The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Securities and Exchange Commission, is set to delist the naira from all peer-to-peer crypto platforms as the government steps up efforts to tackle exchange rate manipulators and dollar racketeers.
The development came against the backdrop of the recent moves by the federal government to regulate Nigeria’s crypto market, which was estimated at $57 billion.
The newly-appointed Director-General of the Commission, Emomotimi Agama, disclosed the government’s latest plan during a meeting with members of the Nigerian blockchain industry on Monday.
The Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of Nigeria organised the meeting.
Agama confirmed that the government was currently drafting a new set of regulations to govern the crypto sector.
Operators in the crypto space have allegedly used the P2P platforms to manipulate the naira and the exchange rate.
“That is one of the things that must be done to save this space; delisting the naira from the P2P platforms to avoid the level of manipulation currently happening. I want your cooperation in dealing with this as we roll out regulations in the coming days,” the SEC DG told the members of the local crypto community.
Agama’s announcement came barely a week after the Central Bank of Nigeria instructed payment service banks to caution their customers against engaging in crypto transactions.
It was gathered that some local exchanges in the country, such as OKX, Bitbarter and some platforms under the membership of stakeholders in the Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria had already stopped naira services in solidarity with the government.
SiBAN sought collaboration with the Federal Government in March for proper regulation after developing the Virtual Assets Service Providers Code of Conduct in 2022.
However, the SEC DG urged crypto community members in Nigeria to “name and shame” the players involved in manipulating the naira.
He maintained that some bad players in the industry were manipulating the national currency, an act that the government was determined to deal with.
