Experts have warned nations to be cautious regarding the adoption of Bitcoin and other forms of crypto as legal tender as BTC wasn’t designed to become a legal tender.
According to them, Nigeria might someday consider BTC as a form of payment, but it would never replace the Naira.
Between 2021 and 2022, two countries, El Salvador and the Central African Republic adopted BTC as a legal tender.
Experts, however, stated that the nations that had accepted or thought of accepting crypto as a form of payment were those on the brink of economic collapse and Nigeria wasn’t necessarily one.
The Founder and Coordinator of Blockchain Nigeria User Group, Chimezie Chuta, said, “This will be contrary to the constitutional provision of Nigeria’s laws. Because explicitly, the CBN is the only institution empowered to issue a legal tender for the country.
“And currently, it is the Naira that has been issued, so for you to have an alternative unregulated currency to become a legal tender has to be legitimized by altering the constitution. That is something I do not see happening in a long time in Nigeria.
“Bitcoin can be recognized as a currency of payment but not a legal tender. Although it might become possible for you to use BTC to make transactions that are valid in the eyes of the law, this is not something I see happening anytime soon because it is very clear that the central bank does not want the infiltration of unregulated kinds of payment instruments in Nigeria.”
