Cryptocurrency Ban: Providus Bank Deactivates Piggyvest, Monnify Virtual Accounts

Even though the bank did not state the reason for deactivating the virtual accounts, it is believed it may not be unconnected to the recent directive by the CBN prohibiting financial institutions from facilitating crypto-related transactions through the banking system.

Providus Bank mostly used by crypto traders for deposits and trading, have been deactivated.

Virtual account numbers have been used by fintech companies like Piggyvest, Risevest, Cowrywise Abeg app, and others for the last 3 years. The virtual account numbers are used to ensure that their customers can efficiently fund their wallets via bank transfers using the likes of USSD, Internet banking, and other bank transfer channels instead of depending on debit cards.

Providus Bank’s decision to no longer support virtual accounts has left users in a state of uncertainty, especially after the bank gave no clear reason.

On its part, PiggyVest, another fintech payment platform that helps in managing the finances of businesses and individuals has already assigned new virtual account numbers to its users using Wema bank as their new partner.

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It notified its customers via its Twitter handle, stating, “We’ve received communication from our Virtual Account Provider (Providus Bank) that the existing virtual accounts are currently inactive.

“Please log in to your account to get your new virtual account details”

Other fintechs are subsequently expected to react this week.