Banks Enter CBN ‘Net’, Bag N800m Fine Over Crypto Transactions

Three Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria have violated Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) order barring customers from transacting in cryptocurrencies, ncurringt N800m fine.

A report by Bloomberg released on Wednesday read that the three banks are Access Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC, and the United Bank for Africa Plc.

The report added that the penalties were part of efforts by the apex bank to ensure that banks implement an order to block trading in cryptocurrencies due to the threat they pose to Nigeria’s financial system.

According to it, Access Bank was fined N500m for failure to close customers’ crypto accounts, while UBA incurred a N100m penalty for digital-currency transactions by a customer.

It was learnt that the Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic IBTC, Wole Adeniyi, during an investor conference call in Lagos on Tuesday revealed that his bank was fined N200m ($478,595) for two accounts alleged to have been used for crypto transactions.

Prime Business Africa gathered that the directive was contained in a circular issued by the CBN in February 202.

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

Meanwhile, a report by Paxful, a Bitcoin marketplace claimed that the country also has the largest proportion of retail users conducting crypto transactions under $10,000.