The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has again cautioned Nigerians to be wary of investments in cryptocurrency and that virtual currencies are not legal tender in Nigeria.
A statement by the apex bank today, Wednesday, reiterated that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ripples, Monero, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Onecoin, etc and Exchanges such as NairaEx are not licensed or regulated by the CBN.
The statement which was signed by the CBN’s Acting Director in charge of Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, emphasized that dealers and investors in any kind of crypto currency in Nigeria are not protected by law, adding that they may be unable to seek legal redress in event of failure of the exchangers or collapse of the business.
The CBN therefore warned Nigerians against investing in cryptocurrency as doing so would be at their own risk.
It will be recalled that the CBN on January 12 last year, issued a circular to Banks and other financial institutions on virtual currency operations in Nigeria.
In the 2017 circular signed by the Director of Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Kevin Amugo, the CBN had among other issues, noted that virtual currencies were traded in exchange platforms that are unregulated all over the world. It further noted that transactions in virtual transactions in virtual currencies were largely untraceable and anonymous thereby making them susceptible to abuse by criminals, in money laundering and financing of terrorism. [myad]
