February 28, 2018/CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has again cautioned Nigerians to be wary of investments in cryptocurrency, stressing that virtual currencies are not legal tender in Nigeria.

A press release issued by the Bank on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, reiterated that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ripples, Monero, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Onecoin, etc and Exchanges such as NairaEx were not licensed or regulated by the CBN.

The statement signed by the Bank’s Acting Director in charge of Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, emphasized that dealers and investors in any kind of cryptocurrency in Nigeria were not protected by law, thus may be unable to seek legal redress in event of failure of the exchangers or collapse of the business.

The CBN therefore warned Nigerians to be cautious against investing in cryptocurrency as doing so would be at their own risk. It will be recalled that the CBN on January 12, 2017, issued a circular to Banks and other financial institutions on virtual currency operations in Nigeria.

In spite of all effort by the Bank to improve certain parameters of the economy, he said lenders had failed Nigerians. Speakers at the strategy session were unequivocal in their attempt to find solution to the failure of the commercial banks to rescue the situation. The representative of the only commercial bank at the meeting, First Bank of Nigeria, said that everything boiled down to the huge risk involved in giving credit to SMEs.