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The Central Bank of Nigeria’s ban of Bitcoin and broad cryptocurrency has thrown the capital market regulator – Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) – off balance. The regulator just like that, is pausing a component of its on-the-money initiative, SEC’s Capital Market FinTech Strategy: “For the purpose of admittance into the SEC Regulatory Incubation Framework, the assessment of all persons (and products) affected by the CBN Circular of February 5, 2021 is hereby put on hold until such persons are able to operate bank accounts within the Nigerian banking system.”
Consequently, it has become necessary to provide the following clarifications about the implementation of SEC’s Capital Market FinTech Strategy:
For the purpose of admittance into the SEC Regulatory Incubation Framework, the assessment of all persons (and products) affected by the CBN Circular of February 5, 2021 is hereby put on hold until such persons are able to operate bank accounts within the Nigerian banking system.
The planned implementation of the SEC Regulatory Incubation Guidelines for FinTech firms who intend to introduce innovative models for offering capital market products and services will continue.
First Bank has also followed with an email to its customers, making it clear that it would close accounts linked to cryptocurrency exchanges: “please be informed that any account identified as transacting in or operating Cryptocurrency exchanges within our system will be closed accordingly.” Yes, do not say that you were not warned.
Further to its earlier directives that dealing in Cryptocurrencies or facilitating payments for Cryptocurrency exchanges is prohibited, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has written the letter: BSD/DIR/GEN/LAB/14/001 dated 5 February 2021, to direct that all banks, non-bank financial institutions and other financial institutions should identify persons and/or entities transacting in or operating Cryptocurrency exchanges within their systems and ensure that such accounts are closed immediately.
The full SEC statement
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has received several comments and inquiries from the public on a perceived policy conflict between the SEC Statement on Digital Assets and their Classification and Treatment of September 11, 2020 and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Circular of February 5, 2021. We see no such contradictions or inconsistencies.
In recognition of the fact that digital assets may have the full characteristics of investments as defined in the Investments and Securities Act 2007, the SEC Statement asserts that trading in such assets falls under SEC’s regulatory purview, except proven otherwise. The primary objective of the Statement was not to hinder or stifle innovation, but to establish standards of ethical practices that ultimately make for a fair and efficient securities market.
The SEC made its statement at the time, to provide regulatory certainty within the digital asset space, due to the growing volume of reported flows. Subsequently, in its capacity as the regulator of the banking system, the CBN identified certain risks, which if allowed to persist, will threaten investor protection, a key mandate of the SEC, as well as financial system stability, a key mandate of the CBN.
In light of these facts, we have engaged with the CBN and agreed to work together to further analyse, and better understand the identified risks to ensure that appropriate and adequate mitigants are put in place, should such securities be allowed in the future.
Consequently, it has become necessary to provide the following clarifications about the implementation of SEC’s Capital Market FinTech Strategy:
The SEC will continue to monitor developments in the digital asset space and further engage all critical stakeholders with a view to creating a regulatory structure that enhances economic development while promoting a safe, innovative and transparent capital market.
February 11, 2021
Securities and Exchange Commission
We have uploaded the design thinking capstone documentation template for the Design Thinking & Innovation module in Tekedia Mini-MBA. Good luck designing and fixing market frictions through a human-centered innovation. It is our Week 1, if you use your company’s main friction, as the case, send the result to your supervisor, when you are done.
We are overly confident that you would be appreciated. Last year, that gave a graduate a job as an assistant to a governor [he designed solutions for Anambra state] and many others to higher positions.
Your CEO is looking for answers to the company’s business challenges and opportunities. We want you to design that FUTURE. With the 38 page document from our faculty and the Challenge Assignments, we welcome you to the rigorous system we have in Tekedia Institute.
As you close for the weekend to rejuvenate, I want to drop this word: BELIEVE. By believing, Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire bought everything on his path during the ruins in his nation. Nations rarely kaput, his father had told him years ago.
Yes, when Mexico was in the ruins of currency crises and inflation, he loaded on equities, securities, bonds, etc, and believed. Legendary Templeton, the investor of the century, did the same, decades earlier, as stock markets collapsed because of the second world war.
The fact is this: Nigeria would not disappear. The greatest business in Nigeria has not been started. I challenge young people to rise unto the promise of tomorrow. Thou will find pasture, and will leave any miry clay because thou liveth in the best era to be a youth!
Believe. Believe. Believe. Great weekend ahead.
Religious matters are always handled with care. Challenging or undermining religious beliefs have led to crisis. People have been indoctrinated to defending their faith to the point of giving their lives to protect it. The reason behind this is that a person’s religious belief controls how he lives his life. It influences his decisions and determines his reality. In other words, a person’s religious doctrine forms the core of his life; the totality of everything he knows and believes in. Challenging or undermining it, is therefore, challenging or undermining his existence. As a result, people become emotional and irrational when religious matters are being discussed.
In actual sense, religion, sociologically, is one of the social institutions. It is the institution that embodies a person’s belief about his relationship with supernatural beings. It is designed to develop people’s ideology about these supernatural beings and the powers they have over human beings. It is a system that comprises how humans revere these higher beings and the rewards and punishments that come from obeying and disobeying them, respectively. Put simply, religion dictates how humans should live their lives to please the supernatural beings in return for rewards.
The importance of religion can never be overemphasized. As an agent of socialisation, it has the ability of passing on desirable virtues to people. Most people today would not have lived peacefully with their neighbours if not that religion insisted so. With its lessons about the good and the evil, religion has been able to subdue a lot of evils in the society. Apart from these, religion provides stability in people’s lives. By giving them something to believe in and reminding them that the supernatural will provide their needs, religion has become a point of succour for many. It is also known to help with humanitarian services, which includes providing for the poor, the aged, and the sick. All these make religion an indispensable part of mankind.
Unfortunately, despite the advantages and importance of religion to mankind, a lot of problems have developed from it. These include inciting violence, encouraging laziness, and causing poverty.
Inciting Violence and Division
Cases of religious crisis have been reported and are still being reported in different parts of the world. The fear of oppression and the quest for supremacy are the major causes of these crises. Religion has also given room for segregation, nepotism, and marginalisation. People favour those they share the same religious beliefs with to the detriment of others. Insurgency and terrorism across the globe have also been linked to religious extremism. It is, therefore, unfortunate that religion, which should project peace, is the cause of violence.
At the family level, religion has caused division and crisis as well. Parents have disowned their children because they broke out of their family’s religion. There are cases of parents killing their children because they left or decided to leave the family’s religion or denomination. How about those that received prophecies that their family members are the sources of their misfortunes? Blames for these are, however, reserved for religious leaders, who implant fear and hatred in the minds of their followers.
Encouraging Laziness
The belief in the absolute control of human destinies by the supernatural has turned many people lazy. There are people today that still believe humans are in no position to decide for themselves. Some relax and wait for their “destiny helpers” to locate them. Others believe that unless a person is at peace with the supernatural he reveres, he can never progress. There are those that believe in the “what would be would be” ideology, hence staying back and waiting for appointed time things will begin to flow well for them. The consequence of this mentality is that those who believe their lives have been planned for them do not struggle to improve on themselves. Note that this essay is not condemning believing and trusting in divine beings or seeking divine help, but against people not working hard because they believe in miracles.
Causing Poverty
Despite being a nation with religious strongholds, Nigeria is still battling with poverty. Researchers have discovered that extreme obedience to and dependence on religious beliefs are some of the major causes of poverty in the country. As implied earlier, religion has caused many people to believe they were destined to become rich or poor, whether they worked hard or not. Some religious doctrines encourage poverty by professing it as the gateway to glorious afterlife. Some people have also been discouraged by their religion to avoid certain occupations or practices that would have pushed them from the poverty line.
Another major concern is the belief that every misfortune a person encounters is caused by supernatural manipulations. People with this mentality either believe those around them caused their misfortune (through evil manipulations) or that a supernatural force is fighting them. The problem here is that they fail to evaluate situations critically and objectively and hence fail to pick lessons they contain. People like this continue to make the same mistakes they would have avoided if not for their religious beliefs.
Religion is a beautiful and wonderful agent of socialisation, considering that it teaches virtues and instils discipline. However, its ability to influence people’s way of life, thoughts, ideologies, actions, and opinions has made it a dangerous control device in the hands of the wrong party. The best way to discourage its use by these manipulators is to break out of their hypnosis and demand for explanations to every doctrine.