Bitcoin Newsroom Articles
Opinion: Nigeria Needs Bitcoin Regulation
Olusegun Ogundeji on 31/12/2016
Nigeria does not need to be one of the countries adopting a wait-
Though its existence is still considered a new phenomenon in one of Africa’s largest economies, regulating the world’s top digital currency has to be done and very fast because of the nature of Nigeria’s key problems.
Security-
Dubbed the currency of the internet, the main ideology behind the discovery of Bitcoin
is to ensure that its use is devoid of every form of government-
Bitcoin has been community-
Nigeria should be one of those countries that now know what the currency is being used for within its borders. This is very important as more Nigerians have become a part of the community controlling Bitcoin and contributing to this evolving global order – in a way.
Tradings in Bitcoin as well as other alternative cryptocurrencies have been going on unhindered globally. From all indications, it is yet to be seen how this could possibly be changed. In the event it later changes – which I doubt, Bitcoin will continue to change hands till then with or without any form of government control and no one can say what it could be used for since there is no checks in place.
Bitcoin presents an easy form of money exchange that could replace the human courier being used to transport cash without a trace. It serves for easy transaction between two people in distant locations as well as a major tool that hackers, kidnappers or terrorists could use to access or transfer funds within or out of the country.
The lack of oversight may also leave many cross-
Everything is done digitally – from A’s phone or laptop to the bank account with an alert first dropping on the B’s phone. Current estimate puts a €100 worth of Bitcoin transfer to give a 24% higher rate to the receiver when compared to what traditional money transfer service providers such as Western Union – which the government recognises – would give.
Aside being a better option for the transfer of money to Nigeria from Europe or North America and even parts of Asia, its exchange which is usually at par with the black market rate adds a plus – it has no risk of exposing oneself to carrying cash around the street of Lagos clutching your bag to your chest and having an imaginary stalker watching your moves.
Now that the price of one Bitcoin has crossed the $950 mark – a feat it last reached in 2013, it is bound to gain new users in Nigeria as well as from across the world as it keeps increasing.
However, until Nigeria employs its abundant human and financial resources combined with the will from those who have the mandate to say go to police transactions in this digital currency, some of the new users to be drafted onboard may have ulterior motives and they will surely have their way.
After all, when Bitcoin is used to transfer funds, all users – be it with a good or bad intention – have a goal in common: get the fund to the intended receiver safely. What happens afterwards is key.
It is worth noting that any amount could be sent using Bitcoin with nothing less
to what we know as a transfer fee and it delivers in 10 to 15 minutes. Also, when
done deliberately, the source of a transferred sum could be sometimes broken into
pieces to make its track untraceable or at most harder to trace. Initially, it used
to be completely anonymous but that has changed recently as some countries have worked
things out. However, some new alt-