25th February, 2021
By Muhaimin Olowoporoku
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele has been under heavy fire online for describing cryptocurrency as money made out of thin air.
The CBN governor made this remark while briefing a joint Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions; ICT and Cybercrime; and Capital Market.
Emefiele said that cryptocurrency is used to describe the activities of players in an electronic dark world.
In a viral video of the governor’s address to the legislators, Emefiele said:
“Cryptocurrency is an electronic or digital currency that is issued by largely unknown, unregulated elements using computer codes that are basically meant to encrypt or hide information about the transactions and the operators”.
Emefiele also said that it is money made out of thin air and is used to describe the activities of players in an electronic dark world, where transactions are extremely black.
The CBN governor further said that people who deal in cryptocurrency transactions are those who do not want a trail and who cannot be trailed.
“I’m sure that these definitions are scary enough to create anxiety for any regulator or central bank in any part of the world.”
The CBN had ordered banks to close accounts of individuals that transact in cryptocurrency and stopped them from providing support for crypto firms.
The embargo on cryptocurrencies and the governor’s remark to legislators has led Nigerians especially youths on Twitter to blast the CBN governor.
I am shocked by the CBN governor briefing on Cryptocurrency.
This here is why Nigeria economy is in a total mess.
Visiting https://t.co/7Y5PgCvQS2 would have resolved this ignorance that crypto is from the thin air.
💔💔💔💔 pic.twitter.com/xg3Lb2E9NX
— Tosin Olugbenga (@TosinOlugbenga) February 25, 2021
When I saw CBN Governor trending, I knew nothing good could be happening.
He said cryptocurrency is made out of thin air but forgot we were made out of dust, almost thin air too.
This Naija na movie wey you go need settle down with Fearless Energy Drink to watch
— AdewalePresh (DJ Cuppy Future Husband) ❼ (@sarcasm_presh) February 25, 2021
I have never seen a better definition of disaster than the CBN Governor coming on National TV to say that cryptocurrency is created from thin air. Even my 7yr old Nephew knows the history of money and the evolution of the legal tender.
— Wale Adetona (@iSlimfit) February 25, 2021
https://twitter.com/ObongRoviel/status/1364860416023818241
https://twitter.com/NotJustSalmanPR/status/1364838823415472130
#Cryptocurrency will remain a means of exchanging values without border in this 21st century, and what every CBN Governor in every country can do is to create policies to benefit from it.
Every medium of exchange is vulnerable to fraud, either a banking system or #Bitcoin.
— Ayemojubar (@ayemojubar) February 25, 2021