THE Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, has warned Nigerians against the risk involved in investing in digital currencies such as Swisscoin, OneCoin and Bitcoin, as vehicles of investment.In a public notice on its website, SEC said that none of the individuals or companies promoting the use of the currencies is recognized by it or any other regulatory agency in the country.Such digital currencies, otherwise known as Cryptocurrency, is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure the transactions and to control the creation of additional units of the currency.Bitcoin became the first decentralized cryptocurrency in 2009.The Commission, therefore, said such investments been promoted by the companies could be risky with possibility of loss of money by investors, while others could be outright fraudulent pyramid schemes.“Given that these instruments and the persons, companies or entities that promote the digital currencies have neither been authorized, nor any guidelines/regulations developed for them by any of the regulatory authorities in Nigeria, there is no protection available to users or investors in these virtual currencies from financial losses if the virtual currencies fail or the companies promoting them go out of business.

“The public and consumers of financial services are further advised that before making any investment or entering into any financial services transaction they should ascertain that the entity with whom the investment or transaction is being made is authorized by the Commission or other financial services regulatory authority as applicable to provide such services.,” it said.bitcoin r3It would be recalled that the Nigeria Insurance Deposit Commission, NDIC, in conjunction with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, had recently set up a committee to study the trending “digital currency, ‘bitcoin.bitcoin faucet instant payAccording to Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, Managing Director, NDIC, the Commission would look at the advantages and disadvantages of the currency and what it means for the payment system in Nigeria as well as safety and security of customers “We will also look at what it means for money laundering, anti corruption, crime and measurement of money /near money instrument for the economy.linux voice bitcoin

But we need a lot of education to do this and I am calling on you (media) to educate yourselves about all of this so you can educate the public,” he said.bitcoin pool rankingsHe said that a lot of Nigerians have already started patronising bitcoin, stressing that ‘it had started to creep in and nobody could stop it.bitcoin price diveHe said that in Europe and the United States, it has gained ground and some of the leading banks in Europe have also adopted their own versions of bitcoins.litecoin ltc price“Some of the central banks have also adopted it and are seriously doing everything possible to bring in the emergence of these invisible products,” he added.backup a bitcoin walletBitcoin just hit a new high in value, and other non-traditional currencies are rapidly appreciating, but curb your enthusiasm.bitcoin unverified

So says Brown Brothers Harriman, acknowledging the rising market capitalization of Ripple, which has surged more than six-fold to $13 billion, and of Ethereum, which was worth about $700 million in January and recently was valued at more than $8.5 billion.bitcoin embassy hoursBut if these so-called crypto-currencies are hoarded, BBH notes, they cannot develop the critical mass of networking to fulfill the other functions of money as a means of exchange, BBH writes.UPDATED: Yet crypto-currencies still are praised by bulls as an alternative to fiat currencies, though neither is typically backed by gold or silver.BBH's Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy; Win Thin, global head of emerging market currency strategy; and Masashi Murata, emerging market currency strategist, write: " ... There are several factors that may have spurred renewed interest in this space.Geopolitical uncertainty is running high.The seemingly unpredictable U.S.

president, who antagonized friends and foes, is escalating the long-simmering confrontation with North Korea, has dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan, and launched a missile strike on Syria for its alleged use of chemical weapons.European politics were perceived to be a grave risk.Chinese capital controls may have encouraged some interest in crypto-currencies as a means to circumvent the restrictions.The recent cyber-attacked demanded Bitcoins as payment (and some reports suggested at least $80k of bitcoins were paid).Also, recently demand from Japan followed the inclusion of the Bitcoin under the country's regulatory framework ...The rising price for crypto-currencies and new interest does not alter our assessment.These are not currencies in any meaningful sense.To the extent that some retailers accept them is a bit of a novelty and marketing fluke.Some of the larger businesses, like Virgin, who previously indicated a willingness to accept Bitcoins as payment, reportedly convert such payments into hard currencies.

It is a gimmick, not confirmation of its currency status.Leaving aside the questions of the origin of money, money, under conditions of modernity facilitates exchange, and is used to pay taxes and settle debts.When crypto-currencies can be used to pay taxes, and/or are generally accepted to retire debt, then their money status needs to be reviewed.Under present condition, none of the functions of money are met by crypto-currencies.They are hardly used as a means of payment.They are poor stores of value.They are not units of account.People can still make and lose money trading them ..."Subscribers can read Barron's latest Read This, Spike That feature, "Trump and Bitcoin: Two Peas in a Pod" and Barron's columnist Michael Kahn's March column, "The Dollar Is Strong, but Bitcoin Is Stronger."A few days later in March, the Securities and Exchange Commission rejected a bitcoin exchange-traded fund promoted by twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.Among emerging market currencies today, the South African rand is the big winner, up 1.2% against the U.S.

The Argentine peso is stronger by 0.9%.Among weakening currencies, the Indian rupee tops the list, off by 0.5% against the greenback.The euro is fractionally weaker at 1.12 against the dollar today.So far this year, the Polish zloty has strengthened the most among emerging market currencies, up nearly 12%, and the Russian ruble is stronger by more than 9%.Few EM currencies are significantly weaker, though the struggling Turkish lira tops the list with a 1% decline against the dollar.Currency isn't always a harbinger of equity performance: the iShares MSCI Poland Capped ETF (EPOL) is up 32% this year, while the VanEck Vectors Russia ETF (RSX) is down more than 3% on geopolitical and oil-price worries.The iShares MSCI Turkey ETF (TUR) has rallied 25% following a referendum consolidating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's power.The  Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) is up 13.6% this year, and the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) is up 17.7%.Latest In Emergingmarketsdaily Blog