CBN Fines Three Banks N800m Over Crypto Transactions

The Central Bank of Nigeria has fined three Deposit Money Banks in the country a sum of N800m for violating regulations that stops customers from transacting in cryptocurrencies.

According to a report issued on Wednesday, the three banks are Access Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC, and the United Bank for Africa Plc.

The report noted that the penalties were part of the means by the apex bank to make sure banks implement an order to stop trading in cryptocurrencies as a result of the threat they pose to Nigeria’s financial system.

The directive was contained in a circular issued by the CBN in February 2021.

The CBN had in November ordered banks to close the accounts of two individuals and a company for allegedly trading in cryptocurrencies.

Irrespective of these regulations, Nigeria accounts for the largest volume of cryptocurrency transactions outside the United States., according to Paxful, a Bitcoin marketplace.

Nigeria also has the largest proportion of retail users conducting crypto transactions under $10,000, according to Chainalysis.

The report revealed that Access Bank was fined N500m for failure to close customers’ crypto accounts, while UBA was fined N100m for digital-currency transactions by a customer.

In addition, it was revealed that Stanbic IBTC was fined N200m ($478,595) for two accounts alleged to have been used for crypto transactions.

According to reports, the CBN was able to detect the relevant transactions using an “advanced capability” that Nigerian banks don’t have access to.