With the news about Nigeria and its new policy which seems to want to cripple crypto and its related innovations, what a relief it would it have been to just read, shrug and simply wish Nigerians well in these trying times. But alas, I am a Nigerian living in Nigeria and I am simply outraged by this news.
When the news broke about the country's apex bank's latest policy which instructed commercial banks to refrain from facilitating the deposit and withdrawal to and from any crypto-currency platforms, there was panic and confusion amongst Nigeria's crypto community.
The leadership of the country simply do not understand the direction the rest of the world is heading to and they don’t care.
Imagine such an abrupt policy with its directives to take effect immediately, without any sort of prior warnings or heads up. Imagine ordering commercial banks to close every and any account used in withdrawing or depositing funds through any crypto platform, indirectly outlawing owning and trading any kind of crypto-currency. Just imagine that for a minute. Even India was at least reasonable enough to give its citizens a time frame to liquidate their assets and not throwing a surprise bombshell at them.
In an age where countries are moving away from simply being agro/oil-based economies, where tourism and the tech industries are championing the economies of progressive countries, what does the leadership of Nigeria thinks it is doing trying to stifle the rise of the tech/crypto industry?
Is this about Power and control? Is it Vendetta or probably both?
Talking about Power, the Nigerian government hates anything it can’t control, anything that thrives in spite of the mess they seem to strategically make of the economy. How dare the youth make something for themselves out of this very bad economy? Who do they think they are by not coming to grovel at our feet and ask for loans and handouts? How dare they thrive in this inconvenient environment we have made for them?
Is it about Vendetta? During the #endsars protest which rocked the countries major cities and municipals last October, the government moved to kill the protest by freezing the bank accounts used in receiving and disseminating funds raised from sponsors and sympathizers of the protest for facilitating the smooth running of the protest, the relentless youths rallied together and created gofundme accounts as well as providing BTC and BCH wallets for donations.
This singular move by the protesting youth represented a big middle finger to the government and ultimately showed them there is an emerging industry that can emancipate the oppressed and bridge the gap between the poor and the upper classes - the tech industry.
Since that protest ended and everything that led to it still unresolved, there seem to have been a lingering tension between the ruling class (the government) and youthful population whose majority are tech enthusiasts. The government is still angry at the guts of the protesters and those who gave financial aid to them, thus are yet to unfreeze the bank accounts it froze during the protests. So is this Vendetta?
If it is not any of the two reasons above, then it must be for a good economic reason, right? But this government isn't known to make good economic decisions, so I wonder what it might be. I am willing to be schooled though, but I doubt there is any positive that can come out of this policy.
Remember the abrupt closure of the land border sometime late in 2019? Lagos state's ban on Gokada and other hailing startups in Lagos? What does Nigeria have against startups and the tech industry in general?
Nigeria is the biggest and one of the earliest adopters of crypto in Africa, so it would be interesting to get to see the full effect of this ban on the price movement of BTC, BCH and other crypto-currencies.
It would also be interesting to see how platforms like Buycoin, Binance and Luno react to this ban and what action they take from here onwards given that many/all their users are Nigerians.
What now for traders who aren’t conversant with peer to peer trading? What is the fate of the small-time trader who is looking to build his portfolio using the automated route that these platforms offer?
People like me who make weekly withdrawals of $10-15 just to put food on our tables? Those of us who can’t wait to accumulate tokens before making withdrawals? What now?
Given the cash movements to and fro crypto platforms and the commercial banks, it would be interesting to see how this ban affect these commercial banks given the revenue they realize from the many charges they place and the commission they get from all these cash movements.
It will also be interesting to find out what effect this ban would have on the overall dynamics and outlook of the already handicapped, one-dimensional economy.
For all the questions asked so far, the obvious and easiest answer would be, 'we'll see what happens'
We will see how long this policy lasts and how we adapt and move from there.
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