The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has backed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy mandating banks to close all accounts belonging to cryptocurrency traders.
Speaking to financial journalists in Lagos, ABCON President, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said the regulator acted fast to curtail an emerging dangerous trend capable of eroding Nigeria’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (AML/CFT) gains.
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He said before placing a ban on financial dealings that did not conform with the norm, the regulator must have obtained financial intelligence on such operations as seen in kidnappers now collecting Bitcoin for ransom.
He said rather than criticising the CBN, the naysayers should have advised the government to introduce digital agri-business to Nigeria’s teeming youths for capacity and self-employment.
“We, therefore, support the CBN’s measures and urge it to support a paradigm shift in Bureaux de Change (BDCs) business where we are moving from traditional bricks and mortar operations to digitised models that boost transparency, foreign capital inflow and ease of monitoring and supervision of our operations,” he further said.
