On Thursday, the Nigerian Senate summoned the central Bank officials for briefings after the top financial regulator placed a bar on cryptocurrency.
This development occurred when a motion was moved to that effect. The Senate mandated Committee on financial institutions to invite the CBN
Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and the DG of Security and Exchange Commission, Lamido Yuguda, on threats and opportunities inherent in cryptocurrency.
The invitation became expedient after a directive by CBN to ban cryptocurrency exchange in Nigeria.
According to the apex bank, the nation’s economy needs to be protected from the menace of the highly decentralized digital currency.
The cryptocurrency was said to foster cyber and financial crime.
To analyze the possibilities of legalizing crypto exchange, the Nigerian Senate ordered the Committee on Banking and Finance led by senator Uba Sani to carry out opportunities and threats analysis of the digital currency.
A motion was sponsored by Senator Dung Gyang, representing Plateau North, who said that the new CBN bar on crypto has resulted in adverse reactions from Nigerians which makes it a subject of national discourse.
He further continued that since cryptocurrency has both opportunities and threats, it is pertinent for Senate to weigh its pros and cons so that citizens will not miss out on the opportunities it provides as well as enabling the government to mitigate the threats it poses.
As it is generally known, an unsupported motion on the floor of the Senate will not see the dawn of the day.
The motion was first supported by Senator Bassey Akpan, representing Akwa Ibom North-East.
His reasons for throwing his waist behind the motion was because he believed that CBN should make policy to adapt to crypto exchange since it has become a global trend.
He cited the example of barter as the archaic mode of exchange followed by credit card. “The next level is a cryptocurrency and we can’t run away from it.”
What does this development mean for the new CBN policy?
Last week Friday, the announcement of the bar on Cryptocurrency made waves on the internet. While people from various quarters said the policy was unnecessary and backward, others believed the policy was absurd as CBN failed to give tangible reasons for the ban.
Like the proverbial horse without a tail, whose oppressors can only be dealt with by divine intervention, the Nigerian Senate heard the
cries of its citizens and has decided to intervene.
A committee has been set up to analyze the threats and opportunities in cryptocurrency. While this may be a welcome development, it is pertinent to note that it is not the end of the tussle.
An unstated reason behind the new CBN policy is possibly due to crypto’s contribution to the #EndSars protest; the contribution of more than eighty thousand naira worth of Bitcoin to support the protest and inability of the government to trace the donors are a menace that needs to be curtailed.
With the ‘behind the curtain’ reason for the bar, CBN will, most likely, not get a valid reason to support its claims when the probe finally begins.
The inability of CBN to fully articulate its claims will lead to its policy being left on the shelf; but not without another policy to regulate crypto
exchange to mitigate its threat.
The outcome of the probe has been summed up by the Senate president, Ahmed Lawan, that CBN must educate the general public on cryptocurrency and how it affects Nigerians, the level of CBN conviction will determine the steps Senate will take as regards the policy.
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