Central Bank of Nigeria orders banks to close accounts of crypto exchanges

On 5 February 2021 the Central Bank of Nigeria issued a circular directing all banks and financial institutions to stop servicing cryptocurrency businesses and to identify and close the accounts of anyone trading crypto or running an exchange. Rather than killing the market, it shoved one of the world's most enthusiastic crypto populations onto peer-to-peer rails, where Nigeria promptly became the global leader in P2P volume. The CBN quietly reversed course in December 2023.