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Nigeria’s central bank is rewarding citizens who opt for formal remittance channels over crypto.

Nigeria’s central bank has frozen the accounts of two individuals and one company that it claims has been allegedly engaging
Nigeria’s central bank has frozen the accounts of two individuals and one company that it claims has been allegedly engaging in crypto trading.

In its latest effort to clamp down on the nascent industry, Nigeria’s central bank is now rewarding citizens who opt for formal remittance channels over digital currency-powered platforms. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced its “Naira 4 Dollar Scheme” recently, targeting diaspora remittances. Earlier, the central bank had prohibited all banks from providing services to crypto firms in the African country. However, Nigeria’s vice president had a different opinion on cryptocurrency and asked the bank to reconsider the ban on crypto.

Nigeria’s central bank announces the “CBN Naira 4 Dollars Scheme.”

The central bank in announcement noted, “In an effort to sustain the encouraging increase in inflows of diaspora remittances into the country, the Central Bank of Nigeria hereby announces the introduction of the “CBN Naira 4 Dollars Scheme”, an incentive for senders and recipients of international money transfers.” The scheme will reward local citizens who use an international money transfer operator 5 naira ($0.13) for every $1 they receive. Citizens will receive this reward whether they choose to collect the USD as cash over the counter in a bank or transfer it into a domiciliary account. The promotion kicked off on March 8 and shall run until May 8.

Bitcoin trade volume remains high in Nigeria despite the ban.

Nigeria’s Vice President believes that blockchain technology will disrupt traditional banking in the coming years. The vice president had addressed several issues facing the Nigerian economy, calling for the financial services industry to adopt new digital approaches to stay competitive. CBN had issued a circular two weeks ago prohibiting all banks from processing digital currency-related transactions. As reported earlier, bitcoin’s weekly traded volume rose to N1.13billion ($3.4million) in the first week of March 2020. Despite restrictions on trading in cryptocurrencies by the CBN, Nigerians appear to have found new ways to continue buying and selling them.

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