Here’s something that I was not expecting to wake up to this morning; a member of the Nigerian Senate admitting that any government attempts to regulate or ban Bitcoin will be in vain while another highlights how Bitcoin is helping Nigerians.
Bitcoin is “so strong” that it is hard to imagine any kind of effective regulation or ability to kill the network. This is the most bullish thing to come from a government entity in regards to Bitcoin in quite some time.
While Senator Sani Musa is correct in his thinking regarding the regulation of Bitcoin, he has the causation backwards when it comes to what made the Nigerian naira “almost useless or valueless”. Bitcoin had no part in making the naira almost valueless and useless. This was caused by the actions of the Nigerian Central Bank and the Nigerian government. Bitcoin wasn’t responsible for increasing the amount of naira floating through the Nigerian economy by ~30% over a 12-month period. The Nigerian Central Bank did. Bitcoin didn’t move to shut down the bank accounts of those participating in the #EndSARS movement during the Summer of 2020. The Nigerian government did.
The actions of these two entities are what’s driving Nigerian citizens to Bitcoin. And as Senator Olujimi rightly points out, Bitcoin is helping young Nigerians thrive by allowing them to conduct “great business” that is “getting results”. This is exactly what Nigerian politicians, or any politician around the world, should want for their citizens; success via the free market. Success enabled by a free market monetary good that no one can control. It is truly a beautiful thing.
The comments from Senator Musa should be taken to heart by any of you freaks reading this rag right now. This is what leaders in the West will say as well as individuals the world over begin to adopt bitcoin and turn away from centrally controlled currencies like the dollar and euro. They will blame bitcoin for the failure of their currencies. However, you all know these central authorities have wrought their own demise with irresponsible monetary policy and unfettered fiscal spending. Bitcoin did not enable this. It is saving the Common Man from this.