Vice President Yemi Osinbajo Calls For Regulation Of Cryptocurrency

Lawyer, politician and incumbent Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has called for the lifting of the ban on cryptocurrency. He is calling for a crypto regulation instead of a total ban. He explained the role cryptocurrency plays in the global financial ecosystem and suggested that the ban on cryptocurrency in Nigeria is a disruption to progress.

Few weeks ago, the Central Bank of Nigeria released a circular instructing banks and other financial institutions to close accounts that operated in cryptocurrencies; that cryptocurrency had been banned in the country. Few days ago, the CBN Governor and Harvard alumni; Godwin Emefiele, explained the CBN’s reason for the ban. According to him, cryptocurrency has no place in the country, that it is being used for illicit actions and terrorism and that only people whose hands were not clean would be bothered by the cryptocurrency ban. Of course, this sparked a lot of sentiments. Many people who could not find any justification for the CBN ban on cryptocurrency even had more reasons to disagree with the CBN’s ban.

Prior to the CBN ban on cryptocurrency, the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission had plans on regulating cryptocurrency in the country but this plan had to be put on hold after the Central Bank of Nigeria announced the ban.

The Vice President advised the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Central Bank in his speech, to create a regulatory framework instead of completely banning cryptocurrency in the country. He gave this advice with the understanding of CBN’ reasons for the ban.

The Vice President stressed the importance of cryptocurrency. The endless benefit and how it would go a long way in changing the financial stance of the nation from what we know it and the opportunities that would arise from regulating cryptocurrency were explained by him. He made it known that whether we like it or not, the world is changing and this change would also affect traditional banking, therefore the country needs to be prepared for such a change that’s already knocking on the country’s door.

It is pertinent to know that cryptocurrency is still thriving in the country with peer-to-peer transactions and Nigeria is the second country in the world when it comes to figures from peer-to-peer transactions.