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Nigeria to legalize bitcoin usage as per latest report

Nigeria will soon approve a law allowing the legal use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, according to Babangida Ibrahim, head of the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Markets and Institutions.

Photo by Romain Dancre / Unsplash

The proposed modifications, if adopted, would govern the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the African country.

The latest developments  

According to a local Nigerian newspaper (1), Nigeria will soon approve a law allowing the legal use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, according to Babangida Ibrahim, head of the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Markets and Institutions. The measure would recognize bitcoin as sufficient investment capital and alter the 2007 Investments and Securities Act.

Why was crypto banned?

Nigeria essentially outlawed (2) the use of bitcoin in February 2021 by forbidding authorized financial institutions from "dealing" with cryptocurrencies in a letter. According to Chainanalysis (3), Nigeria had the most volume of peer-to-peer bitcoin trade that year. According to sources, the acceptance of bitcoin has rapidly accelerated in Nigeria. In the newspaper article, Ibrahim stated, As I mentioned previously during the second reading, we need an effective and thriving capital market. Nigeria is lagging in terms of industry regulation. We must follow the most recent international standards to do that.

If the proposed rule adequately tackles the rising use of bitcoin there, it might be a significant driver for the most populous nation in Africa. Despite the current prohibition, Bitcoin has had a significant presence in the nation; with the creation of a Bitcoin village, Nigerian Bitcoiners are participating in various development projects and charitable work by Bitcoin firms, and mining is a thriving industry.

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