As a result of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) actively trying to get its people to switch to digital cash, the price of Bitcoin in the country has risen to very high levels.
As of this writing, one bitcoin can be purchased on the Nigerian cryptocurrency exchange NairaEX for a price of 17.9 million Naira, or $39,592. Compared to Bitcoin’s current price, which is around $23,718 as of this writing, this is a premium of over 60%.
The CBN has kept its ban on cash withdrawals from ATMs because it wants to speed up Nigeria’s move to a cashless economy.
After announcing the restriction in December, the CBN put it into effect earlier this month. Since January 9, people have been restricted to withdrawing a daily limit of 20,000 NGN (about $43.50) from ATMs, with a daily bank limit of 100,000 NGN (approximately $217).
New Naira banknotes, designed to reduce inflation and money laundering, were set to enter circulation just days before this event. The deadline for Nigerians to swap their old currency for the new currency was January 24, as set by the central bank.
Yet, people had to wait in lengthy lines while griping that they couldn’t make the deadline. However, in a swift move, the CBN on January 29 announced an extension to February 10
