A.E Samaan
In today's article, I want to talk about centralization and regulation in Nigeria! Why we hate it, why we don't want it and how it has brought alot of confusion in the financial growth of the economy.
Background Story:
February 2021, Cryptocurrency was banned in Nigeria. It was ban in the sense that, all financial institutions were asked to stop crypto related transactions in the country. The banks were warned seriously that they should not assist any crypto related transaction, instead they should report it for sanction.
That meant that if i transfer money to you and i include a crypto related memo, my funds will most likely be seized or lost. So Nigerians were left to transact crypto via peer to peer.
Guess what?
Our love for crypto increased! We kept on buying and selling from each other. Although, we had to rely on exchanges like Binance for secured p2p transactions. We have grown bigger and stronger.
Nigeria’s Bitcoin P2P trading surge by 16% since CBN enforced crypto ban
In the article written above, Olumide Adesina reported that,
Nigeria’s peer-to-peer transactions rose by 16% on an annual basis. Nigeria’s P2P volumes on two major P2P platforms (Paxful and Localbitcoins) currently stand at $400 million, followed by Kenya with more than $160 million and South Africa with $117 million.
Now that's crazy considering the extra we pay to buy and hold bitcoin.
Now Let Me Tell You What is Crazier
The fact that about 8 months later, Nigeria went on to create a digital currency called E-Naira.
E-naira is the digital form of our currently "Naira" and it is built on the Blockchain! A technology that prevents duplication just like crypto!
I heard about this digital coin back then in October and the first thing i told my friend was "Nah, Nigerians won't like it"
And i was right!
Now there are many reasons why we don't like the E-Naira. The most important reason is because it is regulated and controlled by the central bank of Nigeria.
It is claimed that the reason why they created a digital currency is because they want to enable easy payments between Nigerians, and probably increase revenue. However, there are alot of things wrong with this.
We Haven't Solved Our Physical Naira Problem!
It is funny how the country brings up electronic naira when the physical one is struggling. For crying out loud, our naira depreciates everyday! Let's say we all agree to use the digital naira. What then happens to the physical naira? All these and many more is yet to be unravelled.
One of the reasons why i decided to write about this today is because of the fact that I'm happy with the way Nigerians are taking the situation.
Nobody is Buying The E-Naira Idea
It is so bad that the IMF had to come out to say something LOL
IMF Urges Nigerians to Trust the eNaira and Other Central Bank Digital Currencies because Crypto is No Match
Now, when you read that article, you will understand how desperate they are. They did ban a decentralized finance and bring up an abomination and expect us to trust it.
It doesn't work like that. It just so crazy how the government fail so bad to realize this schemes won't work. It one thing to ban crypto, it's another time compare it to some abomination created that won't last.
In conclusion...
We don't like regulations, we don't like hidden schemes. E-naira won't succeed in Nigeria. Many don't even know about it. Currently, the central bank is very desperate and are urging us to trust it. But just like every other thing done by the government, we don't trust the electronic naira. I consider it as an abomination!
Some of my articles you might like...
A Better Chance At Financial Freedom
Blogging On Hive : The LeoFinance Factor
WHY WE HATE THE BANKS IN NIGERIA.
MONEY MONEY MONEY.
The Side Effect Of An Increase In Taxation On Nigerians.
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I love to engage with others and i love communication.I believe life is all about staying happy and maintaining peace.
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