Seun Dania is the Chief Executive Officer of Tradefada, an advanced and easy-to-use Nigerian cryptocurrency mobile application for buying, selling and exchanging Bitcoin. In this interaction with ITPulse’s Martin Ekpeke, Mr. Seun highlighted what the Nigerian government and other stakeholders need to do to strengthen digital currencies space.
Will you rate Tradefada as a platform that allows people to trade forex?
Tradefada is a Cryptocurrency Exchange, and forex trading is not provided or available on the platform.
The world has gone digital with most countries and individuals leveraging digital currencies. How do platforms like Tradefada keying into this?
Tradefada is one of the pioneers in Africa and has since provided Nigerians with easy access to exchanging their fiat currencies to crypto and vise-versa.
What is your perception of Nigeria’s readiness to adopt digital currencies considering cybersecurity?
NIGERIANS are ready. Nigeria however, still requires a lot of fundamental infrastructure in order to be well positioned on a global scale. The Federal Government must consult local industry players in order to develop policies that will encourage mass adoption and in turn provide financial abundance.
The CBN was to launch eNaira on October 1, 2021 but that did not happen. As a player in the eSpace, what do you think could have happened?
Proper stakeholder management, policies and legal frameworks were not in place. E.g. Nigeria has no laws defining cryptocurrencies, what agencies would have authority within the space etc. These are fundamentals that are required for a successful Central Bank Digital Currency. Countries like China have been developing and testing for years and are still working on it, but Nigeria was overambitious to launch a CBDC in such short time without proper feasibility studies and real life tests.
Many Nigerians are skeptical about going into forex trading and other forms of digital transactions. What do you think is majorly responsible for this skepticism? What can players like you do in this regard?
Nigerians have been exposed to bad monetary policies, abuse within the financial sectors and neglect from government, hence exposing them to get rich quick schemes, ponzis and frauds. There is this lack of trust among Nigerians for any kind of financial instruments, but as the world adoption continues to grow, Nigerians are beginning to see the need for advancements without waiting for the government.
What do digital transactions players like you expect from the government at all levels?
Governments at all levels need to be proactive and forward thinking, the world is moving at supersonic development speeds, the government must encourage research, education, provide rewards and incentives to new ideas and think tanks. Our government must embrace change, else we would be left behind in the industrial revolutions, as we can see with fossil fuels, power and other infrastructure. Nigeria is always playing catch up, in 2021 we are still having issues with having steady electricity, low internet penetration, etc. Government must work on understanding new developments and be able to come up with regulations to foster growth within all industries.
