Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Says "Digital Currency Will Come to Life" but Attacks Volatile Cryptocurrencies

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, says digital currency “will come to life even in Nigeria” just a few months after the central bank ordered banks to stop serving the crypto industry. While acknowledging his country’s position as one of the leading crypto markets in the world, Emefiele however insists his organization is still conducting its investigation and will “make our data available.”

Governor Says Many Nigerians Have Embraced Cryptos

Meanwhile, a report quotes the governor expressing his displeasure at the fact that many Nigerians have embraced cryptocurrencies. He said:

We have carried out our investigation and we found out that a substantial percentage of our people are getting involved in cryptocurrency which is not the best. Don’t get me wrong, some may be legitimate but most are illegitimate.

As several reports have shown, the CBN’s February 6 directive to banks appears to have failed in its objective. Nigerian interest in cryptocurrencies and other emerging fintech continues to grow. For instance, Bitcoin.com News recently reported that peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trade volumes in the country had surged while interest in bitcoin (BTC) remains one of the highest in Africa.

Crypto Market Volatility

In the meantime, Emefiele, who seems to follow events in the global crypto industry, attempts to use Elon Musk’s changing views on BTC to highlight the crypto market’s vulnerabilities.

In the past few weeks, Musk has made a series of comments about BTC as well the crypto market in general and this has caused crypto prices to fall. Emefiele explained:

We saw the market collapse. Initially, when Elon Musk tweeted around the time when we said our banking and payment facilities are no longer available for cryptocurrency transactions and he tweeted that he will invest $1.5 billion and the price (bitcoin) went up. He now tweeted and raised a few concerns and the thing (cryptocurrency) plunge.

Meanwhile, despite revealing the CBN’s commitment to creating a digital currency, Emefiele, however, fails to offer a time framework within which this is expected to come to life.