Nigeria to Pass a Law Making Bitcoin Usage Legal: Report
- West African country Nigeria will soon introduce a bill to make the usage of Bitcoin and crypto legal in the region.
- Politician Babangida Ibrahim stated that the upcoming bill will amend the 2007 Investments and Securities Act.
- Bitcoin and crypto usage was banned in 2021 but the upcoming bill will recognize Bitcoin as legal capital for investment.
- Authorities issued a letter prohibiting regulated financial businesses from “dealing” with cryptocurrencies in 2021.
While Bitcoin (BTC) has hit its lowest point in the past 2 years, it has always been viewed as an instrument against inflation by many entities around the world. However, a particular region that has been dominant in terms of BTC adoption is Africa. Local media reports confirm that a country in West Africa, Nigeria, might soon pass a law that will legalize the usage of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency in the region.
As per a local Nigerian newspaper’s report, Babangida Ibrahim, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market and Institutions of Nigeria, stated that the country is set to pass a law that will make the usage of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the region legal. This news marks a leading step for an African economy and might also set an example for other regulators in the region.
Interestingly, as per the report, the bill that will be introduced in the near future, will amend the 2007 Investments and Securities Act, and as a result, it will recognize Bitcoin as legal capital for investment. Therefore, investors will soon be able to put their money into the volatile asset class in a legal manner.
In the light of this event, it is crucial to note that Nigeria banned the usage of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 2021 and also issued a letter prohibiting regulated financial businesses from “dealing” with cryptocurrencies.
On the other hand, this year marked a significant boom in the trading volume of BTC across the country and according to Chainalysis, the adoption of Bitcoin in the West African nation broke records. Popular BTC-focused media outlet, Bitcoin Magazine, reported Nigeria soaring to the largest volume of bitcoin peer-to-peer trading in the world.
The newspaper report added that Ibrahim believes that Nigeria is far behind other countries in terms of regulation of cryptocurrencies.
“Like I said earlier during the second reading, we need an efficient and vibrant capital market in Nigeria. For us to do that, we have to be up to date global practices,” said Ibrahim.
It is also a fact that Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa, and if the upcoming bill addresses all the concerns of investors, there might be a significant adoption of Bitcoin, which could then spread to other countries in the near future as well.
Despite cryptocurrency usage being currently banned in the country, there is a significant presence of the leading cryptocurrency in the region. A Bitcoin village is under construction, and crypto miners are also quite active here.
As per an earlier report from Bitnation, leading crypto exchange Binance has included 12 Nigerian banks in its P2P platform in a bid to reduce possible disruptions and will also set up a digital economic zone that will aid local crypto users and entrepreneurs gain crypto education.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
