THE Federal Government, through the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), would soon delist the Naira from all peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto platforms as it steps up efforts to curb exchange rate manipulators and dollar racketeers in the country.
The new Director General of the Commission, Emomotimi Agama, who disclosed this during a meeting with members of the Nigerian blockchain industry on Monday, May 6, organised by the Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of Nigeria, confirmed that government was drafting a new set of regulations to govern the crypto sector, whose operators have allegedly used the P2P platforms to manipulate the Naira and the exchange rate.
He stated: “That is one of the things that must be done to save this space; the de-listing of the naira from the P2P platforms to avoid the level of manipulation that is currently happening.
“I want your cooperation in dealing with this as we roll out regulations in the coming days.”
This came about one week after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) instructed payment service banks to caution their customers against engaging in crypto transactions, with some local exchanges in the country, including OKX, Bitbarter and some platforms under the membership of Stakeholders in the Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria already stopping naira services.
Agama has charged members of the crypto community in Nigeria to “name and shame” players involved in the manipulation of the naira, saying some bad players in the industry were manipulating the national currency, an act that the government was determined to deal with.
“We ask with all sense of sincerity that those involved in sharp practices cease. We encourage you to reach out to us by naming and shaming those involved.
“This nation has a future, and this future is dependent on this community. For us at the SEC, our interest is to provide an enabling environment for fin-tech to thrive, and by so doing; we expect the fin-tech community to reciprocate by doing the right thing.
“Patriotism can never be wished away. Whatever we do that would bring dishonor to our country, we must try to avoid it. What is very critical and has brought about this meeting are the concerns regarding crypto P2P traders and their effect on the naira,” he stated.
Agama assured that the SEC under his watch was poised for an innovative digital asset regulatory regime that would sustain Nigeria as Africa’s digital asset powerhouse with diverse solutions like real-world asset tokenisation that would drive wealth and catalyse the country’s capital market.
He added: “We must explore innovative solutions to this problem and strike the right balance between encouraging innovation and safeguarding our national economic interests. This we will do in a friendly and firm manner to enable us to achieve the desired result.
“On that note, I want to emphasise that we are working on different fronts to sustain decent practices within our market. However, we are here to meet ourselves to know those playing within the sector decently and are open to hearing your suggestions on how we can effectively manage all obscure cryptocurrency trading activities within our jurisdiction, P2P inclusive, irrespective of the challenge we all know that P2P trading poses.”
Chairman of the Fintech Association of Nigeria, Dr. Babatunde Obrimah, commended Agama for the bold steps and the proposed partnership with the ecosystem, pledging the association’s commitment to working with the DG to sanitise the virtual ecosystem.
