Central Bank in Africa's Top Bitcoin Market Warns of ‘Gamble’
- Nigeria’s reserve bank studying market to plan response
- Regulator already asked lenders not to trade cryptocurrencies
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The central-bank governor of Nigeria, where bitcoin trading grew the most in Africa last year, said investing in the cryptocurrency is a “gamble” and hinted it may have to be regulated.
“Cryptocurrency or bitcoin is like a gamble, and there is a need for everybody to be very careful,” Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele said in an interview on Wednesday at his office in the capital, Abuja. “We cannot as a central bank give support to situations” where people risk savings to “gamble,” he said.