Despite CBN ban, Nigeria’s Bitcoin trade surge, hits $38 million in June

A new report reveals that Nigeria’s Bitcoin trading volume surged to a record high of $38 million in June 2021.

Data sourced from two peer-to-peer P2P exchanges indicated that Nigerians’ interest and usage of cryptocurrencies continued to rise despite the ban of virtual currency by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

In February, CBN moved against the cryptocurrency market, banning Nigerians from trading in it.

The Nigerian bank’s regulator ordered deposit money banks, non-bank financial institutions and other financial institutions to close all customer accounts used in trading cryptocurrencies and other related transactions, resulting in the immediate decline in the traded volumes of centralised exchanges.

However, the surge in the month of June makes it the second month in 2021 that Nigerian P2P traded volumes surpassed the $35 million predicted benchmark.

In March 2021, the P2P bitcoin traded volumes nearly surpassed the $38 million mark.

After March, the country’s trade volume dropped to $35.2 million and $34.9 million in the months of April and May 2021 respectively, hitting a new high of $38 million in June.