Nigerian Minister Opposes Cryptocurrency Ban – Bits Media

Nigerian Minister of State Planning Clem Agba urged the government not to ban cryptocurrencies in the country, and create a special body to regulate them.

Minister Clem Agba (Clem Color)
stated, that local regulators should not impose a ban on cryptocurrency industry, but on the contrary, they should “focus” on creating conditions for the development of investments in digital assets. The minister's statement is related to the actions of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which in February prohibited banks from servicing cryptocurrency exchanges and any companies, working with crypto actures.

Meanwhile, The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission believes, that all cryptocurrencies and tokens should be classified as securities. According to the minister, the problem lies precisely in the lack of a clear classification of cryptocurrencies. In turn, this creates uncertainty, which body should monitor the activities of cryptocurrency firms and traders.

Agba is convinced, that regulators should look for ways to intelligently oversee the industry, since uncertainty in the regulation of digital assets deprives citizens of the country of making the most of their opportunities. Besides, Bans on cryptocurrencies may force people to engage in “shadow investments”, Agba believes. The current legislation does not stipulate, who has the authority to regulate cryptocurrencies, Agba therefore proposed the establishment of a new body for this purpose.

A few months ago, a similar idea was proposed by the Coinbase trading platform., declaring the need to create a separate agency in the United States, which would control the cryptocurrency industry. Coinbase claims, that the securities and exchanges commission (SEC) and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) use outdated approaches, suitable only for traditional financial instruments.