Bitcoin premium hits 60% in Nigeria as it limits ATM cash withdrawals

Published at: Jan. 30, 2023

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) in Nigeria has skyrocketed to well above market levels amid continued efforts by the central bank to push its citizens into digitalized cash.

At the time of writing, the price of 1 BTC on Nigerian crypto exchange NairaEX is currently 17.8 million Naira, equating to a whopping $38,792.

This represents more than a 60% premium over the current market price of Bitcoin, which is around $23,700 at the time of writing.

It comes as the Central Bank of Nigeria has continued to impose limits on ATM cash withdrawals amid an ongoing effort to accelerate its shift to a cashless society.

#Bitcoin is Hope‼️BREAKING: Bitcoin is selling for a 60% premium in Nigeria (37,235 USD) because of increased demand. Central Bank of Nigeria started limiting cash withdrawals to $44 per day earlier this month.Now leads the world in Google searches for "Buy #Bitcoin " pic.twitter.com/SI861WUhVy

— SHIB Bezos (@BezosCrypto) January 29, 2023

Earlier this month, the central bank imposed a limit on cash withdrawals following a December announcement.

As of Jan. 9, citizens were only allowed to withdraw a maximum of 20,000 NGN (around $43.50) from cash machines (ATMs) per day with a limit of 100,000 NGN (roughly $217).

The move also came just days before new Naira banknotes went into circulation with the aim of curbing inflation and money laundering. The central bank imposed a deadline of Jan. 24 for Nigerians to exchange their old higher denomination bank notes for the new currency.

However, people suffered long queues amid complaints that there was insufficient time to meet the deadline. The central bank has now extended that deadline to Feb. 10 according to reports on Jan. 29.

It is not the first time the Bitcoin premium has surged in Nigeria. In February 2021, the central bank banned regulated financial institutions from providing services to cryptocurrency exchanges in the country. This drove the BTC premium as high as 36% at the time.

Related: Nigeria set to pass bill recognizing Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies

The recent interest in Bitcoin has also seen Nigeria becoming the leading country for Bitcoin web searches, according to Google Trends.

BREAKING: Nigerian central bank introduces new cash withdraw limits (20,000 naira ~ $44 daily) and announced that all old naira bills will be worthless at the end of January.Nigeria is leading the „How to buy #Bitcoin“ search worldwide pic.twitter.com/O26si2nHde

— Carl ₿ MENGER ⚡️ (@CarlBMenger) January 18, 2023

Additionally, on Jan. 26 Reuters reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria launched a domestic card scheme to rival foreign cards like MasterCard and Visa.

The "AfriGo" card scheme was designed to give Nigerians better access to bank card services and circumvent often expensive foreign card fees and exchange costs.

Tags
Adoption
Bitcoin
Central Bank
Africa
Nigeria
Related Posts
Emerging economies dominate Chainalysis’ 2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index
Vietnam, India and Pakistan are leading the world in terms of cryptocurrency adoption, underscoring the resilience of peer-to-peer monetary systems in emerging economies. Chainalysis’ 2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index evaluated 154 countries based on three key metrics: on-chain cryptocurrency value received, on-chain retail value transferred and peer-to-peer exchange trade volume. Each metric was weighted by the purchasing power parity. Vietnam received the highest index score for its strong performance across all three metrics. India was a distant second, but still performed exceptionally well for on-chain value received and on-chain retail value received. Pakistan came in third with a strong showing …
Adoption / Aug. 18, 2021
Report: Africa Is Bullish on Crypto Despite Infrastructure and Regulatory Hurdles
A new report published by Arcane Research shows that African countries have some of the highest cryptocurrency ownership rates worldwide. South Africa ranked third throughout the world with 13% of its internet users owning or using cryptocurrencies. Nigeria took the fifth spot with 11% of internet users owning cryptocurrencies. The worldwide average for the same stands at 7%. Indeed, as Cointelegraph recently reported, Bitcoin (BTC) trading volume in Sub-Saharan Africa broke past records posted at the heights of 2017’s rally. Clear interest in crypto Arcane Research noted that Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Ghana feature in the top-10 countries …
Adoption / May 20, 2020
Nigerian innovator launches first active Bitcoin Lightning node in the country
A Bitcoin Lightning Network node (BTC) has struck the earth in one of the most challenging operating environments. Lagos, the capital of Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria, welcomed a new Bitcoin Lightning node this week, a vital step to better connect the continent to the layer-2 payments network atop Bitcoin, the Lightning Network (LN). The node runs on an old laptop powered by a diesel generator as Lagos regularly experiences energy and electricity blackouts. In a discussion with Cointelegraph, Megasley, who is the first Nigerian Lightning node of 2023 and the first active Lightning node in the country (as other …
Adoption / Jan. 11, 2023
eNaira is 'crippled': Nigeria in talks with NY-based company for revamp
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) continues with its attempts to create its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the eNaira, but this time it’s calling in for backup. In a Bloomberg report on Feb. 21, the CBN is in talks with new “technology partners” for the development of a new and improved system to manage the eNaira. The Nigerian financial authority has discussed these plans with the New York-based technology firm R3, according to sources close to the matter. New software for the eNaria will be created with the intention for the CBN to keep full control over the initiative, …
Adoption / Feb. 21, 2023
Bitcoin Lightning Network growth is organic, coming from real-world adoption
Bitcoin’s Lightning Network (LN) capacity recently surpassed an all-time high of 5,000 BTC. The Lightning Network is a neutral protocol built on top of Bitcoin and currently it does not have a “native” token attached to it like many decentralized finance platforms. Although the Lightning Network’s total liquidity is less than 0.5% of the ETH in DeFi contracts, the uptrend in Bitcoin’s LN capacity versus a downtrend in the amount of ETH locked in smart contracts is encouraging for LN development. While the liquidity on the LN has been rising consistently, the number of channels on the peer-to-peer network dropped …
Adoption / Feb. 22, 2023