October 1, 2023

Allcryptonews

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Bitcoin premium hits 60% in Nigeria as it limits ATM cash withdrawals

2 min read
8 months ago Martin Young



The value of Bitcoin (BTC) in Nigeria has skyrocketed to nicely above market ranges amid continued efforts by the central financial institution to push its residents into digitalized money.

On the time of writing, the value of 1 BTC on Nigerian crypto change NairaEX is at the moment 17.8 million Naira, equating to a whopping $38,792.

This represents greater than a 60% premium over the present market value of Bitcoin, which is round $23,700 on the time of writing.

It comes because the Central Financial institution of Nigeria has continued to impose limits on ATM money withdrawals amid an ongoing effort to speed up its shift to a cashless society.

Earlier this month, the central financial institution imposed a restrict on money withdrawals following a December announcement.

As of Jan. 9, residents had been solely allowed to withdraw a most of 20,000 NGN (round $43.50) from money machines (ATMs) per day with a restrict of 100,000 NGN (roughly $217).

The transfer additionally got here simply days earlier than new Naira banknotes went into circulation with the intention of curbing inflation and cash laundering. The central financial institution imposed a deadline of Jan. 24 for Nigerians to change their outdated larger denomination financial institution notes for the brand new foreign money.

Nonetheless, folks suffered lengthy queues amid complaints that there was inadequate time to fulfill the deadline. The central financial institution has now prolonged that deadline to Feb. 10 in response to reports on Jan. 29.

It isn’t the primary time the Bitcoin premium has surged in Nigeria. In February 2021, the central financial institution banned regulated financial institutions from offering companies to cryptocurrency exchanges within the nation. This drove the BTC premium as excessive as 36% on the time.

Associated: Nigeria set to pass bill recognizing Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies

The latest curiosity in Bitcoin has additionally seen Nigeria turning into the main nation for Bitcoin net searches, in response to Google Trends.

Moreover, on Jan. 26 Reuters reported that the Central Financial institution of Nigeria launched a home card scheme to rival overseas playing cards like MasterCard and Visa.

The “AfriGo” card scheme was designed to provide Nigerians higher entry to financial institution card companies and circumvent usually costly overseas card charges and change prices.