The Nigerian government has admitted that it may embrace digital currency in future. This was made known by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria Mr. Godwin Emefiele said this during the 279th Monetary Policy Review meeting held in Abuja, even as he assured Nigerians that digital currencies will have a place in the country.
According to the apex bank’s boss, the Central Bank has been working on the possibility of digital currency and has “Carried out our investigation and we found out that a substantial percentage of our people are getting involved in cryptocurrency which is not the best. Don’t get me wrong, some may be legitimate but most are illegitimate.”
“Under cryptocurrency and Bitcoin, Nigeria comes 2nd while in the global side of the economy, Nigeria comes 27th. We are still conducting our investigation and we will make our data available.”
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Emefiele said that the concerns of the apex bank have been echoed by the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk’s uncertainty as an example.
“We saw the market collapse. Initially, Elon Musk tweeted around the time when we said our banking and payment facilities are no longer available for cryptocurrency transactions and he tweeted that he will invest $1.5 billion and the price (Bitcoin) went up. He now tweeted and raised a few concerns and the thing (Cryptocurrency) plunged.”
After stating his concerns, the CBN governor went on to say, “We are committed to the CBN and I can assure everybody that digital currency will come to life even in Nigeria.”
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry