On Friday the 5th of February 2021, we were just chilling having a good day when news emerged that the Central Bank of Nigeria had “banned” crypto. Funny enough, this was just after Davido had mused over starting a crypto exchange on Tuesday.
While that was quite some bad news to crypto exchanges and traders, we’re not that worried. Why do we keep using quotes? Because… Been there, done that. I mean, Kenya “banned” crypto over 5 years ago, and look at us. In case you have been living under a rock, let’s brief you.
The Central Bank of Kenya released a similar circular in 2015 to all banks instructing them to not bank crypto exchanges. Anyone who dealt with crypto would also get their account flagged and closed. But Wakenya ni kina nani? We’re still among the three biggest countries in crypto in the continent. So having said that, Naija is going nowhere from its leadership spot on the table and P2P is going to thrive more than ever before. Exchanges will still take a hit but it’s not going to be the end of the world.
One lesson we have learnt from being in this industry, it is that unregulated does not mean illegal. We’re just ahead of our time. Hang in there.