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Nigeria still open to crypto business despite rocky past: Report

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The government of Nigeria is still open to crypto businesses operating in the country despite the ongoing lawsuit against crypto exchange Binance and the high-profile detention of Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan.

Nigerian Information Minister Mohammed Idris told Semafor that many crypto businesses operate inside the country that are not facing litigation or criminal prosecution.

“This is part of the effort to strengthen our laws, not to cripple anybody. We are ensuring that no one comes and operates without regulation,” Idris told the outlet.

Nigeria filed an $81.5 billion lawsuit against Binance in February, claiming the exchange crashed Nigeria’s local currency, the naira, and said that Binance owed $2 billion in back taxes as the Nigerian government continues to grapple with sensible crypto policy.

The naira M2 money supply has been rapidly increasing since March 2024. Source: Trading Economics

Related: Nigeria’s crypto future: Striking a balance between innovation and regulation

Nigerian regulations don’t give crypto investors hope

The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission overhauled its crypto regulations in December 2024, tightening laws around crypto marketing and advertising.

More specifically, the updated law requires digital asset providers operating in the country to obtain permission before third-party marketing firms can run advertisements on behalf of the firms.

In February, Nigerian regulators also announced a plan to tax crypto transactions for revenue generation.

According to Chainalysis “2024 Global Adoption Index” report, Nigeria ranks second globally for crypto adoption, while India claimed the top spot.

Nigeria ranks second globally for crypto adoption. Source: Chainalysis

Chainalysis also found that the African country received $59 billion in cryptocurrencies between July 2023 and June 2024.

Despite these impressive figures, taxing crypto transactions may not bring in the revenue desired by the Nigerian government.

Nigeria leads African countries in terms of cryptocurrency value received. Source: Chainalysis

Coin Bureau founder and market analyst Nic Puckrin said Nigeria has a robust over-the-counter market for retail crypto trading, which evades centralized exchanges and is difficult to track or tax.

Puckrin added that importers use crypto to circumvent the high volatility of the Nigerian naira and escape foreign exchange risk.

The rapidly depreciating value of the fiat currency makes it unlikely that the importers will stop using crypto, and these importers will be hard-pressed to report their crypto transactions, which can be conducted peer-to-peer, to the Nigerian government.

Magazine: How crypto laws are changing across the world in 2025

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Coin Market

Why institutions are hesitant about decentralized finance — Shibtoshi

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Shibtoshi, the founder of the SilentSwap privacy-preserving trading platform, outlined several concerns that make institutions hesitant to adopt decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions, including privacy, a lack of standardized compliance regulations, and legal accountability.

The DeFi founder told Cointelegraph that the high transparency of onchain transactions presents a problem for companies that must conceal sensitive information, including trading strategies, payroll information, and business-to-business agreements. Shibtoshi said:

“The main concerns — regulatory uncertainty, privacy limitations, and complex user experience — are real, but solvable. Innovations in privacy-preserving protocols are making DeFi increasingly compatible with enterprise needs. Platforms like SilentSwap are a step in that direction.”

Regulatory uncertainty continues to be one of the biggest problems for DeFi and is compounded by a fragmented approach across legal jurisdictions, which prevents institutional adoption, Shibtoshi added.

“Are DeFi tokens securities? What happens if a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) messes up — and who is responsible when it does? It is all still pretty unclear,” the SilentSwap founder told Cointelegraph.

Shibtoshi urged common sense regulations that encourage innovation and preserve the value propositions of decentralized finance, including self-custody, speed, and cost-effective transactions.

The total value locked across the DeFi ecosystem has not yet returned to peak levels witnessed in 2021 and 2022. Source: DeFiLlama

Related: Specialized purpose DEXs poised for growth in 2025 — Curve founder

US Congress overturns archaic DeFi rule, but DeFi still in danger

Both chambers of the United States Congress recently voted to overturn the highly unpopular DeFi broker rule requiring decentralized finance protocols and platforms to report customer transactions to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The US Senate repealed the IRS broker rule in a 70 to 27 vote on March 4, followed by members of the US House of Representatives voting to repeal the IRS rule on March 11.

Despite the repeal of the archaic rule, overregulation may end up killing a sector that was born as a decentralized, more accessible, and pseudonymous alternative to traditional finance.

According to crypto entrepreneur and investor Artem Tolkachev, regulatory compliance is undermining decentralization in DeFi and destroying the value proposition of the nascent sector.

The emphasis on regulatory compliance measures increases the potential for censorship and shifts control from the users to third-party intermediaries and large institutions, Tolkachev wrote.

Magazine: How Shibtoshi gambled 37 ETH and became a Shiba Inu billionaire

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US recession 40% likely in 2025, what it means for crypto — Analyst

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The United States has a 40% chance of a recession in 2025 amid the potential for a protracted trade war and macroeconomic uncertainty, according to market analyst and Coin Bureau founder Nic Puckrin.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, the analyst said that while a recession is not probable, a recession and the current macroeconomic uncertainty will create an environment where risk-on assets like cryptocurrencies suffer. Puckrin said:

“Trump and his advisors have said they have not completely dismissed the recession, which means it is definitely possible, but right now, I would not say it is probable, but the odds have climbed a lot.”

The analyst added that US President Donald Trump is not actively attempting to engineer a recession, but that the things the Trump administration is doing, including cutting federal jobs and spending to balance the budget can lead to recessions as a side effect.

Macroeconomic uncertainty is the primary cause of the recent decline in the US Dollar Index (DXY), as investors shift capital to better opportunities in European capital markets and seek an escape from the economic uncertainty currently plaguing US markets, Puckrin told Cointelegraph.

The DXY, which tracks the strength of the US dollar, took a nosedive in March 2025. Source: TradingView

Related: Timeline: How Trump tariffs dragged Bitcoin below $80K

Trade war fears drag the price of Bitcoin down

President Trump’s tariffs on US trading partners sent a shockwave through the crypto markets, leading to a steep decline in altcoin prices and a 24% correction in Bitcoin’s (BTC) price from the Jan. 20 high of over $109,000.

The tariffs and fears of a prolonged trade war also reoriented market sentiment toward extreme fear — a sharp contrast from the euphoric highs felt after the re-election of Donald Trump in the United States in November 2025 and the January 20 inauguration.

The price of Bitcoin has been struggling amid the trade war headlines and is currently trading below its 200-day exponential moving average (EMA). Source: TradingView

According to Nansen research analyst Nicolai Sondergaard, crypto markets will feel the pressure of tariffs until April 2025.

If countries can successfully negotiate an end to the tariffs or the Trump administration softens its stance then markets will recover, the analyst added.

10x Research founder Markus Thielen recently said that BTC formed a price bottom in March 2025, as US President Donald Trump softened the rhetoric around trade tariffs — signaling a potential price reversal.

Magazine: Bitcoiners are ‘all in’ on Trump since Bitcoin ’24, but it’s getting risky

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Potential Bitcoin price fall to $65K ‘irrelevant’ since central bank liquidity is coming — Analyst

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Bitcoin’s (BTC) 7% decline saw the price drop from $88,060 on March 26 to $82,036 on March 29 and led to $158 million in long liquidations. This drop was particularly concerning for bulls, as gold surged to a record high at the same time, undermining Bitcoin’s “digital gold” narrative. However, many experts argue that a Bitcoin rally is imminent as multiple governments take steps to avert an economic crisis.

The ongoing global trade war and spending cuts by the US government are considered temporary setbacks. An apparent silver lining is the expectation that additional liquidity is expected to flow into the markets, which could boost risk-on assets. Analysts believe Bitcoin is well-positioned to benefit from this broader macroeconomic shift.

Source: Mihaimihale

Take, for example, Mihaimihale, an X social platform user who argued that tax cuts and lower interest rates are necessary to “kickstart” the economy, particularly since the previous year’s growth was “propped up” by government spending, which proved unsustainable.

The less favorable macroeconomic environment pushed gold to a record high of $3,087 on March 28, while the US dollar weakened against a basket of foreign currencies, with the DXY Index dropping to 104 from 107.40 a month earlier.

Additionally, the $93 million in net outflows from spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on March 28 further weighed on sentiment, as traders acknowledged that even institutional investors are susceptible to selling amid rising recession risks.

US inflation slows amid economic recession fears

The market currently assigns a 50% probability that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates to 4% or lower by July 30, up from 46% a month earlier, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

Implied rates for Fed Funds on July 30. Source: CME FedWatch

The crypto market is presently in a “withdrawal phase,” according to Alexandre Vasarhelyi, the founding partner at B2V Crypto. Vasarhelyi noted that recent major announcements, such as the US strategic Bitcoin reserve executive order mark progress in the metric that matters the most: adoption.

Vasarhelyi said real-world asset (RWA) tokenization is a promising trend, but he believes its impact remains limited. “BlackRock’s billion-dollar BUIDL fund is a step forward, but it’s insignificant compared to the $100 trillion bond market.”

Vasarhelyi added:

“Whether Bitcoin’s floor is $77,000 or $65,000 matters little; the story is early-stage growth.”

Gold decouples from stocks, bonds and Bitcoin

Experienced traders view a 10% stock market correction as routine. However, some anticipate a decline in “policy uncertainty” by early April, which would reduce the likelihood of a recession or bear market.

Source: WarrenPies

Warren Pies, founder of 3F Research, expects the US administration to soften its stance on tariffs, which could stabilize investor sentiment. This shift may help the S&P 500 stay above its March 13 low of 5,505. However, market volatility remains a factor as economic conditions evolve.

Related: Bitcoin price falls toward range lows, but data shows ‘whales going wild right now’

For some, the fact that gold decoupled from the stock market while Bitcoin succumbed to “extreme fear” is evidence that the digital gold thesis was flawed. However, more experienced investors, including Vasarhelyi, argue that Bitcoin’s weak performance reflects its early-stage adoption rather than a failure of its fundamental qualities.

Vasarhelyi said,

“Legislative shifts pave the way for user-friendly products, trading some of crypto’s flexibility for mainstream appeal. My take is adoption will accelerate, but 2025 remains a foundation year, not a tipping point.”

Analysts view the recent Bitcoin correction as a reaction to recession fears and the temporary tariff war. However, they expect these factors to trigger expansionist measures from central banks, ultimately creating a favorable environment for risk-on assets, including Bitcoin.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

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