The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has fined three banks a total of $1.9 million for allegedly facilitating cryptocurrency transactions in 2021.
Access Bank the country’s biggest lender by assets was fined $1.2 million for failure to close customers’ crypto accounts.
Meanwhile, Stanbic IBTC Bank received a $478,595 fine for two accounts alleged to have been used for crypto transactions.
United Bank for Africa, UBA was fined $240, 500 for digital-currency transactions by a customer.
In February last year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) banned all commercial banks and financial institutions from providing account services to crypto exchanges in the country because of the threat that it said they pose to Nigeria’s financial system.
Despite the ban, Nigeria accounts for the second largest volume of crypto transactions in the world, second only to the USA. The country also has the largest portion of retail crypto traders who carry out transactions below $10, 000, according to a recent report by Chainalysis.
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