By Nse Anthony-Uko
Despite warnings by regulators and legislators, Nigerians have continued to invest in cryptocurrency trading up to N1.38 billion across 13 local cryptocurrency exchanges in the country as analysts urge government to embark on smart regulatory tactic in controlling the surge in the trend
Software developer and chief architect at Cymantiks Nigeria Limited, Emeka Okoye who spoke with Leadership, urged the government and particularly the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Deposit and Insurance Corporation (NDIC) who have been at the forefront in the fight against cryptocurrency in the country to do a rethink on the way to regulate the use of cryptocurrency
Noting that cryptocurrency will not take the place of fiat money, he said the criticism against cryptocurrency will further fuel speculation and encourage its use by outlaws. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had last week urged governments to look into regulation of cryptocurrencies in the fight against money laundering and financing terrorism.
Many countries in recent times are coming up with stronger regulations for the trading of cryptocurrencies. Although the value of Bitcoin which is the most popular and most traded cryptocurrency has been down since December, 2017, interest in the currency is yet to wane in Nigeria.
Having seen the highest weekly trading average of N1.94 billion in mid-December last year, weekly average turnover had dropped to N1.299 billion at the end of December before rising to N1.817 billion in January.
As at February 12, 2018 which is the latest data on Coin.dance a global cryptocurrency tracking website weekly average of Bitcoin trading on the exchanges in Nigeria was at N1.389 billion. This is asides the investments of Nigerians in other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Billioncoin amongst others.
Okoye while advising regulators in the country to adopt “smart regulation” rather than outright ban of cryptocurrency said “it is an attitude of allowing innovation to move forward and let regulation follow because at the end of the day it is about the consumers and not about the players.
“If they ban cryptocurrency, it means they are outlawing a tech tool and when you outlaw a tech tool, outlaws will use the tools and when they use them you have no control. People will have to live with the consequences.
“Right now we do $4.7 million dollars weekly and we are expecting more. Now we have more exchanges, by count we should have up to 13 crypto exchanges in Nigeria. If you really want to see its implication in Nigeria, think of MMM.
“MMM was a pointer that things are not alright. We cannot continue to regulate things. It is not going to work if we keep regulating things to work against the desires of the people. It should be about the people. When you talk of innovative product and services, we cannot use the same tactics we used in the old economy. This is a new economy. The power has gone to the consumer.
“The thing is regulators need to think very well before they start banning. First of all do they understand how it works? I can build a crypto exchange and it is not domiciled in Nigeria, they cannot regulate it. Secondly, do they understand that I also have a foreign card and they cannot control what I do with it?” Okoye queried.
He however noted that there was no way cryptocurrency will replace fiat money saying it will only complement its use and make it easier to move wealth around at convenience. He also noted that the current trend of speculation driving the value of cryptocurrency is a distraction from the real value.
“Speculation of cryptocurrency is a big distraction and it is turning the internet to be an internet of money rather than being an internet of value. This speculation has nothing to do with the value we can derive from it” he stated.