VIRTUAL CURRENCY: WHAT DIFFERENT NATIONS SAY.

That Nigeria through the Securities and Exchange Commission finally issued a warning to those eyeing virtual currencies aka cryptocurrency last week to beware, was good but it may not be the last word on the matter.

The last word will most likely come from the Central Bank of Nigeria or from the federal government itself.

However, this should not be surprising because, the world over, only very few countries have taken clear positions on the matter, for or against.

Most countries presently rather sit on the fence offered by nonexistence of any local law that outrightly bans virtual currencies partly because its emergence was not planned for and because many know the same uncertain roadmap still trails the social media.

Some countries, though, have declared Cryptocurrencies illegal.These include Bangladesh, Indonesia, Bolivia, Ecuador,and Iceland.

China has reportedly banned it for financial institutions but individuals could trade on it just like Russia where even buying gold is not encouraged but crptovurrencies recently scored a legal victory.

Vietnam once officially declared it illegal but is reportedly now setting up regulatory framework while in Sweden virtual money is banned by a law banning dealing in scrap metal and metal products.

Thailand too is reported to have officially declared it illegal but licenses are being issued.

India was one of the very first countries to design and establish a crptocurrency exchange (Bitcoin) but it has since closed shop because its bankers stopped being involved and no other bank could be got to play ball.

The countries.that have taken positions in favour are few but they include key world finance nations like the United States of America, European Union (no specific laws yet though),Luxembourg; Croatia and Japan.

For all other countries in the world, including Nigeria,, the official attitude is to issue a warning, shrug shoulders because there is no law or need to regulate it, or have eyes fixed more on potential tax revenue in crptocurrency business.

All countries agree though that virtual currency could be used for money laundering and more importantly, for funding terrorism and insurgency.

So far, according to Wikipedia, there were about 710 crptocurrencies by July 2016 with total promoted do far since the 2009 debut of Bitcoin coming to 740.

Quite a crowd and the more reason if you must be involved, beware because, without any state protection against potential loss, caveat emptor is the only rule left.

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