Cointelegraph, crypto exchange platform Lumo reacted to the CBN ban stating that “blanket bans push people underground,” adding:
“Pushing people underground also makes it easier for scammers to exploit Nigerians, and we are already seeing Bitcoin trade at huge premiums in the country as a result of the ban. Other companies have made the choice to find workarounds that are less visible for regulators — for example, peer-to-peer trading. Our view is that P2P trading would go against the spirit of the CBN’s directive.”