Business
CBEX: Nigerians lose N1.3tn as digital trading platform crashes
Nigerians have taken to their various social media platforms to lament their losses after a digital asset trading platform, known as CBEX, allegedly swept over N1.3 trillion from investors’ accounts on Monday.
This comes as CBEX, operating without legal approval from the Nigeria Securities Commission, crashed on Monday after the money in their investors’ wallets vanished.
The digital platform also locked its Telegram channels and postponed withdrawals while offering investors the option of $2,000 for $200 verification and $1,000 for $100 verification.
The development has sparked condemnations from Nigerians on X.
Explaining the CBEX crash, cryptocurrency expert and security analyst Taiwo Owolabi said the total volume of stolen investors’ funds so far in USDT is $847 million and likely to increase.
Owolabi questioned why Nigerians would invest their money in a digital platform that is unregistered by the SEC with the promise of a 100 percent return on investment.
They designed the weak website to convince people in the future that it was a security breach that affected them.
Apparently, when you make payments, you pay them into a TRX account, and then, immediately, they move it from that TRX wallet, gather it, convert it to USDT, and then to ETH. So, when you are logging into your account, there is literally no money on your profile.
“What you see are just numbers. All the daily activities you do to ‘trade’ increase your money. All the AI trading is fake. When it’s time for withdrawal, they will send you another person’s money,” Owolabi explained on an X space.
Similarly, Steve Fred, a user on X, wrote on Tuesday:
“Are we not just fantastically stupid in Nigeria?
“Nigerians are as gullible as their leaders. How many times will they be scammed before they have sense?
“How can a company like ‘CBEX’ just appear from thin air and promise you 100 percent ROI in 1 month, and you begin to invest?”
Another user, known on X as Oku, reacting to the CBEX crash, said: “The smaller the profit, the more I TRUST YOU.
“You have no business doing a business that promises you 50 percent to 100 percent ROI.
”The development comes after the SEC recently warned Nigerians to stay clear of unregistered trading platforms.
The SEC particularly pointed out that, in accordance with the ISA 2025 recently signed by President Bola Tinubu, it is now an offense for any entity to operate an online forex trading platform or provide related services without prior registration with the commission.
“By virtue of this act, it is an offense in Nigeria for any entity that is not registered by the commission to carry out the business of online foreign exchange trading platforms or related services.
“Any business entity planning to set up a business in any of these areas is advised to visit the HOD DRM Department of the commission for further direction on how to register with the commission to avoid sanctions,” it added.
Business
CBN admits it opened domiciliary accounts for PFIPC agency
Represented by the Director of its Banking Services Department, Hamisu Ibrahim, the CBN said that the accounts are one in US dollars, the other in British pounds sterling, were opened following a mandate received from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
File photo : PFIPC agency DG, Adeniyi Adeyemi
The Central Bank of Nigeria had admitted that it opened two foreign-currency domiciliary accounts for the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).
The apex bank made the confirmation, yesterday, during the public hearing convened at the National Assembly Complex by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the existence and operations of the PFIPC, chaired by Yusuf Gagdi and inaugurated by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.
Represented by the Director of its Banking Services Department, Hamisu Ibrahim, the CBN said that the accounts are one in US dollars, the other in British pounds sterling, were opened following a mandate received from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
He explained that on July 30, 2025, CBN received a mandate dated July 29, 2025 from the Office of the Accountant-General.
“We received the mandate to authorise two accounts, one a US dollar domiciliary account, the other a pound domiciliary account, for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council,” Ibrahim told the committee.
He explained the CBN’s verification process, “The process of opening an account requires a mandate from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
“Once we receive that mandate, we perform all the necessary verifications to confirm that this mandate is actually coming from that office.
The department that handles the mandate is different from the department that actually does the account opening,” he said.
Nevertheless, he noted that no one came to activate the accounts after they were opened.“We did not receive any correspondence, mandate, signature or mandate cards. We were not introduced to the authorising or approving officers.“Based on that, those accounts remain inactive, with zero balance. There have been no foreign exchange allocations.
BLACK MARKET RATES
US DOLLAR (USD) Buy ₦1, 410 Sell ₦1,415
GREAT BRITISH POUND (GBP) Buy ₦1,890 Sell: ₦1,910
EURO (EUR) Buy ₦1,580 Sell ₦1,600
CANADIAN DOLLAR (CAD) Buy ₦1,020 Sell ₦1,080
SOUTH AFRICAN RAND (ZAR) Buy ₦75 Sell ₦90
UAE DIRHAM Buy ₦350 Sell ₦370 CHINESE YUAN Buy ₦190 Sell ₦205
GHANA CEDI (GHS) Buy ₦95 Sell ₦110
WEST AFRICAN CFA Buy ₦2, 300 Sell ₦2, 400
CENTRAL AFRICAN CFA Buy ₦2,150 Sell 2,250
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR Buy ₦800 Sell ₦900
CBN OFFICIAL EXCHANGE RATES
US DOLLAR (USD) ₦1,380.11
GREAT BRITISH POUND (GBP) ₦1,857.35
EURO (EUR) ₦1,575.95
SWISS FRANC (CHF) ₦1,705. 31
JAPANESE YEN (JPN) ₦8.50
CHINESE YUAN (CNY) ₦203.94
WEST AFRICAN CFA (XOF) ₦2.40
WEST AFRICAN UNIT ACCOUNT (WAUA) ₦1,874. 32
SAUDI RIYAL (SAR) ₦367.49
SOUTH AFRICAN RAND (ZAR) ₦83.69
BLACK MARKET RATES
US DOLLAR (USD) Buy ₦1, 416 Sell ₦1,422
GREAT BRITISH POUND (GBP) Buy ₦1,895 Sell: ₦1,915
EURO (EUR) Buy ₦1,590 Sell ₦1,610
CANADIAN DOLLAR (CAD) Buy ₦1,020 Sell ₦1,080
SOUTH AFRICAN RAND (ZAR) Buy ₦75 Sell ₦90
UAE DIRHAM Buy ₦350 Sell ₦370 CHINESE YUAN Buy ₦190 Sell ₦205
GHANA CEDI (GHS) Buy ₦95 Sell ₦110
WEST AFRICAN CFA Buy ₦2, 300 Sell ₦2, 400
CENTRAL AFRICAN CFA Buy ₦2,150 Sell 2,250
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR Buy ₦800 Sell ₦900
CBN OFFICIAL EXCHANGE RATES
US DOLLAR (USD) ₦1,380.18
GREAT BRITISH POUND (GBP) ₦1,854.42
EURO (EUR) ₦1,577.00
SWISS FRANC (CHF) ₦1,707.94
JAPANESE YEN (JPN) ₦8.50
CHINESE YUAN (CNY) ₦203.57
WEST AFRICAN CFA (XOF) ₦2.40
WEST AFRICAN UNIT ACCOUNT (WAUA) ₦1,874. 32
SAUDI RIYAL (SAR) ₦367.48
SOUTH AFRICAN RAND (ZAR) ₦83.29
CBN admits it opened domiciliary accounts for PFIPC agency
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