The Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) has ordered the nation’s commercial lenders to close the accounts of two individuals and a company for allegedly trading cryptocurrencies, according to a memo dated November 3.
The accounts are to be closed “for engaging in cryptocurrency trading in contravention of CBN circular” dated February 5, according to the memo, which the regulator confirmed. All funds in the affected customers accounts are now to be placed in “suspense accounts”
The Central Bank of Nigeria on February 5 asked commercial banks not to transact with cryptocurrency exchanges and ordered digital currency traders to shutdown accounts.
Cryptocurrency trading is the act of speculating on cryptocurrency price movements via a CFD trading account, or buying and selling the underlying coins via an exchange.
CFDs trading are derivatives, which enable you to speculate on cryptocurrency price movements without taking ownership of the underlying coins. You can go long (‘buy’) if you think a cryptocurrency will rise in value, or short (‘sell’) if you think it will fall.
Both are leveraged products, meaning you only need to put up a small deposit – known as margin – to gain full exposure to the underlying market. Your profit or loss are still calculated according to the full size of your position, so leverage will magnify both profits and losses.
When you buy cryptocurrencies via an exchange, you purchase the coins themselves. You’ll need to create an exchange account, put up the full value of the asset to open a position, and store the cryptocurrency tokens in your own wallet until you’re ready to sell.
