chaintimes.com
According to A Guardian report, the SEC director-general, Lamido Yuguda, made this assertion known during a press conference organized after the Capital Market Committee meeting on Thursday. Earlier, the Central Bank of Nigeria had banned commercial banks from servicing crypto exchanges back in February. According to the SEC director-general, the Commission has been forced to pause its planned cryptocurrency regulatory framework announced in September 2020.
Nigerian SEC is working with the central bank to regulate crypto better.
The SEC director-general also maintained that the suspension of the Commission’s crypto regulatory plans would remain in place until exchanges can operate bank accounts in the country. As part of his address, the SEC director-general mentioned that the Commission was working with the central bank to create an optimal regulatory regime for cryptocurrencies in the country. According to Yuguda, the crypto ban aside, the SEC continues to make strides in supporting the growth of fintech in Nigeria. After the crypto ban in Nigeria, cryptocurrency buying and selling are only possible via peer-to-peer channels leading to massive premiums on cryptocurrency prices.
Nigeria’s vice president also urged the central bank to take a different approach.
Earlier, Nigeria’s vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, called on regulators to adopt a nuanced approach to regulating crypto and blockchain. According to the vice president, cryptocurrency will challenge traditional finance in the coming years. “There is no question that blockchain technology generally, and cryptocurrencies, in particular, will in the coming years, challenge traditional banking, including reserve banking, in ways that we cannot yet imagine,” the vice president had remarked. However, the governor of Nigeria’s central bank has a different opinion on cryptocurrencies. He called cryptocurrencies illegitimate and said they should not be allowed to trade with the help of banks.