Nigeria eyes aggressive rules against illegal cryptocurrency trading

May 8, 2024 Vaseline stjohnson 0

The head of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has said he plans to update and implement additional rules to combat illegal digital asset trading in the country’s cryptocurrency industry.

According to Reuters, SEC Director-General Emomotimi Agama on Tuesday told major blockchain and cryptocurrency institutions that he plans to improve rules in his industry, saying the naira should be delisted from peer-to-peer trading to prevent handling.

This follows the backdrop of news that the Federal Government intends to start charging domestic money transfers to address cybersecurity.

“I want to seek your cooperation… as we implement in the coming days the regulations that would take control of these areas.” Said the head of the SEC.

Nigerian officials have clamped down on cryptocurrency activities, blaming users for manipulating the country’s local currency and weakening it.

The Nigerian currency has lost strength significantly due to a shortage of dollars, while the crypto industry in the country has flourished.

Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest markets for cryptocurrency trading and is primarily used by its young generation of citizens, driven by the severe lack of dollars to pay for goods and services abroad.

Many remote employees working for companies abroad also receive their salaries and payments for their services in USDT, a stablecoin pegged to the dollar.

The SEC boss said concerns over peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto trading activities and its perceived impact on the naira-to-dollar exchange prompted collective action and dialogue with the country’s financial ecosystem by the regulatory body. who heads

Agama, however, opined that the guidelines for digital asset trading are currently being reviewed for proper regulation and will cover activities within the cryptocurrency ecosystem, from wallet providers to exchange platform providers and brokerage services.

What to know

In 2022, the SEC published a set of rules for digital assets, in an attempt to try to find a middle ground between an outright ban on crypto assets and their unregulated use. The SEC is now updating those rules to match the country’s current financial realities.

  • In March, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, said it would halt all transactions and trading in naira following Nigeria’s crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges.
  • Nigerian authorities are also detaining Binance executives on money laundering and tax evasion charges that the company has contested.
  • Nairametrics previously reported that Binance CEO Richard Teng expressed his opposition to the continued detention of Binance executives, saying that Nigeria is setting a bad precedent for global companies by detaining the company’s executives.
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