Lifestyle

Amid ban, AGF Malami’s screenshot shows VPN, Cryptocurrency icon

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Attorney-General of the federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami’s Twitter deactivation screenshot which he shared on Facebook listed a major cryptocurrency platform and a Virtual Private Network, (VPN) icon on his mobile phone.

Malami shared the screengrab on Tuesday evening to confirm to Nigerians that he had deactivated his Twitter account in line with Federal government’s ban on the social networking app.

The Minister of Justice had threatened on Saturday that Nigerians still using Twitter after a press release announcing a ban on the social media platform would be arrested and charged, even though no law prohibiting such action has been enacted in the country.

Although, Malami’s deactivation of his Twitter account was a violation of the ban order, since he clearly has had to access the platform in order to deactivate it, some people are also seeing potential illegality from the crypto icon on his mobile.

The administration had previously banned all trading in cryptocurrencies in Nigeria, saying it was being used to launder money, fund terrorism, amongst other corrupt and nefarious activities.

Banks were also banned from accepting cryptocurrency transactions while some bank accounts that had been used to trade crypto in the past were frozen or restricted.

Although the CBN, which imposed the ban, said it was working to review it, no new guidelines authorising Nigerians to trade in cryptocurrency have been issued.

It was unclear why the attorney-general was running a crypto account.

See screenshot of the crypto and VPN icons below:

Business, Lifestyle

John McAfee charged with fraud over cryptocurrency

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Businessman John McAfee, creator of the McAfee anti-virus software, has been charged in the US with conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering.

Mr McAfee and his bodyguard Jimmy Gale Watson Jr are accused of promoting cryptocurrencies to Mr McAfee’s large Twitter following to inflate prices.

The currencies were then allegedly sold, making the pair $13m (ÂŁ9.4m), prosecutors said.

The men have not commented on the charges.

Mr McAfee is currently being detained in Spain in relation to separate criminal charges relating to tax, which he denies.

Mr Watson was arrested on Thursday night.

Under the charges filed in the Manhattan federal court in New York, the pair are accused of buying the crypto-currency assets before promoting them on Twitter, where Mr McAfee has more than one million followers.

They would then sell the assets as soon as Mr McAfee’s endorsements saw prices rise, according to the US Department of Justice and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

That amounted to having “exploited a widely used social media platform and enthusiasm among investors in the emerging cryptocurrency market to make millions through lies and deception,” US Attorney in Manhattan Audrey Strauss said.

Business

IMF backs CBN ban on cryptocurrency in Nigeria

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has thrown its weight behind the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) two weeks after the CBN directed banks to close accounts related to cryptocurrency across Nigeria.

The CBN had also warned deposit money banks and other financial institutions against dealing with cryptocurrency exchanges, starting that the digital asset isn’t a legal tender in Nigeria.

According to the IMF, the caution shown by Nigeria’s monetary authority is warranted due to the risk in cryptocurrency. The IMF made its reservation known in the 2020 Article IV IMF Staff Report for Nigeria.

In the report, the Resident Representative of IMF for Nigeria, Ari Aisen, said the use of cryptocurrencies raises concern as bitcoin and other digital assets could be used in illegal activities such as money laundering and drug peddling.

The issue with some of the cryptocurrencies is that perhaps some care should be taken about their activities. The use of cryptocurrencies is a concern.

“That is why some central banks, not only in Nigeria, have these concerns about what kind of activities these cryptocurrencies are put and how best to monitor those activities.”

Aisen’s reason for caution is same with the CBN, but this warning has failed to curb the growing penetration of bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. The persons, companies and institutional investors are purchasing bitcoin to grow their wealth.

The increasing acceptance is reflected in the valuation of Bitcoin, which was $1 as at the time it was created in 2009, but now trades above $50,000 in February 2021. As at December 2020, Bitcoin crossed $20,000 mark, but Bitcoin current price is $51,828.64 as at the time of filing this report.

Business

Senate summons CBN governor, SEC chief over ban on cryptocurrency trading

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The Senate on Thursday summoned the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, over the ban of cryptocurrency transactions in the country.

The upper legislative chamber also directed its Committees on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, ICT and Cybercrimes, and Capital Market to summon the Director-General of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), Lamido Yuguda, on the same matter.

The duo are expected to brief the parliament on “the opportunities and threats of the cryptocurrency on the nation’s economy and security.

The committee is expected to present its findings within two weeks.

The apex bank had last week directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and other financial institutions to close accounts of persons using their systems for cryptocurrency trading.

A cryptocurrency is a virtual or digital currency that appreciates or depreciates on the influence of market forces.

The decision to summon the CBN and SEC chiefs was taken following the adoption of a motion titled: “CBN decision to stop financial institutions from transacting in cryptocurrencies and matters arising therefrom,” presented by Senators Istifanus Gyang and Tokunbo Abiru.

However, senators differed in their opinion on the matter during the plenary.

While Abiru, the Chairman of Senate Committee on Finance, Solomon Adeola and Biodun Olujimi spoke in support of cryptocurrency usage, Senator Sani Musa defended the CBN’s decision to ban cryptocurrency trading in Nigeria.

Abiru said: “The last five years, we have had people changing cryptocurrencies to over 500 million dollars. It is good to ban because of the challenges it has presented; in reality, banning it doesn’t take it away.

“Even our Security Exchange Commission (SEC) also recognized cryptocurrency as a financial asset they need to regulate. What we should do is to invite the major stakeholders to a public hearing.”

On his part, Adeola said: “I am strongly against the outright ban of this medium of exchange by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). What the CBN should be telling Nigerians are the regulations put in place to regulate the activities of the operators.

All over the world, these cryptocurrencies are regulated. The operators of this so-called currency are everywhere. I would indulge this Senate to allow the regulators also to be invited so that they can also tell the committees their own position concerning the operation of cryptocurrency in Nigeria.”

Olujimi, who canvassed the continuous usage of cryptocurrency, added: “We didn’t create cryptocurrency and so we cannot kill it and cannot also refuse to ensure it works for us. These children are doing great business with it and they are getting result and Nigeria cannot immune itself from this sort of business.

What we can do is ensure bad people must not use it. This motion is most important to us. The time has come for us to harmonize all the issues concerning cryptocurrency.”

But Musa insisted that Bitcoin has made the Naira almost useless.

He added that the Nigerian economy was too weak for the usage of Bitcoin which “can’t be regulated.”

The senator said: “Cryptocurrency has become a worldwide transaction of which you cannot even identify who owns what. The technology is so strong that I don’t see the kind of regulation that we can do. Bitcoin has made our currency almost useless or valueless.

If we have an economy that is very weak and we cannot regulate cryptocurrency in Nigeria, then I don’t know how our economy would be in the next seven years.”

Politics

It’s better to invest in cows than cryptocurrency –Ex-presidential aspirant, Adamu Garba

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A former presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Adamu Garba, has thrown his weight behind the recent directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), warning Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), other Financial Institutions (OFIs) and Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFIs), against having any transactions in cryptocurrency or facilitating payments for crypto exchanges.

Garba who posted on his Facebook page on Friday shortly after the order from the apex bank, said the initiative was a good move and advised Nigerian youths who had hitherto invested in cryptocurrency to diversify and invest in the cattle business instead.

Garba insisted that the CBN took “a proactive measure to protect Nigerians from fraudsters who deceive ordinary citizens and defraud them of their earnings.”

“Better Investments! Those who might have lost their monies through a shortcut business called Crypto should learn to invest on real assets, like cows, which assured of huge returns on investment.

“Cow ranching business is more lucrative than all cryptocurrencies combined. Crypto traders are supposed to be regularized so that they can be tracked in the event of cheats,” Garba wrote.

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