- Nigeria continuously acquiring crypto despite govt crackdown
- After a big public protest, Nigeria faced serious pressure.
- At present Nigeria exploring the development of CBDC.
African country Nigeria, continuously acquiring cryptocurrency, even though government crackdown with peer-to-peer (P2P) trade volume for Bitcoin (BTC) posting its second strongest week on record last month.
Moreover, according to data from Google Trends, Nigeria still ranks number by search interest for the keyword “Bitcoin” as of this writing. The conflux of political and economic rises has stimulated local crypto adoption. Which includes social repression, currency controls, and rampant inflation also.
Henceforth, after a big public protest opposing police brutality and the famous “Sars” police unit swept the nation. Nigeria faced serious pressure in October. The EndSars protests saw protestors attacked with tear gas and water cannons, with over 50 civilians killed. That includes one dozen who were shot dead by police armed with live ammunition on October 20.
Furthermore, the crackdown by the government seems to be economic repression too, along with social organizations supporting the protestors with food and medical aid quickly finding their frozen bank account. A public policy organization, Gatefield founder, Adewunmi Emoruwa noted,
“I think that EndSars is like the key catalyst for some of these decisions the government is making. It caused fear. “
Also, the Gatefield founder added, “They saw, for example, that people could decide to bypass government structures and institutions to mobilize.”
In February, the government prohibited licensed banks from processing cryptocurrency transactions in an effort to crack down on digital asset adoption. Even though, Nigeria steadily rising P2P Bitcoin volumes suggest the country’s growing crypto user base has largely driven underground. In an effort to access crypto belongings from outside of the government’s responsibility.
Regardless of the country’s conflict towards decentralized crypto assets. At present Nigeria exploring the development of central bank digital currency (CBDC).
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