Nigeria’s Bitcoin P2P Trading Volume Drops By 43% as CBN Cracks Down on Crypto

• Nigeria’s peer-to-peer Bitcoin transactions dropped by 43% last week with volumes of about $9.4 million

• The sudden drop in cryptocurrency trading levels has been attributed to the CBN’s crackdown on crypto transactions

• Nigeria retains the highest trading volume in Africa with Kenya and South Africa following on $2.8 million and $1.8 million respectively.

Cryptocurrency P2P exchange in Africa’s biggest market (Nigeria) witnessed a decline last week after the Central Bank cracked down on transactions.

In the last week, $2.8 million and $1.8 million respectively for a to talk volume of $9.4 million, with Kenya and South Africa following on $2.8 million and $1.8 million respectively.

Following the Apex Bank’s ban of cryptocurrency in February this year, many Nigerians switched to Peer-to-peer as a means to swap their cryptocurrencies for cash.

Peer-to-peer simply means the exchange of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies between two parties without the involvement of a central authority.

Still, many Nigerians use their banks to settle payments for crypto transactions after buying through P2P exchanges.

The transaction has however been on a decline after the Central Bank of Nigeria ordered that commercial banks freeze the accounts of cryptocurrency traders.

Banking regulators have now responded by closing the accounts of individuals and companies found to be transacting in cryptocurrencies.

This was noticed when online micro bank Kuda threatened to block the account of anyone found to be trading cryptocurrency.

The bank is now reportedly watching out for accounts with large sums of money from multiple payees and those with cryptocurrency descriptions in their transaction details.

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