With the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) lifting its ban on cryptocurrency transactions for banks in the country, Pan-African crypto trading platform, Yellow Card Exchange is now exploring avenues to get licensed in the most populous African nation.
Yellow Card Exchange Eyeing First Mover Advantage
As a trading platform with a mission to dominate Africa, Yellow Card Exchange is exploring avenues to leverage the first-mover advantage with the pursuit of licensing. Despite being a dominant player in Africa, offering experiences similar to Jack Dorsey’s Cash App, Yellow Stone has been limited in Nigeria owing to the uncertain regulatory provisions.
This trend is about to change as confirmed by Ogochukwu Umeokafor, the exchange’s Director of Product Management.
“You’ve waited for something and it has come true and we’ll jump on it immediately,” Ogochukwu said in a phone interview with Bloomberg. “We want a regulated environment because it’ll help the business move; it will help people have more confidence in doing business with us.”
The exchange has started the process of seeking approval for its business with the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), however, this move has remained stalled since the firm needed to maintain a functional corporate account which per the earlier CBN stance was impossible.
With the ban lifted, commercial banks in the country are now allowed to open accounts for Virtual Assets Service Providers (VASPs) and crypto traders will also have no fear of their assets being seized as was once the norm. Besides Yellow Card Exchange, other trading platforms might also make their entry into the Nigerian market to capitalize on the highly crypto-savvy population.
Nigeria to Reclaim its True Crypto Lead
With the ban lifted, Nigeria can now truly take the lead as the major hub driving crypto trading on the African continent. Different reports peg the Nigerian crypto trading statistics in line with other global crypto hubs like Indonesia and Brazil.
As part of the country’s leanings toward the emerging world of crypto, the CBN ranked as the first apex bank in Africa to launch a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) dubbed the e-Naira. In all, the positive disposition of the masses toward Bitcoin has attracted numerous humanitarian projects to the West African giant.
These trends are here to reposition the country as the true pioneer in the crypto ecosystem.
