Nigerians Have Invested Over $5m in Cryptocurrencies

Nigerians have invested over five million US dollars in the cryptocurrency market in the last couple of years according to data from Nigerian cryptocurrency platform KureCoin Hub.

The data shows that Nigerian retail investors are investing heavily in the cryptocurrency market despite warnings from the Central Bank of Nigeria and Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) against investing in an unregulated market.

KureCoin Hub’s co-founder and CEO Tega Abikure has criticised the stance regulators have taken and argues that the country will lag behind as other countries that enjoy the benefits of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. Abikure told New Telegraph:

“It is not a matter of whether the government likes it; it is about whether they need it. I am not sure the internet was liked when it first came. […] It is not a matter of whether they are going to embrace it; it is about when they are going to do so.”

Abikure observed that other countries such as Uganda and South Africa have already taken steps towards adopting blockchain technology while Kenya is pushing forward with a functioning blockchain taskforce.

“Nigeria is being left behind,” he noted.

Abikure added that adoption of the blockchain technology in Nigeria could help the country put an end to tax and election frauds. “It is completely transparent and cannot be changed; it can be used to create a decentralised system of payment where  the tax payer had an unhindered access to the collector which is the government. It enhances revenue collection and removes the challenges of remittances, everything becomes easy when it is brought to the blockchain infrastructure,” he said.

Besides, he said the technology addresses complexities in governance and administrative systems, as it is essentially a decentralised transaction ledger in which digital information can be distributed and viewed but not copied or altered.

On elections, he said: “from anywhere you are across the country, and the world, if the system shows that you are a Nigerian through imputing certain data, you can vote. With the technology, wherever you are, you do not need to go to a polling unit, the moment you put in your vote, everybody can see that you have voted and once your vote is put in, it cannot be hacked by any means.

“Instead of government setting up committees to curb election malpractices, the simple thing to do, is to take election to blockchain”, Abikure said.

News Source : New Telegraph & BitcoinAfrica.io.

[su_quote]This article is writing on 21 June 2018 based on information available online & news portal. If you feel it’s outdated or incorrect, please write here to update it. Mail us: [email protected] Or Whatsapp Us- +13098896258[/su_quote]