Apr 23, 2021 Nigerians have resorted to peer-to-peer trading after the Central Bank of Nigeria banned regulated institutions from interacting with bitcoin in February. Months after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released a letter banning regulated institutions from dealing with bitcoin in February, there has been a 27% increase in peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin trading in the country, according to data from analytics platform UsefulTulips. The ban came as a follow-up to a previous CBN circular of 2017 that cautioned institutions and the public on the risk associated with transactions in cryptocurrency. With the February 2021 letter, the CBN clarified to regulated institutions that “dealing in cryptocurrencies or facilitating payments for cryptocurrency exchanges is prohibited.”