By Ahmed Rahma, Adedapo Adesanya
Due to a lower demand for the US Dollars at the Investors & Exporters (I&E) subdivision of the foreign exchange market on Thursday, January 21, the Naira appreciated slightly.
At the window, the Nigerian currency gained 17 kobo or 0.04 per cent in value against its American counterpart to trade at N394/$1 as against N394.17/$1 it traded previously.
During the trading session, transactions worth $77.04 million were recorded in contrast to the $89.50 million recorded at the preceding session, indicating a 13.9 per cent or $12.46 million drop.
However, the local currency maintained stability against the greenback at the parallel market segment yesterday to finish at N475/$1.
At the same market, the domestic currency depreciated by N3 against the British Pound Sterling to trade at N478/£1 as against N475/£1 it closed previously, while against the Euro, the domestic currency remained firm at N580/€1.
At both the Bureaux De Change and Interbank forex segments, the Naira traded flat against the American currency to wrap up the day at N395/$1 and N379/$1 respectively.
Bleeders at the Cryptocurrency Market
Cryptocurrency traders continue to count their losses as major cryptocurrencies bled heavily with suggestions that the Mr Joe Biden administration of the United States may curtail the use of Bitcoin because of its use in illicit activities.
Another widespread fear that a phenomenon called “double spend” might have occurred led prices to drop. Double spend is when someone is able to spend the same bitcoin twice. Although this has been debunked, there was still a big dump by owners.
At the market yesterday, the Bitcoin (BTC), which is the most valuable token in the world, made a 12.3 per cent plunge to close at N14,704,033.49. Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 13.4 per cent to sell for N556,198.54, while Dash (DASH) recorded a 14.8 per cent loss to trade at N48,500.
Also, the Ripple (XRP) declined by 10.6 per cent to sell at N129. Litecoin (LTC) went down by 9.4 per cent to settle at N64,499, Tron (TRX) lost 5.6 per cent to sell for N13.79, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) depleted by 0.1 per cent to sell for N487.
