Nigeria’s apex financial institution, the Central Bank of Nigeria, has imposed an N800m fine on Access Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC, and the United Bank for Africa Plc for violating regulations barring customers from transacting in cryptocurrencies.
A Bloomberg report released on Wednesday said the three Deposit Money Banks were sanctioned as part of efforts to ensure compliance with the banning of cryptocurrencies due to the threat they pose to Nigeria’s financial system.
CBN had, in November, directed banks to close the accounts of two individuals and a company for allegedly trading in cryptocurrencies.
However, according to Paxful, a Bitcoin marketplace, Nigeria accounts for the largest volume of cryptocurrency transactions outside the United States.
Meanwhile, Adeniyi has said the transactions might have passed through its system undetected as CBN detected it using an “advanced capability” that Nigerian banks don’t have access to, while urging the apex bank to share the technology.
