Home
News
Nigeria’s financial law enforcement agency – the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) recently stated that the scarcity of regulation on how cryptocurrency runs within the country serves as a major hurdle for them as this hinders their investigation.
Such was highlighted at a recent webinar in Lagos by the government agency’s Chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa.
During the said online event dubbed “Digital currencies and crypto derivatives: Banking, regulatory and cybersecurity,” Bawa was represented by EFCC’s Head of Cybercrime Unit Whyte Dein where he pinpointed several obstacles and deemed it as a knowledge gap in what is described as “foundational know-how” in the investigation of coin anonymizers (a.k.a. coin mixers), cryptocurrency, and the steep cost of signing up to proprietary cryptocurrency investigation tools.
He revealed that well above 1,500 shady global resources have set their sights towards prospective cryptocurrency investors who have been exposed within Africa at the beginning of this year. Furthermore, in Kenya, it was also pointed out that the share of the entirety of users targeted was 0.85 percent and 0.71 percent in Nigeria.
Dein also stated that several schemes related to cryptocurrencies like social engineering and the infamous pump and dump M.O. are eyeing stealing private keys.
The EFCC head went on to assure that the government agency will continue in reviewing their game plan and at the same time checking on other jurisdictions on how they are dealing with cybercrime activities.
Same sentiments
Meanwhile, Attorney General Alliance’s (AGA) Marcus Green, commented that cybercrimes flourished in Africa because proper regulations are yet to be established. He said that many countries in the world are lacking the appropriate regulatory structure for cryptocurrencies and crypto derivatives. This results in an abundance of unlawful acts being done on cryptocurrencies.
Further, Green highlighted the country of Nigeria since there’s no particular regulation being implemented declaring that trading cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are illegal. It is worth noting, however, that the Central Bank of Nigeria has barred cryptocurrency transactions within the banking sector.
Steve Anderson is an Australian crypto enthusiast. He is a specialist in management and trading for over 5 years. Steve has worked as a crypto trader, he loves learning about decentralisation, understanding the true potential of the blockchain.
