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Comment by liquidise | Hacker News Reader

I'm afraid you are wrong. This document reads like the Nigerian central bank is barring banks from serving as on/off ramps between Naira and cryptos.

Banks have no ability to prevent crypto trading itself. This is by design.

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You probably didn't read the memo. It clearly stated non-bank financial institutions as well. This includes mobile money and other digital money forms which are under regulation by the central bank.

In any case, given this direction, it is clear the Nigerian government is intent on banning use of money to trade with Bitcoin.

My argument holds.

People's accounts are being closed for participating in cryptocurrency transactions.

How are they going to distinguish ATM withdrawal->any transaction from ATM withdrawal->crypto transaction? Additionally, do you really think a Nigerian bank would close the majority of its accounts just because the government said so?

Prior to the ban, most people bought cryptocurrencies by making bank transfers to cryptocurrency exchange operators. It’s trivial for them to determine which people have sent money to or received money from those accounts.

There is going to be a shift to P2P transactions using cash as a result of the ban; which are harder to trace but also less convenient, unsuitable for large transactions, and more risky in a country which is poorly policed. A lot of people will be scammed and robbed while attempting P2P crypto transactions.

So while they won’t find everyone who has traded with cryptocurrencies, that is no comfort for those they have found.

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