VERY CONCERNING NEWS: What does new BAN ON CRYPTO means for Nigerian users?
INTRODUCTION
I started a day the way I pretty much always do. Some morning pushups, a cup of hot tea, and right away I would open discord to see who wrote to me while I've been asleep. And no one else, but my friend @eloghosa wrote to me quite an interesting news. One that may be the reason for concern to many Steemit users. Especially those from Nigeria:
The government over here has just announced plans to ban all accounts involved in cryptocurrency. They didn’t even give any notice. Just wake up one day and ban crypto during a bull run
Today I would like to discuss this topic and learn more from people, who are directly affected by it.
CRYPTO BANNED IN NIGERIA (?)
I must admit, that I found it quite shocking to learn about it and I instantly googled that topic. Truth is - with the current amount of fake news available online, I found it still difficult to figure out how real is this unfortunate announcement. I wonder if mass media exaggerated this ban, hoping to get more attention to their articles. I wonder how real is this issue and how will it affect some of our Project.hope community members.
This is very concerning to read headlines like the one below:
"The Central Bank of Nigeria, today, announced a sweeping ban on cryptocurrency purchase and trading in the country."
(source: https://www.benjamindada.com/cbn-nigeria-ban-crypto/)
In this article, the author asked a very good question. One that many people out there will be asking themselves today. One that I would like to ask here, hoping that some of those affected the most (our Nigerian community members) will be able to answer:
"What CBN’s new ban on crypto means for Nigerian users and the local industry"
HOW CAN YOU BE AFFECTED?
I've been on Steemit for a couple of years and I've met quite a number of honest and amazing users from Nigeria, whom I've learned to value and respect. Some of them are part of our Project.hope the community and many of them put so much effort to grow their accounts. Some are relying on their crypto earnings to cover part of their live expenses.
Could you, dear readers, share your thoughts about this issue? Do you fear that it will affect you one way or another? Is it only illegal to trade crypto to FIAT and another way around? Or is the fact of having an account on Steemit (with some STEEM tokens in our wallets) also a threat?
Allow me to quote one more sentence from the above article, which seems to summarize the current state of things quite well:
It is also a reminder of the high-handed nature of the current administration as regards regulatory practices - no warnings no discussions, just punitive measures.
It is hard not to have an impression, that most regulators do not seem to care about businesses and lives they are often destroying by implementing rapid and strict changes. Sometimes I wonder, why their work is not regulated. Why they seem to be above the law ...
RESTEEM AND SHARE YOUR VIEW
I would obviously appreciate every single RESTEEM, which would help this publication get better exposure. And definitely, I would be glad to read all your valuable comments. I do read them all.
Yours, Piotr
@project.hope founder
cc:
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@davonicera,
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@eloghosa
You have to remember that China has put bans on crypto more than once, India had put a ban on crypto in the past and there are countless lawmakers, noted economists and central bankers that have made very convincing arguments at various periods of time regarding the banning of bitcoin and other crypto currencies.
I remember the first time China banned bitcoin, markets tumbled but bitcoin prevailed. It's certainly a lofty goal for a government to control a decentralized digital currency. In China the people just resumed trading it in other countries through vpns.
I believe it's out of their own fear and a lack of understanding regarding cryptos that this fear tactic gets thrown out into the public from time to time from different political entities.
I'm pretty sure it's wishful thinking and by now a silly narrative that seems to get thrown out to the public from political figures from time to time.
If China, Russia, India and many other leading nations have failed to ban crypto in the past, what does Nigeria have going for it that these other countries don't have enabling it to ban something no other country could?
I think it's just tough talk, wishful thinking and only strengthens crypto after the realization that it cannot be done.
Well said... after ban, CHINA today owns the most influential people in the blockchain world
I was shocked by the memo too. I mean, many countries are already accepting crypto but here, a ban is being initiated. I just hope the cops will not start coming out to stop-and-search people's phones for crypto transactions. Well, let's see how it goes.
A friend of mine once said "no one can stop revolution"
Like search your computer? They'd have to take your computer. Then it would take immense manpower to go through it efficiently. Just seems unlikely. USA had a similar issue with copyrighted material. Their solution is not a solution. It's more of a mitigation. They
All of these things can be overcome with VPN or tor network, but that's why it's a mitigation and not a solution
Those memos do make comment section look like a mess @r351574nc3
And it does look super spammy ...
Governments can "scare" people, but that's the only thing they can do.
The government hasn't stated categorically why this decision was made but there are numerous speculated reasons.
Top of the list is the fact that crypto was used to fund a protest late last year.
Anyway, for people like me, the main problem will be how we can turn fiat into Naira and vice versa. This directive basically cuts off the supply between nigerians and exchanges like Binance where we can use naira, through our bank accounts, to buy crypto
It's really an amazing situation and I can't find the right words to demonstrate my approach, but the best thing I can say is that it is impressive. It seems that these governments do not care much about the well-being and pockets of their inhabitants I hope that the entire community and the population will put enough pressure to make them change their minds.Well unfortunate that a government does not take into account the income you going through cryptocurrencies, and even worse that they are sanctioned for trading or having them in their power I hope soon all Nigerian colleagues will find a solution for you quickly.
Dear @reinaldoverdu
Doesn't feel similar to living in Venezuela? :(
I'm not very familiar with authorities in Nigeria, however based on all informations I have - it seem to be one of those goverments, which doesn't really care much about their citizens and do not care about communicating with them.
At least that's my impression so far.
Have a great sunday,
Yours, Piotr
It was really a shocking news for me when I come across it and truth be told. I just see it as a mere threat as it can't really stand. Just like you say, many Nigerians depend on crypto for their daily life so I don't see it as a means at which the order will really stand.
I see the news or trend evaporating from the air very soon
Honestly, crypto is decentralized, so I do not understand how a central state bank can have any influence over it. I mean, so what if they ban it? They can't stop you from going to an exchange. The exchange is decentralized. There are exchanges allover everywhere. They'd have to block access to exchanges on the internet. If they do, then just use the tor network or VPN to access exchanges. Maybe I missed something here, and I need to read more. If I'm wrong, please correct me. I just feel like there's just no way you can use a central authority to ban a decentralized asset. That's like us telling aliens in another galaxy they can't smoke marijuana.
hi @r351574nc3
Imagine if your bank account would be close down and your assets in this bank would get frozen because you converted some FIAT to crypto (or the other way around). Isn't scary enough?
hahahaha good one! :D
Cheers, Piotr
There's not much anyone can do if they go around freezing assets. The article doesn't say if they've started doing that or not. Obviously, being made a criminal for owning it is pretty bad, but how would they know? I pointed out earlier that it would be difficult for the police to reliably find crypto owners because in USA we went through similar with copyright. Really copyright infringement is rampant everywhere and there's not much that can be done. RIAA and MPAA have loads of money to spend. Nigerian government does not.
I see this as a true test of what decentralized currency can mean and how it will free people from oppressive governments. We'll see what happens, but I don't see the Nigerian government coming out the other side of this without some kind of white flag.
Nope actually. The government may take it too far and hand over power to the military. If you remember nigeria went in a state of anarchy last year over protesting for the disbandment of a defunct police arm of government. They ( the notorious arm of government called "SARS") go as far as stopping you and asking you to open up your mobile devices , violating your personal space in order to find something or anything they can tag as incriminating.
My only fear is, such thing might happen again and it would spell trouble for crypto-hodlers like us. Besides no bank in Nigeria currently services crypto-exchanges, so you can't possibly seek to gain profit through selling assets, neither can you find your wallet and exchanges through bank deposits. The only option now is p2p but how long would that work?
It's seems more like a display of ignorance among the people in power to me, or probably a way to get back at Nigerian youths. Why do I say so?
During the protest last year. We started a fund, pulling resources together to aid the protest and make sure protesters are fed and taken care of. The government tried to take that away from us so...we resorted to storing our asset in cryptos instead. The Central bank has no power over that and so it made them(the government) feel so powerless at that point. So saying, put 1 and 1 together and you'd see it might actually be the reason.
@r351574nc3 , @crypto.piotr
Hi @crypto.piotr, it turned out to be very interesting this post. Because there are answers from Nigerian friends that totally put us in context. I don't want to imagine if something similar were to happen in Venezuela, there are many in this country whose only income is based on cryptocurrencies.
Certainly, politicians in many countries do not care at all if the people suffer or not, as long as they fill their pockets and impose themselves, for them it seems to be something pleasant for the citizens to go hungry. I don't quite understand many things.
Nigeria is just one of the countless countries who has put a ban on cryptocurrency. Nothing serious in my opinion.
You don't see it as a concerning factor, especially knowing that you're yourself from Nigeria @joelagbo?
Interesting. I like your optimism :)
This news about this prohibition in Nigeria seems fatal to me because this country is experiencing a great economic crisis somewhat similar to that of Venezuela.
In Venezuela, regulations and prohibitions are the order of the day, so we know to a great extent how the friends of Nigeria will be affected.
But there will always be some alternatives such as international allets and VPNs to connect from your country to the outside.
The fundamental thing in this case is not to lose your cool, and start exploring alternatives so that they can continue to work on Steemit and on any of the other crypto-asset platforms that they are handling.
Hello @cryto.piotr
This announcement obviously generates concern for all, my uncertainty I think is shared by many, if what you announce is realized - how much will this decision affect Nigerians economically?
I am left with many questions like:
How much will this decision affect Nigerians economically?
What will be the alternatives for a "possible" way out of it?
Best regards.