The goal of the central bank, according to Nigerian finance expert Olumide Adesina, is to allow digital securities that have been authorised by the regional regulator to enter the nation’s financial system.
The best people to lead the cryptocurrency space in the future will be those who collaborated with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) prior to the CBN lifting the ban on digital assets for Nigerian banks and financial institutions on December 23. This is according to Olumide Adesina, a Nigerian finance expert.
In a recent interview, Adesina asserted that the people who interacted with the CBN and regulators during the ban period instead of venting are going to be the early industry gatekeepers and the biggest winners.
He continued, saying that Nigerian cryptocurrency players who actively interacted with regulators had great success persuading the central bank to modify its previous position.
The CBN’s recent circular announcing the lifting of the ban, according to Adesina, is a positive step. According to him, the central bank wants to allow digital securities that have been approved by the regional regulator into the nation’s financial ecosystem in an effort to put a renewed emphasis on financial stability.
When asked if the lifting of the ban would have an impact on peer-to-peer (P2P) merchants and cryptocurrency exchanges in Nigeria, Adesina pointed out that the price movement of the well-known stablecoin NGN/USDT confirms that, despite the recent spike in altcoins, activity is lukewarm as stablecoin holders reassess their approach.
But according to Adesina, the new stablecoin that is being released by regional fintech firms and banks will significantly impact the P2P market and expand the nation’s financial system.
Nigeria emerged as the world’s largest peer-to-peer market as a direct consequence of the CBN ban in 2021. P2P transactions, however, were paying more than the standard forex rates.
Predicting the rates that cryptocurrency exchanges will use for transactions against the P2P market, according to Adesina, would be premature. He made the point that before rates can be established, cryptocurrency exchanges must be operational.
However, because of a regulatory licence requirement set by the Security Exchange Commission (SEC), opening bank accounts has proven difficult for cryptocurrency exchanges.
Co-founder and chief marketing officer of Flincap Nathaniel Luz previously stated that P2P merchants and Nigerian crypto-fiat exchanges would have to compete for the Nigerian market.