BUSINESS ROUNDUP: CBN fines three banks N800m for crypto transactions; Bitcoin holders make N2.51tr in two days; Other stories

Hello, and welcome to Business Roundup this week. Here, we bring you highlights of events that happened during the week -from the capital market to the mainstream business activities, while not forgetting the tech/economy build up.

Here are the Headlines:

• CBN fines three banks N800m for crypto transactions
• DMO begins Q2 borrowing, as it opens two FGN savings bonds
• Bitcoin holders make N2.51tr in 2 days as crypto asset’s value rises by 0.68%
• Experts paint bleak future for Naira as it falls again at official market

Summary:

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has fined three commercial banks N800 million for allowing cryptocurrency transactions in the country.

The apex bank had in a circular last year stopped all commercial banks from executing cryptocurrency transactions in Nigeria.

The affected banks, according to Bloomberg, are Stanbic IBTC Bank, Access Bank Plc, and United Bank for Africa.

The Debt Management Office (DMO) has announced two federal government of Nigeria (FGN) savings bonds for subscription at N1,000 per unit.

According to a circular on its website on Monday, DMO said the issuance, which will opened on April 4, would run till April 8.

A bond is a fixed income instrument (loan) made by an investor to a borrower — usually corporate or government.

Read also: BUSINESS ROUNDUP: UAE to invest in Africa’s tech start-ups; Oil prices drop as US moves to crash price; Other stories

Bitcoin market value rose by 0.68 percent within two days handing investors N2.51 trillion ($6.06 billion) in the process.

This followed Friday’s minting of new Bitcoin by SBI Crypto.

SBI Crypto had minted the 19 millionth Bitcoin, leaving just two million Bitcoin left to be minted since the cryptocurrency was created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009.

Nigerian currency continues its free-fall to the United States dollars and financial experts have told Nigerians to expect further depreciation as the year progresses.

According to data obtained by Ripples Nigeria, the Naira depreciated by 0.11 per cent or 46 kobo against the American currency, to close the first day of April at N416.63/$1 compared with Thursday’s exchange rate of N416.17/$1.

Naira also put on the same poor performance against the British Pound Sterling on Friday dropping in value by 8 kobo.

On NSE ROUNDUP: Shareholders’ investment drops by N2.7bn in 5 days as bears take control of capital market

The Nigerian stock exchange capital inflow dropped to N10.812 billion this week with investors trading 1.137 billion shares in 23,471 deals.

Market report published by the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) showed that the investment fell short of the N13.546 billion investors splashed on 1.289 billion shares in 22,118 deals last week.

At the ending of trading this week, the Financial Sector was the most active industry as investors traded 798.246 million shares worth N6.732 billion in 12,904 deals.

The Conglomerates Industry followed with 155.154 million shares valued at N228.7 million in 917 deals.

On the tech scene, ImaliPay, Sycamore, ZirooPay, O7Therapy, and Strove were some of the names that made the headlines this week.

Nigeria’s 105-year old financial institution, Union Bank, has launched SpaceNXT, a technological and innovation hub, in Nigeria’s seat of commerce, Lagos.

Also, American global tech payments giant Visa, during the week, built an innovation studio in Kenya as it seeks to help Africans develop digital solutions.

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