The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it is working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to improve understanding and regulation of cryptocurrencies in the country.
This comes after CBN banned deposit banks and other financial institutions from doing business in cryptos and other digital assets in February 2021.
This disclosure was made by SEC Director General Lamido Yuguda at the Post-Capital Market Committee (CMC) virtual press conference in 2021.
Yuguda said the commission is in talks with the CBN to better understand and regulate the crypto-asset market, adding that the capital markets regulator has suspended implementation of the crypto-asset guidelines due to lack of access to Nigerian bank accounts .
READ: Binance, Quidax, Buycoins Africa, Bundle follow CBN’s crypto ban
What the SEC’s director general says
Yuguda said in his statement: “We are discussing with CBN in order to better understand this market and better regulate it. We can contact you later to inform you of the outcome of these commitments.
Due to the lack of access to commercial bank accounts, we had to suspend our own guidelines from September 2020. Implementation of this circular will be suspended until these operators have access to Nigerian bank accounts.
Remember that if that person does not have access to a Nigerian bank account, no one is in the Nigerian capital market, ”he said.
However, Yuguda noted that the SEC has always been a supporter of fintechs and has invested so much in developing a framework to support their business.
READ: Why Buying Bitcoin In Nigeria Isn’t Cheap
He said, “Let me say that the SEC continues to be very supportive of fintechs. We have invested so much in developing a framework to support fintechs in the various fields, and fintechs operate in crowdfunding, investment advice, cryptocurrencies and the like. “
He acknowledged that the fintech market had been disrupted by the crypto exchange’s ban on the CBN’s access to Nigerian bank accounts.
He said, “Nothing has changed in any other area, but in the crypto assets arena, you know that with the recent CBN ban on accessing Nigerian bank accounts through crypto exchanges, that market has been disrupted.
And the truth is that while the SEC had issued guidelines regulating this market in September 2020, for the time being in all respects as these exchanges currently do not have access to commercial bank accounts in Nigeria, the market does not exist.
READ: Analysis of Nigerian Central Bank’s Dollar Remittance Policy
In case you missed it
- Apex Bank warned deposit banks, non-financial institutions and other financial institutions about doing business with crypto and other digital assets about two months ago.
- The CBN instructed financial institutions to immediately close the accounts of any person or entity that transacts or operates cryptocurrency exchanges, and warned of severe government sanctions if the policy is violated.
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