Naira Weakens Further to N1,681/$1 at Official Market as Bitcoin Soars

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira weakened further against the United States Dollar by 0.15 per cent or N2.55 to N1,681/$1 on Monday, November 11 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) from the preceding day’s value of N1,681.42/$1.

However, it strengthened its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N17.39 to sell at N2,143.04/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N2,160.43/£1 and gained N14.38 against the Euro to quote at N1,782.23/€1 versus the last session’s rate of N1,796.61/€1.

The value of FX transactions at the spot market yesterday went down by 66.4 per cent or $932.26 million to $471.50 million from the $1.4 billion recorded last Friday.

The decline in supply comes even after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) gave the green light to commercial, merchant, and non-interest banks operating in Nigeria to trade with tradeable foreign currencies deposited in dorm accounts created under the foreign currency disclosure, deposit, repatriation, and investment scheme which were not invested immediately.

This makes FX available, although it could scare customers from keeping their foreign currency in the banks and instead opt for alternatives.

At the parallel market, the Nigerian currency traded flat against the US Dollar on Monday at N1,735/$1.

In the cryptocurrency market, the bullish run continued yesterday. Since Mr Donald Trump’s victory in the US election held on November 5, the price surge has sparked a strong belief among traders that this upward trend will continue unabated.

For Bitcoin (BTC), it neared $90,000 before pulling back to $88,542.56 after appreciating by 9.7 per cent.

Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped by 40.9 per cent to $0.3935, Ethereum (ETH) rose by 6.5 per cent to $3,333.84, Solana (SOL) appreciated by 6.1 per cent to $217.49, Ripple (XRP) improved by 4.9 per cent to $0.6042, Binance Coin (BNB) grew by 4.5 per cent to $650.51, Litecoin (LTC) went up by 4.1 per cent to $78.49, and Cardano (ADA) expanded by  2.1 per cent to $0.5859, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.