CBN fines three banks N800m over crypto transactions

 

Amarachi Orijude

 

7 April 2022

The Central Bank of Nigeria has imposed an N800m fine on three Deposit Money Banks in the country for violating regulations barring customers from transacting in cryptocurrencies.

According to a Bloomberg report released on Wednesday, the three banks are Access Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC, and the United Bank for Africa Plc.

The report noted that the penalties were part of efforts by the apex bank to ensure that banks implement an order to block trading in cryptocurrencies due to the threat they pose to Nigeria’s financial system.

The directive was contained in a circular issued by the CBN in February 2021. In addition, the CBN had in November directed banks to close the accounts of two individuals and a company for allegedly trading in cryptocurrencies.

Despite these regulations, Nigeria accounts for the largest volume of cryptocurrency transactions outside the United States., according to Paxful, a Bitcoin marketplace.

The country also has the largest proportion of retail users conducting crypto transactions under $10,000, Chainalysis says.

The report stated that Access Bank was fined N500m for failure to close customers’ crypto accounts, according to a filing with the Nigerian Exchange Limited while UBA incurred a N100m penalty for digital-currency transactions by a customer.

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