In recent weeks we have constantly heard the word ban in the world of cryptocurrencies and we have seen how Nigeria is leading this as recently the government and the central bank of that country have given an ultimatum to banks and financial entities to suspend all activity related to cryptocurrencies, this means that children can not use their money that is in banks to buy cryptocurrencies in exchanges, this has sparked much controversy mainly because of the empty reasons given by the government and the central bank. But will these bans put an end to cryptocurrencies in Nigeria? Let's look at the example of Venezuela and the government's ban on the dollar.
When the economic crisis broke out completely in Venezuela in 2013 many people saw how hyperinflation was coming like a runaway horse and that money had less value so they began to adopt a strong currency such as the dollar to make transactions and business to protect themselves from the loss of monetary value. Seeing how people were using more and more dollars the government started with many prohibitions, for example they said that it was illegal to use the dollar in Venezuelan territory and that they would put behind bars anyone who sold dollars, they also prohibited banks from selling electronic dollars as they usually did and they started to control even more the access of the population to the dollars assigned by the state.
But what happens when you prohibit something that is inevitable? Sooner or later you will realize that bans do not work and that now dollar transactions in Venezuela account for 70%, even recently the president of the country has been friendly to the use of the dollar and has liberalized the economy and removed the bans all this when he saw that the measures they were taking against the dollar were only slowing down the economy and helping the hyperinflation to accelerate even more.
Now back to the topic of cryptocurrencies. Is it really a wise decision on the part of the Nigerian government and the central bank to ban cryptocurrencies? Of course not, and there are many reasons to say so, if you watch the most recent video of keiser report where it mentions what is happening in Nigeria you will realize many reasons.
(Source https://youtube.com/c/RT)
Cryptocurrencies against inequality.
First it is mentioned that inequality in Nigeria is very large and although it is a country with many natural resources like Venezuela, 87 million Nigerians are very poor and added to that big problem are all the obstacles that are put to people who want to access a better life, as they ask for a lot of permits that are like a big barrier. That is why cryptocurrencies and even more bitcoin, removes all these barriers and puts an equal situation for all, since a common Nigerian can participate in an international trade with someone from Europe or the United States.
Bitcoin as a lifeline against the currency crisis.
One of the consequences brought about by the confinement due to the pandemic is a very weak world economy and this in turn brought inflation and in a country like Nigeria which is already hit by an unstable or weak economy and constant inflation the pandemic is added and people begin to see their purchasing power decreasing every day, that is why they found A refuge in cryptocurrencies as their monetary value is maintained and can go up with every bull run.
Cryptocurrencies as a gateway to international trade.
Nigerians have embraced BTC as an alternative to the banking sector that has constantly prevented them from accessing international trade. In Nigeria they use the BTC every day because the dollar is something unattainable, so they have started to use it for commercial purposes, becoming a true global payment system and positioning Nigeria as the second country in the world that trades bitcoins only behind the United States but ahead of major European or Latin American countries.
Now why are the decisions of the Nigerian government and central bank so controversial? Because of the worthless excuses they have been giving. First they have said that they are very risky to use, they have also said that they are used to support fraudulent or criminal activities as cryptocurrencies are a very easy door to money laundering, And lastly it states that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies make the Naira (Nigerian Currency) worthless and useless to use.
And in response to all these comments, there are many people who believe that it only delays the inevitable, they have also mentioned that banning cryptocurrencies will be a setback to Nigeria's economy and technological development and lastly they have mentioned that the more bans, the more people will adopt cryptocurrencies as the bank to fill the gap and alleviate inflation will make the same decisions as the United States by printing more bills but this will increase inflation and the faster people will run to cryptocurrencies as the value of the nary goes down and Crypto goes up every day.
And although there are still some months to go before the bans come into force, I think we will never see someone from Nigeria making transactions with cryptocurrencies in a hidden or smuggled way because as we have analyzed bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have been like an escape valve to the Nigerian economy and have helped many people to find a job and access to better things. So for people to really stop using cryptocurrencies the government has to cut off the internet in the country as Nigeria has been characterized as a country full of entrepreneurs and visionaries and that if they cannot use the banks in the country to buy cryptocurrencies well they will find a way to do it by other means. for example if you look at Leo finance you will come across different authors who are from Nigeria and you can see that they are very successful on this platform. So maybe it can happen in Nigeria the same thing that happened in India that the measures against cryptocurrencies were annulled, although for now we can only wait for how this scenario is going to develop.
(Países que más buscan la palabra BITCOIN https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=Bitcoin)