CBN Start Investigating Bank's involved in crypto trading

 

On Monday, the bank sent out examiners to start looking into the books of the banks.

“Banks are not allowed to offer services to unregulated businesses and crypto trading is one of such,” a senior official of the bank told TheCable.”

According to him, it was recently discovered that an America-based fraudster collected business survival loans of about $500,000 from the US government using hurriedly registered companies.

Some of the banks, however, may have breached this financial regulation which does not allow them to be involved in unregulated services.

According to the CBN, cryptocurrencies pose risk of loss of investments, money laundering, terrorism financing, illicit fund flows and other criminal activities.

The CBN’s position on cryptocurrencies is not an outlier, as many countries’ central banks, international financial institutions, and distinguished investors and economists have also warned against its use and placed a certain level of restrictions on facilitating cryptocurrency transactions.

Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, recently called for global regulation of Bitcoin, saying the digital currency had been used for money laundering activities in some instances, and that any loopholes needed to be closed.