The Inner Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reiterated its warning against cryptocurrency investments.
In a horde release issued Wednesday, the CBN warned residents and financial institutions that cryptocurrency investments are unprotected, and investors clad risks such as exchange bankruptcy and market volatility.
The release dignifies that dealers in cryptocurrency, such as NairaEx, a Nigeria-based bitcoin employment platform, are “not licensed or regulated by the CBN.”
The commentary follows previous messages sent to Nigerian economic institutions in early 2017, in which the CBN advised domestic banks to detach themselves from cryptocurrencies, warning “not to use, hold or transact in any way with the technology.”
Undeterred by that, the remarks come at a time when Nigeria has seen spring up interest in cryptocurrency investments. According to data from Coindance, weekly buy volume on Localbitcoins in Nigeria surged 500 percent in 2017.
As previously clock in by CoinDesk, Nigeria was among the top countries using the “bitcoin” search name, according to Google Trends in 2017, alongside South Africa, Slovenia, Netherlands and Austria.
Even so, according to a report by Quartz Africa, partially accounting for Nigeria’s internet search up ons – in addition to controls placed on the country’s capital outflow – is a bitcoin-related Ponzi strategy that reportedly resulted in 2 million residents losing a combined $50 million in ahead of time 2017.
Nigeria bank notes and bitcoin image via Shutterstock
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