Photo: Pixabay Bitcoin Premium Times (Abuja) By Oladeinde Olawoyin
The
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday cautioned Nigerians to be
wary of investments in cryptocurrency, stressing that virtual currencies
are not legal tender in Nigeria.
A statement issued
by the bank on Wednesday, said cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin,
ripples, monero, litecoin, dogecoin, onecoin and exchanges such as
NairaEx were not licensed or regulated by the CBN.
A cryptocurrency is
a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange that uses
cryptography (the art of writing and solving codes), to secure its
transactions, control the creation of additional units, and to verify
the transfer of assets.
The statement,
signed by the bank's Acting Director in charge of Corporate
Communications, Isaac Okorafor, emphasised that dealers and investors in
any kind of cryptocurrency in Nigeria were not protected by law.
Mr. Okoroafor added
that the legal implications of such arrangement is that they may be
unable to seek legal redress in event of failure of the exchangers or
collapse of the business.
"The CBN therefore
warned Nigerians against investing in cryptocurrency as doing so would
be at their own risk," the statement said.
Earlier in January
2017, the CBN had issued a circular to banks and other financial
institutions on virtual currency operations in Nigeria.
In the circular,
signed by the Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department,
Kevin Amugo, the CBN noted that virtual currencies were traded in
exchange platforms that are unregulated all over the world.
It further noted
that transactions in virtual currencies were largely untraceable and
anonymous thereby making them susceptible to abuse by criminals, in
cases of money laundering and financing of terrorism.
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