A local Nigerian newspaper has reported that the Chairman of the Committee on Capital Markets and Institutions of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Babangida Ibrahim, has claimed that the country will soon pass a law to legalize the use of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. The bill would amend the Securities and Investments Act of 2007 and recognize bitcoin as legal capital for investment.
Back in February 2021, Nigeria effectively banned the use of Bitcoin with a letter prohibiting regulated financial businesses from “dealing” with cryptocurrencies. That same year, Bitcoin Magazine reported that Nigeria was growing the world’s largest volume of peer-to-peer bitcoin trading, and reports from Chainanalysis showed that Nigeria had greatly accelerated bitcoin adoption.
A newspaper report described how Ibrahim pointed out Nigeria’s lagging behind in regulating the industry, saying: “As I said earlier in second reading, we need an efficient and vibrant capital market in Nigeria. To do this, we need to be up-to-date with global practices.”
If the proposed regulation properly addresses the growing use of bitcoin within the country, it could be a major catalyst for the most populous country on the African continent.
Bitcoin has had a large presence in the country despite the current ban, including the construction of a Bitcoin village, Nigerian Bitcoiners are involved in all kinds of development, charity work by Bitcoin companies, and mining is an active industry there.
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