How cryptocurrency trading keeps Nigerians engaged 

Nigerians have continued to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over its directive to banks to stop the provision of financial services to cryptocurrency businesses, stating that some low-income Nigerians have had a life-changing experience trading in cryptocurrency.

They said the cryptocurrency business has bridged the unemployment gap in the country as it has helped many young Nigerians earn a living.

Matthew Ighalo, a 35-year-old graduate of Economics, said he was a mathematics teacher when the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Nigeria in 2020.

It didn’t occur to him that his N30, 000 monthly salary would not be paid regularly by his employer.

Ighalo said once the notice of lockdown was made public, his employer sent the teachers emails about how the lockdown would affect the running of the school and they would embark on an immediate leave without payment.

Ighalo said it was in the quest to survive that a friend introduced him to cryptocurrency at the time the price of bitcoin was experiencing its usual volatility.

“By February the price rose to over $10,000 only to drop to $9,160 in March and $8,784 in April. I entered the market in March and despite a decline in the market, I still made a profit.

“I like the volatile nature of cryptocurrency and with the help of cryptocurrency trading, I have been able to earn money at home, even much more than the salary I earn as a teacher. I have been able to feed my family and conveniently pay my other bills,” he said.

For 26-year-old John Michael, the choice of trading cryptocurrencies was easy to make. His father, being a retired civil servant, the burden of completing his education in university was not easy for him.

His redemption came the day a friend invited him to attend a seminar on cryptocurrencies.

He downloaded the Binance app, a global crypto exchange, and began a journey that would see him pay his way through school and run a business as a trader.

“I learnt how to trade the right way after which I started trading and began making little income,” he says. Now, I am a graduate, and I have paid all my fees in school with cryptocurrency trading,” he said.