Niyi Iyanda

“I am delighted to announce my partnership with Binance. Together we are going to change NFT gaming and take football to the next level, and this is just the beginning”, Ronaldo said in the unveiling video.

<div class="embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Binance?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Binance</a> 🤝 <a href="https://twitter.com/Cristiano?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Cristiano</a> 🐐 We&#39;re kicking off an exclusive multi-year NFT partnership with football legend Cristiano Ronaldo. This is your opportunity to own an iconic piece of sports history and join CR7&#39;s Web3 community. <a href="https://t.co/3j1lKcqrbn">pic.twitter.com/3j1lKcqrbn</a>&mdash; Binance (@binance) <a href="https://twitter.com/binance/status/1539969367726620674?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Binance made a brief statement in the caption of the video that read, “We're kicking off an exclusive multi-year NFT partnership with football legend Cristiano Ronaldo.

This is your opportunity to own an iconic piece of sports history and join CR7's Web3 community.”

Also Read: &nbsp;<a href="https://www.pulse.ng/sports/football/marcelo-and-dani-alves-look-poised-to-join-la-liga-minnows/ccyncjf">El Clasico rivals both targeted by La Liga returnees</a>

<a href="https://www.pulse.ng/sports/football/napolis-nigerian-youngster-could-leave-the-club-for-another-italian-side/pctm08s">Napoli's Nigerian youngster could leave the club for another Italian side</a>

<a href="https://www.pulse.ng/sports/football/super-eagles/taiwo-awoniyi-to-nottingham-forest-good-or-bad-move-for-the-super-eagles-striker/r6175mz">Taiwo Awoniyi to Nottingham Forest: Good or bad move?</a>

A few minutes later, Ronaldo replied to the announcement with a tweet of his own: "Proud to be partnering with @binance. Together we’ll give you the opportunity to own an iconic piece of sports history. I’m excited to take this journey with all of you. Let’s change the NFT game with #Binance.”

With a social media following of nearly 600 million on Twitter and Instagram alone, the deal would have been a no-brainer for Binance, who would be keen to tap into Cristiano’s almost cult-like following on the internet.

Cristiano Ronaldo has 459 million followers on Instagram alone!

Binance is expected to develop a series of NFT collections exclusive to their NFT platform called Binance NFT. The first releases from the collection will be available later in the year, and the rumour mill has it that Cristiano himself will create some of the designs.

While this deal is exciting for Ronaldo, other issues around his football are less than ideal. Find out more <a href="https://www.pulse.ng/sports/football/manchester-united-ronaldo-reportedly-bothered-about-clubs-delay-in-signings/jgwwnmd">here</a>.

Cryptocurrency platform Binance has announced a partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo

Cryptocurrency giants Binance have announced a multi-year deal with legendary Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo.

Cristiano Ronaldo begins Cryptocurrency journey following announcement of the latest partnership

Jude Egbas

<h1>It was not just about what he said, but how he said it--the nation’s vice president offering a rebuttal of a government regulator’s anachronistic policy with the candour, crisp elucidation and eloquence he’s become famed for.</h1>

“There is no question that blockchain technology generally and cryptocurrencies in particular, will in the coming years challenge traditional banking, including reserve banking, in ways that we cannot yet imagine.&nbsp;

“The point I’m making is that some of the exciting developments we see, call for prudence and care in adopting them. And this has been very well articulated by our regulatory authorities. But we must act with knowledge and not with fear,” Vice President Yemi Osinbajo cautioned, hours after Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, stormed the <a href="https://www.pulse.ng/business/cryptocurrency-cbn-governor-emefiele-defends-ban/zpxcke2">senate to declare cryptocurrencies</a> the worst thing since advance fee fraud.

Of course acting with fear is what the CBN and Emefiele have been doing since they heard about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.&nbsp;It's what we've been doing as a nation since independence.

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele (M) Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Zainab Usman (L) and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. [Twitter/@NGRPresident]

"Cryptocurrency is used to describe the activities of traders in an electronic dark world where transactions are extremely opaque, not visible and not transparent,” Emefiele barked.

So, let’s ban it because we do not understand it.&nbsp;

Typical of people who don't have a worldview and who reside in echo chambers.

On February 5, 2021, the apex bank <a href="https://www.pulse.ng/business/cbn-bans-cryptocurrency-trading-in-nigeria/k75vfzm">did issue a circular</a> to Deposit Money Banks (DMB), non-bank financial institutions and other financial institutions, effectively banning cryptocurrency trading in Nigeria.&nbsp;

The CBN has spent a better part of the year <a href="https://www.pulse.ng/business/cryptocurrency-5-reasons-cbn-is-banning-virtual-money/xqp9j64">labelling cryptocurrencies</a> as opaque, extremely volatile, a gambling device, and a catalyst for drug peddling and money laundering. Everything but understanding how cryptos work.

It is how we’ve run our country for all of 60 years: ban what we don’t understand, cower in the face of new technology, be slow to adopt new technologies, shy away from empowering our tech ecosystems and baulk at innovation.&nbsp;

A country whose leaders make so much noise about diversifying the economy away from energy should be quick to encourage technologies that promise to put more money in the pockets of a bulging youth population and demography.

The CBN should have taken its time to study what blockchain technology really means and its capacity for changing the financial sector in the future in ways we can only imagine, rather than rush to ban.&nbsp;

Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele (News360)

Which is why <a href="https://www.pulse.ng/business/cryptocurrency-osinbajo-against-cbns-ban-on-trading-in-nigeria/3jw3rjj">Osinbajo’s open rebuke</a> and rebuttal of the CBN is a welcome development and intervention.

Yes, the cryptocurrency world can be gamed by criminals and dubious persons, but so has the traditional monetary systems. Banks are still being used to launder money across the world and to purchase hard drugs, as you read this. But we haven’t banned the banking system or thrown away our legal tenders.&nbsp;

It doesn’t make sense that while the likes of <a href="https://www.pulse.ng/business/elon-musk-supports-bitcoin/xq94ncl">Elon Musk</a> and much of the business/developed world are opening their doors and minds to cryptos, Africa’s largest economy is acting on impulse and is deploying scare tactics.&nbsp;

“Let’s regulate, not prohibit…there's a role for regulation here, and it is in the place of our monetary authorities and SEC to provide a robust regulatory regime that addresses these serious concerns without necessarily killing the goose that might lay the golden eggs," Osinbajo says.

We should have those words plastered across all government facilities and bureaucracies in Abuja, our nation’s capital.

Those who know and work with the vice president often <a href="https://www.pulse.ng/news/local/how-osinbajo-spends-his-day-pulse-interview/6l87325">share tales </a>of how at home he is with new technology and how innovation excites him like nothing else. He is friends with the young men and women who are using the internet to change our society, one app at a time.

It is why he walks around with an iPad, writes his own speeches on his gadgets and monitors social media trends like no political leader does.

He’s got an open mind--the kind of mindset our political leaders and regulators should possess in a fast paced, ever evolving, digitalized world.&nbsp;

*Pulse Editor's Opinion is the viewpoint of an Editor at Pulse. It does not represent the opinion of the Organisation Pulse.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo SAN inaugurates the Senior Executive Course, No. 43, 2021, of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru. 1st March, 2021. Photo: Tolani Alli

Most of our leaders don't have a worldview. It's why we are here.

Osinbajo's take on cryptocurrency is a welcome departure from Abuja’s tunnel vision [Pulse Editor's Opinion]

<h1>Electric car company, Tesla, says it will soon start accepting payments for its range of automobiles in cryptocurrency.</h1>

Cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies that have become very popular around the world in a fast-paced internet age.

Tesla is the most valuable car company on the stock market. And the company says it's now <a href="https://www.pulse.ng/business/elon-musk-supports-bitcoin/xq94ncl">ready to bet on bitcoin, </a>the most used cryptocurrency.

The company says it has invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin so far as part of a decision to "invest a portion of [the company's] cash in certain specified alternative reserve assets."

Tesla range of electric cars. The company is ranked number one on the stock market (Business Insider)

Tesla lists $19 billion in cash and cash equivalent on its balance sheet as of December 31, 2020.

In its annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla says it expects "to begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for our products in the near future ... initially on a limited basis, which we may or may not liquidate upon receipt."

The announcement arrives as some federal governments like Nigeria's,<a href="https://www.pulse.ng/business/cryptocurrency-5-reasons-cbn-is-banning-virtual-money/xqp9j64"> ban trading in cryptocurrencies,</a> labelling them illicit and too volatile.

Tesla is hurling $1.5 billion into bitcoin as Nigeria shuns all forms of cryptocurrency.

Tesla says you will soon pay for its cars with cryptocurrency

Bayo Wahab

<h1>Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ban cryptocurrency trading in Nigeria.&nbsp;</h1>

Atiku said with Nigeria’s economic crisis, the country needs to open up the economy.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday, February 5, 2021, directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and other financial institutions<a href="https://www.pulse.ng/business/cbn-bans-cryptocurrency-trading-in-nigeria/k75vfzm"> to close accounts of persons who are using their systems</a> for cryptocurrency trading.

The CBN warned that financial institutions who breach the directive would face severe sanctions.

Reacting to this, Atiku in a statement titled, ‘We Need To Open Up Our Economy, Not Close It’, on Saturday, February 6, 2021, said the government should create jobs for Nigerian youths because unemployment is one of Nigeria's main challenges.

He added that unemployment affects the economy and worsen insecurity in the country.&nbsp;

The statement reads, “The number one challenge facing Nigeria is youth unemployment. In fact, it is not a challenge, it is an emergency. It affects our economy, and is exacerbating insecurity in the nation.

“What Nigeria needs now, perhaps more than ever, are jobs and an opening up of our economy, especially after today’s report by the National Bureau of Statistics indicated that foreign capital inflow into Nigeria is at a four year low, having plummeted from $23.9 billion in 2019, to just $9.68 billion in 2020.

“Already, the nation suffered severe economic losses from the border closure, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is definitely the wrong time to introduce policies that will restrict the inflow of capital into Nigeria, and I urge that the policy to prohibit the dealing and transaction of cryptocurrencies be revisited.”

“It is possible to regulate the sub sector and prevent any abuse that may be inimical to national security. That may be a better option, than an outright shutdown.

“There is already immense economic pressure on our youths. It must be the job of the government, therefore, to reduce that pressure, rather than adding to it.

“We must create jobs in Nigeria. We must expand the economy. We must remove every impediment towards investments. We owe the Nigerian people that much.”

However, since the CBN issued the directive on Friday, Nigerians on social media have been criticising the decision as many argued that cryptocurrency is the least of Nigeria’s problems.

Atiku advises FG create jobs for Nigerian youths because unemployment is the number one challenge of the country.

‘Don’t close our economy’, Atiku faults CBN’s decision on cryptocurrency

<h1>The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and other financial institutions to close accounts of persons who are using their systems for cryptocurrency trading.</h1>

A cryptocurrency is a virtual or digital currency that appreciates or depreciates on the whims of market forces.

Trading with Bitcoin--a cryptocurrency type--<a href="https://www.pulse.ng/business/elon-musk-supports-bitcoin/xq94ncl">has gained traction globally </a>and in Nigeria lately; and most young people have been investing in the cryptocurrency world, buying and selling bitcoin and making profit for themselves.

But the apex bank is clearly not a fan of digital currencies.

In a statement signed by Bello Hassan, Director of Banking Supervision; and Musa Jimoh, Director of Payments System Management Department, the CBN said: "Further to earlier regulatory directives on the subject, the bank hereby wishes to remind regulated institutions that dealing in crypto currencies or facilitating payments for cryptocurrency exchange is prohibited.

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele. [guardian]

"Accordingly, all DMBs, NBFIs and OFIs are directed to identify persons and/or entities transacting in or operating crypto currency exchanges within their systems and ensure that such accounts are closed immediately."

The CBN also declared that breaches of its directive will attract severe regulatory sanctions.

<div class="embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <a href="https://t.co/B5TkL6kz9O">pic.twitter.com/B5TkL6kz9O</a>&mdash; OG Waheedi. (@gboukzi) <a href="https://twitter.com/gboukzi/status/1357665590249484292?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2021</a></blockquote>
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<h2>CBN has never liked cryptocurrency</h2>

It is not the first time that the CBN would be showing its disdain for cryptocurrency. In 2018, the apex bank issued a circular to say cryptocurrencies are not legal tenders in Nigeria.

"For the avoidance of doubt, dealers and investors in any kind of cryptocurrency in Nigeria are not protected by law. Virtual currencies are traded in exchange platforms that are unregulated, all over the world.

"Consumers may therefore lose their money without any legal redress in the event these exchangers collapse or close business.

"Members of the public are hereby warned that virtual currencies are not legal tender in Nigeria. Accordingly, we wish to caution all and sundry on the risks inherent in such activities," the 2018 statement had read.

Other types of cryptocurrencies are <a href="https://www.avatrade.ng/trading-info/financial-instruments-index/cryptocurrencies/ethereum">Ethereum trading</a>, Litecoin, Polkadot, Chainlink, Binance coin, Tether etc.

The Central Bank of Nigeria under the leadership of Godwin Emefiele is ready to clampdown on anyone who abuses the Naira notes. (News360)

The apex bank has warned that financial institutions who breach this directive would face severe sanctions.

CBN bans cryptocurrency trading in Nigeria

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