Bureaux De Change Operators laud CBN for banning Crypto transactions

The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has thrown its weight behind the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) policy mandating banks to close accounts belonging to cryptocurrency traders.
Speaking in a statement in Lagos,  ABCON President, Aminu Gwadabe, said it is good that CBN acted fast to curb activities that can jeopardize  Nigeria’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (AML/CFT) gains.
He noted that the CBN might have  gotten a financial intelligence on such operations, as  kidnappers have been collecting bitcoin for ransom.
Acccording to him, the new changing global attitudes towards cryptocurrency trading in Nigeria doesn’t conform with Nigeria’s AML/CFT compliance structure.
He noted financial operations  in the financial industry is becoming vulnerable to their activities that are not guided by regulation.
“That is why many financial sector regulators, prominent financial institutions, including global banks, and investment firms, are moving swiftly against the cryptocurrency operators.
“All over the world, no regulatory institution has given a fiat approval of the new digital money due to its vulnerability to money laundering and counter terrorism financing. It is, therefore, the belief of our association that the measures of the CBN will ensure confidence of our foreign partners to boost economic growth,” Gwadabe stated.
He added that rather than criticising the CBN, the ABCON boss said that the critics should have advised the government to introduce Digital Agri-business to curb youth unemployment.
“We, therefore, support the CBN measures and urge the apex bank to support a paradigm shift in Bureaux de Change (BDCs) business where we are moving from traditional bricks and mortar operations to a digitised model that boosts transparency, foreign capital inflows and ease of monitoring and supervision of our operations,” he said.