No fewer than 27 persons have been reportedly hospitalised following the crash of a digital asset trading platform known as CBEX in Oyo State.
Nigerians who were said to have subscribed to what is now regarded as a Ponzi scheme took to their various social media platforms to lament their losses after CBEX allegedly swept over N1.3 trillion from investors’ accounts on Monday.
It was gathered that CBEX, operating without legal approval from the Nigeria Securities Commission, crashed on Monday, and the money in its investors’ wallets vanished.
The digital platform also locked its Telegram channels and postponed withdrawals while offering investors the option of $200 for a $2,000 verification and $100 for deposits below $1,000.
The development had sparked condemnations from Nigerians on X, with some landing in hospitals.
A victim, Sherif Latifu, who resides in Ibadan, said that many who lost money to the crash of the digital platform have now been hospitalised at various hospitals in the town, calling on Governor Seyi Makinde to help them to subsidise the hospital bills.
“Many hospitals in Ibadan are now admitting victims of CBEX fraud. Over 27 people that I know have been admitted. This is a major crisis in Ibadan, and the governor should come to our rescue by subsidising the hospital bills for many,” he said.
Explaining the CBEX crash, cryptocurrency expert and security analyst Taiwo Owolabi said the total volume of stolen investors’ funds in USDT so far was $847 million and likely to increase.
Owolabi questioned why Nigerians would invest their money in a digital platform unregistered by the SEC with the promise of a 100 per cent 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 immediately, they move it from that TRX wallet, gather it, convert it to USDT, and then to ETH. So, when logging into your account, there is 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 X Space.
The development comes after the SEC warned Nigerians to stay clear of unregistered trading platforms.
The SEC pointed out that, by the ISA 2025 recently signed by President Bola Tinubu, it is now an offence for any entity to operate an online forex trading platform or provide related services without prior registration with the commission.
“By this act, it is an offence in Nigeria for any entity 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 registering with the commission to avoid sanctions,” it added.
Meanwhile, some residents of Ibadan, Oyo State, have stormed the office of CBEX in the Oke-Ado area of Ibadan in protest.
It was gathered that the residents stormed the office following the report of the platform’s crash. Scores of Ibadan residents have invested in the online platform.
