Nelly
Member
Tola Fadugbagbe recalls moving to Lagos from his small south-western town 10 years ago with dreams of brighter prospects.
Instead, the 34-year-old ended up in a series of odd jobs earning the minimum wage to survive - a typical story for many young Nigerians who are just trying to get by.
It was not until 2016 that online adverts for Bitcoin piqued his interest and he began his cryptocurrency journey.
"I started intensive research," Mr Fadugbagbe told the BBC.
"I was spending hours every day watching videos on YouTube and reading articles about Bitcoin. I didn't have much money so I started with $100 to $200."
This was a decision that transformed his life.
At the time that we spoke, Mr Fadugbagbe, who now trades full time and teaches budding investors, said he had cryptocurrency worth more than $200,000 (£140,000) in his possession.
"I'll soon be moving into my own house, which I'm building. I have a farm - a very big one - courtesy of cryptocurrency," he laughs gleefully, unencumbered by concerns that he could be inflating an investment bubble that will one day burst. "No Nigerian comes to cryptocurrency and wants to look back. It's a big opportunity."
Success stories like Mr Fadugbagbe's have attracted millions of Nigerians to digital currencies such as Bitcoin.
A 2020 online survey by data platform Statista found that 32% of those Nigerians who took part used cryptocurrencies , the highest proportion of any country in the world.
When Michael Ugwu, the founder of a media company in Lagos, sold land he owned in 2018, he realised he needed to explore new investment opportunities.
Although his naira earnings had gone up, he was worse of in US dollar terms because of the devaluation.
"I'd made naira but lost US dollars. That's when I realised we're hustling backwards. It was then that I started to look into Bitcoin."
The move to invest in digital currencies has paid off.
"On some of my currencies I've made 50 times what I invested. On Bitcoin it's easily grown 10 times in the last year," Michael says.
Cryptocurrency Ban
This year, Nigeria's Central Bank the doubled down on its stance.
In a statement released on 7 February it cited the need to protect the general public and safeguard the country from potential threats posed by "unknown and unregulated entities" that are "well-suited for conducting many illegal activities".
Since then, many Nigerians have reported that their bank accounts have been frozen due to cryptocurrency-related activity.
Mr Fadugbagbe's bank manager called to advise him that his account would be closed, giving him a day to transfer his funds.
However, not everyone has been so fortunate.
Instead, the 34-year-old ended up in a series of odd jobs earning the minimum wage to survive - a typical story for many young Nigerians who are just trying to get by.
It was not until 2016 that online adverts for Bitcoin piqued his interest and he began his cryptocurrency journey.
"I started intensive research," Mr Fadugbagbe told the BBC.
"I was spending hours every day watching videos on YouTube and reading articles about Bitcoin. I didn't have much money so I started with $100 to $200."
This was a decision that transformed his life.
At the time that we spoke, Mr Fadugbagbe, who now trades full time and teaches budding investors, said he had cryptocurrency worth more than $200,000 (£140,000) in his possession.
"I'll soon be moving into my own house, which I'm building. I have a farm - a very big one - courtesy of cryptocurrency," he laughs gleefully, unencumbered by concerns that he could be inflating an investment bubble that will one day burst. "No Nigerian comes to cryptocurrency and wants to look back. It's a big opportunity."
Success stories like Mr Fadugbagbe's have attracted millions of Nigerians to digital currencies such as Bitcoin.
A 2020 online survey by data platform Statista found that 32% of those Nigerians who took part used cryptocurrencies , the highest proportion of any country in the world.
When Michael Ugwu, the founder of a media company in Lagos, sold land he owned in 2018, he realised he needed to explore new investment opportunities.
Although his naira earnings had gone up, he was worse of in US dollar terms because of the devaluation.
"I'd made naira but lost US dollars. That's when I realised we're hustling backwards. It was then that I started to look into Bitcoin."
The move to invest in digital currencies has paid off.
"On some of my currencies I've made 50 times what I invested. On Bitcoin it's easily grown 10 times in the last year," Michael says.
Cryptocurrency Ban
This year, Nigeria's Central Bank the doubled down on its stance.
In a statement released on 7 February it cited the need to protect the general public and safeguard the country from potential threats posed by "unknown and unregulated entities" that are "well-suited for conducting many illegal activities".
Since then, many Nigerians have reported that their bank accounts have been frozen due to cryptocurrency-related activity.
Mr Fadugbagbe's bank manager called to advise him that his account would be closed, giving him a day to transfer his funds.
However, not everyone has been so fortunate.
