Bitcoin: Why Nigerian Youths Are Crazy About Cryptocurrency
One of the businesses currently rocking the internet and generating massive buzz across the world and Nigeria, especially among youths, is the Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is a popular electronic or cryptocurrency trading platform, similar to forex, which anybody with a basic training can do online.
In Nigeria, the army of tech loving youths who are either unemployed or running small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are rushing into Bitcoin cryptocurrency big time and making huge returns despite the risks.
In fact, when the Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN recently suspended banks from getting involved, there was a resounding outcry.
Akanniyen Willie, a forex and bitcoin trainer, software developer and tech expert, spoke to THECONSCIENCEng Editor on why Nigerian Youths in their scores are taking to Bitcoin. Excerpts:
What’s Bitcoin? Bitcoin is a digital currency or digital money which is used to trade electronically. It is not dollar or naira. You can buy, sell and exchange directly. It is accounted for and transferred online.
Cryptocurrency is digital money, and a form of payment that can be exchanged online for goods and services. That means there’s no physical coin or bill, everything is online. Cryptocurrency can be acquired through a credit card, and stored in a digital or e-wallet either online, on computer or on hardware.
It works through the block chain technology, a decentralized and secure system spread across computers which cannot be controlled by one government or person.
What Are The Differences Between Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency? Cryptocurrency is a compound name while Bitcoin is a subset of Cryptocurrency.
Why The Sudden Buzz in Nigeria? Nigerians youths just recently discovered the inherent value, security and the huge return on investment possible with bitcoin. That’s why they are rushing into it.
I can tell you that an estimate of over 10,000 Nigerians youths has become sudden millionaires through bitcoin and I will explain why and how.
How? By trading or mining or investing in bitcoin. The price of bitcoin is skyrocketing consistently now. From December 2020 the value has been going higher. You buy at lower value and sell when it is high.
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One Bitcoin now sells at $60,000 but you can buy little units. As at September 2020, it was $19,000. You can imagine if you bought it then and now sell. From the comfort of your computer you can sell and cash out big. That’s how. You receive calls from buyers all over the world, sell and get your money.
Is The Bitcoin Buzz Just in Nigeria or The World? It is a decentralized currency and system all over the world operated under a decentralized authority. The value of crypto currency anywhere is the same thing. No country or person can significantly tamper with it or has the monopoly.
Some have tried before but failed. That’s why the big players are now integrating it into their payment systems e.g. PayPal. The value just keeps increasing. By December 2021, it is projected that the value of one bitcoin should be about $100,000.
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Do I need to be a Tech Expert to Trade in Bitcoin? No. You just need basic training on tech tools to use. You must learn the dos and don’ts. To trade, you must know when to buy and sell, the low and high periods.
But to invest, you can just buy anytime because it keeps rising. But as it is for every financial dealing you must get guidance on how to stay profitable and avoid mistakes.
What do You do as a Bitcoin Dealer? You can either be a Bitcoin investor or trader. As an investor, just buy your one bitcoin now for $60,000 and go to sleep. Maybe by next month, it would be about $70,000.
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Just sell and make cool money or keep till you wish to sell. You don’t need any advice, mentoring or training. But as a trader, you need to understand how, where and when to sell or buy just as it is for any financial instrument.
These 3 factors determine your success or failure. Either as a Bitcoin investor or trader, you can buy little units with whatever amount you have.
You will get a fraction of whatever the value you buy from one bitcoin. It’s not a must to buy one whole bitcoin of $60,000; you can buy a fraction.
How long have you been in Bitcoin? As already a Forex trader I started investing and trading in bitcoin in 2019 when the market was just gathering momentum.
I can now Comfortably Say You Are A Billionaire or Millionaire sir? (Laughs hysterically) We are not billionaires yet sir. It is relative. There are only few billionaires in the industry. We are just small boys trying to grow and enjoying technology.
There is a fear that once something is booming in Nigeria, some people might be influencing it and suddenly the bubble will burst like the Stock Market and MMM, and people’s funds get trapped. How safe is Bitcoin? Bitcoin is much safer and different from other currency trading you mentioned. As I said earlier, the chance of being influenced is extremely low because it is decentralized.
For example, the Stock Exchange can be controlled and manipulated by the big players. If you bring $20 billion into the Bitcoin industry, it will indirectly affect price of Bitcoin but may not affect my bitcoin. Your money may help to increase the value of Bitcoin a bit but will not force me to a loss.
Owing to high Cyber related crimes, the public though aware of legit opportunities online like Bitcoin are apprehensive of participating, how can you reassure such people? This is why we advise anyone interested to speak to authorized brokers. They know the terrain and will ensure you deal with only the safe sources and contacts.
The truth is that as the genuine tech increases so are the fraudsters. They are also upgrading constantly but bitcoin has a very secure mode. In fact, you can download your bitcoin as a hard token on your hard drive and carry it physically and nobody will have access to it with that.
You can remove it from online. We also advise interested people to be wary of whom you talk to when dealing in any financial transactions. Avoid the people who make so many promises with the intent to defraud.
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The FG banned Cryptocurrency deals with Banks in Nigeria. What’s the Update and In 5 year, what will happen to Bitcoin? Recently the Federal Government of Nigeria came out with a policy to restrict bitcoin transactions between banks and individuals.
That has limited many people who are dealing in Bitcoin or interested in investing because they have limited knowledge. Bitcoin is decentralized and doesn’t depend on Naira value.
As I speak, you can still buy or sell Bitcoin in Nigeria but you cannot do it through the registered banks in Nigeria. There are many ways to do it. In terms of growth, as at 2020, an online survey said 32% of Nigerian population participated in Crypto-currency related trading.
That’s the highest globally. Nigeria currently has the highest volume of citizens dealing in cryptocurrency globally. We have 1.1 Cryptocurrency trade per month in Nigeria in 2020.
The major players are currently engaging government on how to regulate the trade in Nigeria to allow the genuine traders. The policy was targeted at curbing frauds.
Why The Ban By Government? A few days after the ban, the Central Bank Governor came out with information to clarify that Cryptocurrency has not been banned but the policy is that transactions with banks suspended.
If you want to buy or sell now, I will tell you how to deal through e-wallets electronically without involving banks. Because of the crime done by some people, some international organisations are not willing to deal with Nigerians and it is affecting fin-tech and crypto transactions between Nigerians and others outside the country.
Advice to Nigerians? The value of crypto is still rising daily. If you save money now in bank the value is just going lower so bank saving now is not the best. Just do investment and one of the good ones is Bitcoin.
Just buy Bitcoin now, keep, sell later and thank me after. To start trading at basic later, you can start with as low as N5000 or N10, 000. To buy one Bitcoin as at today at $60,400, with black market Naira rate of N480, so say N29million. You can buy a fraction of a Bitcoin.
So, with N5000 you get 0.00002 and it is still valuable. If you sell let’s say tomorrow you may get N10, 000 something like that, because it keeps rising.
There are many genuine platforms through which you can buy. I will not mention any here. You can contact me for recommendations.
What’s Your reaction on Forex Trading in Nigeria? Forex is the oldest currency exchange or trading platform and still existing. Just like exchanging currencies when you want to travel. Doing so electronically is forex.
You will register with forex trading brokers and give you a software and platform for trading. Now, you can do it online not the old way of stock broking.
But Bitcoin is the hottest one now. Government is just ensuring sanity by regulating activities. If you have a Bitcoin, you buy or sell without banks.