The price of Bitcoin (BTC) in Nigeria has surged well above market levels amid the central bank’s ongoing efforts to push its citizens into digitized cash.
At the time of writing, the price of 1 BTC on Nigerian crypto exchange NairaEX is currently 17.8 million naira, which is a whopping $38,792.
This represents a premium of more than 60% over Bitcoin’s current market price, which is around $23,700 at the time of writing.
It comes as the Central Bank of Nigeria has continued to impose restrictions on cash withdrawals from ATMs while continuing efforts to accelerate the transition to a cashless society.
#Bitcoin is Hope‼️
BREAKING: Bitcoin is selling at a premium of 60% ($37,235) in Nigeria on increased demand.
The Central Bank of Nigeria started capping cash withdrawals at $44 per day earlier this month.
Now a global leader in Google searches for “Buy #Bitcoin ” pic.twitter.com/SI861WUhVy
— SHIB Bezos (@BezosCrypto) January 29, 2023
Earlier this month, the central bank introduced a limit on cash withdrawals, following a December announcement.
From January 9, citizens were only allowed to withdraw a maximum of NGN 20,000 (about $43.50) from ATMs (cash dispensers) per day, with a limit of NGN 100,000 (about $217).
The move also came just days before new naira banknotes were put into circulation in a bid to curb inflation and money laundering. The central bank gave Nigerians until January 24 to exchange their old higher-denomination banknotes for the new currency.
However, long queues ensued due to complaints that the deadline could not be met. According to reports on January 29, the central bank has now extended this deadline to February 10.
It’s not the first time that the bitcoin premium has surged in Nigeria. In February 2021, the central bank banned regulated financial institutions from providing services to cryptocurrency exchanges in the country. This drove the BTC premium up to 36% at the time.
Related: Nigeria to Pass Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Recognition Law
Recent interest in bitcoin has also made Nigeria the leading country for bitcoin web searches, according to Google Trends.
BREAKING: The Nigerian Central Bank introduces new limits on cash withdrawals (20,000 naira ~$44 daily) and announced that all old naira notes will be worthless by the end of January.
Nigeria introduces the “How to buy #Bitcoin“Search worldwide pic.twitter.com/O26si2nHde
— Carl ₿ MENGER ⚡️ (@CarlBMenger) January 18, 2023
In addition, Portal reported on Jan. 26 that the Central Bank of Nigeria launched a domestic card scheme to compete with foreign cards like MasterCard and Visa.
The “AfriGo” card scheme was developed to give Nigerians better access to bank card services and to avoid the often expensive foreign card fees and conversion costs.