Nigeria Seeks to Legalize Usage of Btc: Report

According to a local Nigerian newspaper, Nigeria will soon pass a law making the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies legal, according to Babangida Ibrahim, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market and Institutions. The bill would recognize bitcoin as acceptable investment capital and amend the 2007 Investments and Securities Act.

Nigeria effectively outlawed the use of bitcoin in February 2021 by forbidding regulated financial institutions from “dealing” with cryptocurrencies in a letter. In the same year, reports from Chainanalysis and Bitcoin Magazine indicated that Nigeria had significantly accelerated the adoption of bitcoin and had reached the highest volume of peer-to-peer trading in the entire world.

In the newspaper article, Ibrahim was quoted as saying, “Like I said earlier during the second reading, we need an efficient and vibrant capital market in Nigeria. Nigeria is lagging behind in terms of industry regulation. We must follow the most recent international standards to accomplish that.

If the proposed regulation adequately addresses the rising use of bitcoin there, it could be a significant driver for the most populous nation on the continent of Africa.

Despite the current ban, Bitcoin has a significant presence in the nation, with the creation of a Bitcoin village, Nigerian Bitcoiners participating in a variety of development projects, charitable work from Bitcoin companies, and mining is a thriving industry there.