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Journal of Academics Stand Against Poverty

Academics Stand Against Poverty

Journal of Academics Stand Against Poverty (Journal of ASAP) is an open access international multidisciplinary journal published under the ISSN 2690-3458 (electronic edition) and ISSN 2690-3431 (print edition) by Academics Stand Against Poverty, a non-profit organization based in United States (EIN # 32-0324998).  Its mission is to publish high-quality work that can make genuine contributions to understanding and eradicating poverty and its effects in the real world. Such work will address the structural causes of poverty with an eye to the special challenges poor people face in such areas as nutrition, water, shelter, health and health care, sanitation, clothing and personal care, energy, education, social and political participation and respect, physical safety, family planning, environmental degradations and hazards, working conditions in employment and at home, navigating governmental agencies and the legal system, banking and credit, travel and transportation, and communications.  Journal ASAP is committed to ensuring that perspectives of the poor are adequately represented on its pages, and that these pages are accessible to all. The journal makes substantial efforts to include voices from the global South as well as from non-elite educational institutions and from organizations, agencies and communities that are working toward poverty eradication. It also aims for the widest possible reach by being entirely open-access: its one/two issues each year are free for download anywhere in the world without any requirement to provide personal information. Journal ASAP invites submission of original work and maintains a rigorous double-blind peer review system that provides constructive feedback to assist authors in presenting their work in a way that is clear, broadly accessible and practically useful. Journal ASAP is a pure Open Access Journal and allows the author to retain the copyright in their articles. Articles are made available under a Creative Commons licence (CC-BY) to allow others to freely access, copy and use research provided the author is correctly attributed.

Journal of Academics Stand Against Poverty

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Article recordVersion of recordOpen accessVol 6 No 1August 17, 2026

Digital Shadows in Illicit Financial Flows: Unraveling Nigeria's Cryptocurrency Paradox and Illuminating Pathways to Financial Integrity

Nigeria’s lead in global cryptocurrency adoption amidst a slumping economy presents a fascinating paradox. This raises, inter alia, concerns about the factors driving cryptocurrency adoption and its potential for illici…

Contributors

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  • Wisdom Essien

    University of Passau, Germany, DAAD Alumni Forum, Nigerian Scholars in Germany (NiSiG)

Abstract

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Nigeria’s lead in global cryptocurrency adoption amidst a slumping economy presents a fascinating paradox. This raises, inter alia, concerns about the factors driving cryptocurrency adoption and its potential for illicit financial flows in the country. Consequently, this study aims to identify the key factors facilitating the use of cryptocurrency for illicit financial flows in Nigeria, assess its impact on the country's economy, and propose workable solutions to address the challenges. Leveraging extant literature, an interview, and Davis' Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) for empirical analysis, the paper identifies the decentralized nature of the blockchain and the anonymity provided by mixers, tumblers, and privacy coins as “perceived usefulness”, and the relatively higher cost and delays of international transactions with commercial banks in comparison to the blockchain as the “perceived ease of use”. The paper further submits that a porous legal framework guides the use of cryptocurrency in Nigeria, which is part of the enabling factors of on-chain illicit financial flows in the country. This is despite recent policy shifts, including the introduction of Nigeria’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), which have not effectively addressed these issues. The research concludes that, notwithstanding the risks associated with cryptocurrencies, they also present opportunities for financial inclusivity.

Keywords

NigeriaCryptocurrencyIllicit Financial FlowsFinanceParadoBlockchain

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