Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The rate at which the value of the Naira is worsening against the United States Dollar at the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) and the black market segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market is already causing apprehension among some citizens.
On Thursday, July 13, the Nigerian currency performed badly against its American counterpart in the two windows of the forex market, further widening the exchange rate gap between the two segments and the official market, the Investors and Exporters (I&E) category.
In the P2P market, the local currency depreciated by N8.60 to sell at N819.00/$1 compared with the preceding day’s value of N810.40/$1, and in the parallel market, it slumped by N10 to quote at N810/$1 versus the previous session’s value of N800/$1.
But at the spot market, the Naira appreciated against the US Dollar yesterday by N36.21 or 4.63 per cent to settle at N746.28/$1 compared with the preceding day’s exchange rate of N782.49/$1, amid a 3.47 per cent or $3.14 million decline in the value of forex trades to $87.38 million from the $90.52 million reported a day earlier.
The domestic currency shed N8.44 against the Pound Sterling in the spot market on Thursday to close at N1,022.25/£1, in contrast to Wednesday’s value of N1,013.82/£1 and against the Euro, it lost N10.89 to finish at N874.66/€1 versus N863.77/€1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market traded upward as it picked up renewed optimism after a US court found that sales of Ripple’s XRP tokens on exchanges and through algorithms did not constitute investment contracts.
The sale of Ripple’s XRP tokens on exchanges and through algorithms did not constitute investment contracts, the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York ruled Thursday. But the institutional sale of the tokens did violate federal securities laws, the court said.
This ruling brought ease to a market that has come under scrutiny from regulators and boosted investors’ sentiment.
Bitcoin (BTC) rose above $31,000 after a 3.9 per cent jump to sell at $31,472.37, Ethereum (ETH) gained 7.8 per cent to finish at $2,011.02, XRP surged by 66.8 per cent to $0.7875, and Solana (SOL) jumped by 32.5 per cent to $28.49.
Further, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 26.8 per cent to trade at $0.3635, Dogecoin (DOGE) added 9.5 per cent to close at $0.0708, Binance Coin (BNB) recorded a 7.2 per cent rise to sell at $260.49, and Litecoin (LTC) grew by 5.4 per cent to $101.39, and the United States Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
