There may be a relation between bitcoin crackdown and high bitcoin trading.
Bitcoin trading is on the increase globally and Nigerians seem to be taking it to a whole new level, this is as it ranked second highest Bitcoin trading country in the world.
A report by Bloomberg shows that the global trading of the digital currency stood at $1.9 billion and second highest of it is coming from Africa, and Nigeria in particular. Nigeria accounts for 6.05 percent ($115 million) of the total value of Bitcoin traded since January, 2017. Thus, putting Nigeria just behind China, who has the highest Bitcoin trading in the world.
Bitcoin which has become popular globally is an electronic payment system based on mathematical proof was proposed by a software developer called Satoshi Nakamoto. The idea was to produce a currency independent of any central authority, transferable electronically, more or less instantly, with very low transaction fees.
Also Read: How safe is Bitcoin – Cryptocurrency as hackers stole $7 million from Ethereum?
Nigeria this year saw peer-to-peer transactions rise about 1500% in 2017 as against its 2016 value. But, the country's foreign exchange (Forex) market saw the the naira weaken by 12.4 percent in 2017 alone.
Bitcoin in Nigeria
The surge in demand has created price discrepancies with one Bitcoin being equivalent to $16,491 - N6,149,981 in Nigeria, as at December 14, 2017.
Nigeria saw peer-to-peer transactions rise about 1,500 percent this year, as the country went through a foreign exchange market overhaul that led the naira to weaken 12.4 percent this year.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on January 17, 2017, passed a circular to inform all Nigerian banks that all transaction in bitcoin and other virtual currencies have been banned in Nigeria.
The central bank warned that these virtual currencies are untraceable and can be used by criminals hence the need to place a ban on them.
This hasn't stopped Nigerians but instead increased the desire to go into the bitcoin world as an option to perhaps make easier money and financial investments.