The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has fined four banks for flouting its directive on cryptocurrency transactions.
Recall that the apex bank in February 2021 had ordered all banks to close accounts of anyone who transacts in cryptocurrency, positing that dealing in cryptocurrency or facilitating payments for cryptocurrency exchanges is prohibited.
Bloomberg in a report on Wednesday, gave the names of banks fined as Stanbic IBTC Bank, Access Bank, United Bank for Africa and Fidelity Bank.
According to the report, Stanbic Bank was fined N200 million for two accounts alleged to have been used for crypto accounts while Access Bank was fined N500 million for failure to close customers’ crypto accounts.
Also, while UBA was fined N100 million, Fidelity Bank was fined N14.3 million.
Stanbic IBTC told Bloomberg that it had followed the CBN directive but that some transactions may have passed through its system undetected.
According to Paxful, a Bitcoin marketplace, Nigeria accounts for the largest volume of cryptocurrency transactions outside the U.S.
