Is Nigeria Going To Regulate Stablecoins and ICOs?

Nigeria is one of the few countries that launched Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and pushes hard to increase its adoption. It appears that a lot of things are going on behind the scene. Now Nigeria plans to create a regulatory framework to regulate stablecoins and initial coin offerings (ICOs).

After launching CBDC - the eNaira in late 2021, it is expected that people will keep using eNaira. Although the slogan at the time of launching the eNaira was Same Naira, More Possibilities, the adoption rate does not keep up with that. The adoption rate of eNaira is less than 0.5%.

In the document titled *Nigeria’s payments system vision 2025*, it is stated that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is open to seeing the possible use case of stablecoins and considers developing a regulatory framework so that stablecoins can be regulated.

It is also mentioned how ICOs can be regulated to attract foreign direct investment for the development of the country. The central bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian SEC (NSEC) will be responsible for regulating cryptocurrency. They look into cryptocurrency and it can be a new asset class.

The Nigerian SEC (NSEC) will focus on the regulatory framework whereas the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will pay attention to payment aspects of it. According to Chainalysis, Nigeria is the top country in Africa in terms of crypto adoption.

The central authority finds it hard to convince people to adopt Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The adoption rate of eNaira gives a clear indication of how successful they are in that. Once people get involved in crypto and see what crypto offers to make their life better, it is difficult for any central authority to move them in another way.

People know what is better for them. They can decide what to do. In spite of what's going on in the crypto market, people can see through what can happen in the future. They do not want to mess up and lose the opportunity to change their life.

So what do you think? Please feel free to leave your comments. Thank you for reading this post. That's it for now. I'll be back with another post.

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