25th March, 2020
Odum Chijioke John, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Chiji14xchange, a leading Nigerian e-commerce company in the business of crypto currency trading and Gift cards exchange has decried the lack of government support in their evolving sub-sector of the e-commerce industry.
Odum, who made this known in a recent interview accused the government of victimization of some of the dealers in the bitcoin business instead of supporting them by way of regulation in spite of available evidence that the business is growing fast.
He said, “We really do not know Nigeria’s stance on Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies. We have had several crypto traders being harassed and some even arrested by government agencies, referring to it as scam or illegal. I am a very big fan of regulations as other countries are putting up for the tech, as this would help keep people in check and reduce instances of scam and illegal activities using this technology.
“The growth has been massive in Nigeria. The adoption and acceptance among Nigerians have increased massively. Testament to that is that so many big international exchanges are setting up branches here and many other blockchain startups have been founded since that time. The only hindrance remains the silence of financial agencies to this emerging tech and this still keeps us far behind compared to the elite nations.”
He added that Nigerians are enthusiastic about the crypto currency business. He also noted that according to Bitcoin Google search in 2019, Nigeria had the highest search across the globe.
“That means people here want to really learn and know how to profit from this industry. The only challenge is that many still see it as a get rich quick scheme and that is why they fall for scams and Ponzi schemes,” he said
Odum started his hi-tech journey at the age of 14 when he created his first website called Chiji14.muf.mobi. The website was a bit popular then with almost 200 users around that time and the name, “Chiji14” stuck even among his friends.
It was no big surprise when he was introduced to bitcoin he embraced it totally. When he noticed the number of Nigerians involved in the trade and tech was very few and also were getting scammed by bogus traders and exchanges, he decided to form his own company. The result was the birth of Chiji14xchange, which has blossomed to a leader in the trade.
Odum was born November 15, 1994. He is from Mbaukwu in Awka South local government of Anambra State but grew up in Lagos. He lives and works in the city.
He had both his primary and secondary education in Lagos; Golden Light Primary School, Ejigbo and
Omatseye Tuedor Memorial College, respectively. He attended Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), Imo State where he bagged a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics.