A significant upsurge has been noticed in the cryptocurrency of Nigeria, notwithstanding the government’s clampdown. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) has posted that last month it experienced its 2nd most high week regarding P2P (peer-to-peer) trade volume, as shown by the records. According to Google Trends data, Nigeria is still listed to be the topmost concerning the search keyword ‘Bitcoin’. In 2021, the trading of P2P Bitcoin also denominated Nigerian Naira to have been gradually increased, making it stand only behind the United States as mentioned by Useful Tulips.
Nigeria’s advancing BTC adoption has assisted Sub-Saharan Africa in developing as the main area posting nearly $18.8M included into the weekly volume and outcompeted the past week’s $18 million of North America. A mutual influence of economic as well as the political crisis has promoted crypto adoption, counting rampant inflation, currency controls, and social repression. Since October, following huge public protests that rose against police brutality as well as the infamous police unit of SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) spread all across the nation.
It has been witnessed on 20th October that, in the protests, the protestors were confronted with water cannons and tear gas; thus, almost 50 residents were got killed in an overall estimate. Police, equipped with heavy ammunition, killed a dozen of these people.
Additionally, the government’s clampdown has created economic repression because of which the social organizations are backing the protestors with food as well as medical assistance in an attempt to rapidly find their blocked bank accounts. In the meantime of violence, protestors progressively adopted cryptocurrency for shifting their economic operations out of the authorities’ influence.
Garfield is a policy organization working publicly; however, its accounts were suspended in response to offering allowances to the journalists who were involved in the coverage of protests to highlight the recent aggression of the authorities concerning the crypto assets. Adewunmi Emoruwa, the firm’s founder, told The Guardian that, according to his perception, EndSars is the crucial facilitator in some of the decisions made by the government. For instance, he added, the authorities got scared to know that people could opt to avoid the government’s institutions as well as the structures used to regulate them.
Notwithstanding the country’s opposition of crypto assets, it is presently delving deep into the creation of a CBDC (central bank digital currency).
