By Samuel Dunnex

Following the global financial crisis of 2008, Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency was invented by Satoshi Nakamoto, to eliminate the control Central banks had on money. More than a decade after, Cryptocurrencies are now relatively one of the biggest financial assets in the global market, competing with the likes of Gold, Silver, and Oil among other assets. Best explained as “digital money”, Cryptocurrency’s popularity keeps soaring regularly despite strict regulations from governmental authorities. 

Nigeria’s prominence in the Cryptocurrency industry was made known last year with a report that confirmed Nigerians to be the second-largest users of Bitcoin in the world. Quite an impressive record for a country that can be considered the “Poverty Capital” of the world. Months after this report, and just like its global counterpart, the Nigerian government banned the facilitation of Crypto-currency related activities by Banks. On one hand, the ban could have been due to fear of the potential of Cryptocurrency since it served as a major tool in raising and protecting funds for the EndSars protest. However, the sudden announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria about the launch of the e-naira came with a surprising effect. 

While the ban on Cryptocurrency persists, the CBN didn’t fail in its promise to deliver the E-naira project. So far, the reception of E-naira by Nigerians has been poor, especially amongst the youth population which holds the demographic of the largest active internet users in Nigeria. This to an extent can be explained by the fact that Cryptocurrency itself is created to eliminate the control of central banks, and the direct opposite of this is what was done by the Nigerian government. 

As the cryptocurrency market keeps expanding with millions of users, one cannot ignore the many potentials Cryptocurrency offers to the new economy that is being created around the digital space. Just as the popular cliche commonly used in the Cryptocurrency community; “Cryptocurrency is a currency of the people, not the government”. The evidence of this fact can be well observed in underdeveloped nations like Nigeria where the majority of youth unemployment is on the rise, a significant section of youths has built careers around the thriving but volatile market. 

On one hand, Cryptocurrency completely removes the autonomy of governments over finance and on the other hand, it has offered more financial opportunities to the people – arguably more than the Nigerian government has done. Therefore, the ban on such cannot be swept aside since it appears the Cryptocurrency market will be here for much longer. In the final analysis, Cryptocurrency and E-naira are all products and evidence of a growing trend of digitization in the finance industry. The conflict over who controls resources (and money) is brought back to the fore without discarding the need for regulationns. 

However, while cryptocurrency is new emerging money in the global world of capitalism, Cryptocurrencies do not fully provide a solution to global finance and economic crisis. Arguably, we have seen crypto-currency rise and fall like any other stock market paraded by some experts, especially in 2021. It was a big hit to thousands of Nigerians especially young people, who have seen this medium of enterprise as another way of resolving their economic needs in society. This crash as reported was a 50% fall – from $69000 to $34000 of a popular crypto coin. It even went below the predicted market price that is not going to fall. 

When the “crash” took place, a lot of people who had invested their money in it, were shocked at the news. The Nairametric report has it that the “effect of the crash has been felt all over the world.” In fact, “buying the dip” was the slogan that was used when crypto-currency crashed. This is at the period when Nayib Bukele bought 410 Bitcoin for 15 million dollars. This might look insignificant, however, it is an accumulation of resources in the hands of private capital, who are not interested to spend its money on the developing and underdeveloped economy. 

The speculation is that the buying and selling of bitcoin won’t fall below the peck amount of $30,000. This is the ugly nature of capitalism as we have it in 2008 and 1930 when we witness the worse global economic recession. Millions of working-class families were meant to pay for the downfall of capitalism. Millions lost their jobs, homes, etc. and people were forced into the harsh economic realities as currently constituted despite the boast is that we are no more in recession. However, the rate at which cryptocurrency is growing doesn’t imply that it won’t crash below its speculation, shockingly. The worse of it shall come, afterwards.

Despite the instability in the prices of the “digital money” millions of people in Nigeria, especially young people who were affected are still investing in it. This is with the general perception that cryptocurrency has come to stay without the consideration of the system behind it. Regardless young people from working-class families are investing in digital money as a new source of breaking bounds. However, the fundamental question to ask is, will this new form of money translate to the development of the economy? Will it improve the living condition of people? This is not from the thousands of young people, who are investing in it but the noise that is being given to it by the tycoons of the business. 

For science and technology to have it real impact on the lives of people. The democratic management of public resources under a planned socialist society is inevitable. Without organizing a society in the manner of development, people will continue to assume that there is a way out of capitalism. That with the new “digital money”, which the CBN of Nigeria, at a time wanting to introduce the e-naira, will resolve the economic contradiction in society. The future of crypto-currency is not guaranteed despite the noise given to it in the media. It is like any other stock and it will always rise and fall. The worse of it shall come.