The level at which such an underdeveloped country fight against change is baffling. A country ruled by unlearned older citizens that should be retired. There is need to device more means to trade cryptocurrency.
The risk of selling/ buying from vendors is also there. But I believe just as Binance and other trading platforms devices a means to beat the initial restrictions placed on crypto trading in Nigeria, if there are any form of adjustments from the parliament, Binance has to be swift in adjusting as well. For now, trade carefully.

I had similar experience not long ago and I made a post about it.
These fraudsters are intentional about their payment method because it become really difficult (not impossible) to track them, unlike a regular bank account where your information are stored in their database and the government are able to get access to them.
Also, I should mention that some of the people who engage in this ponzi schemes are aware they would get defrauded, but they just hope the platform doesn't crash as soon as they join and hopefully make some money.
However, like I was advised, when there's such "investment opportunity" make good research, and if the reward is too good to be true, that is little efforts with huge return, it's most likely a scam.

Bitcoin has spent over a year in it downtrend since its all-time high of $69,000 in November, 2021.
BTC price performance has given investors up to 77% losses, but how much lower can BTC really go?

China’s Supervision and Inspection Department of State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) has urged lawmakers to pass new rules to regulate digital assets in the country.

Huang Hui, the agency’s deputy director, made the call at the 2022 Financial Street Forum. In her keynote speech, Hui called for a broader classification of virtual currencies into sections like “illegal payment settlement, illegal securities, or illegal tokens.”

According to the deputy director, the popularity of blockchain and stablecoins have continued to fuel the activities of underground banks in moving capital in and out of the country without the knowledge of regulatory agencies.

Okay, first of all, Elon has "limited money"..
And we never really know what Elon would do with the forum if he does buy it. I think he has a good knowledge about how cryptocurrencies work, however, he may not likely take advantage of the forum for his selfish interest and end up messing things up like he did Twitter.

There are really a lot of these guys out there developing strategies and schemes to take people's money away. In my last post I talked about one I got into. Also, I've learnt to make extensive research before venturing into any sort of scheme that promises return without little or no efforts or rewards that are too good to be true. It's really worrying.

Funny story:

 Sometime last year, I got introduced to a "scheme" that claimed it would pay you in BTC without much work. I didn't know much about cryptocurrency then. I wasn't exactly moved because I have a hard time believing in things that come easily and I'm usually suspicious of things I get easily. So... At some point I started buying the idea because I knew some few persons close to me that were making real money from it. You didn't have to refer. I didn't want to be left behind, so my curiosity kicked. I was told if have to get the application, put in some BTC and then buy a mining machine I got did all the processes voila, I was making money...

... At least for the first three days, I was making money.
After that week, we were told they wanted to make some upgrade to the app, so we won't be able to place withdrawal at the moment... That was when I knew I was in trouble. Just as I thought, the whole scheme "collapsed" and our money was gone. Ignorance did me bad.

So my question boils down to: are cryptocurrency mining machines really real?  I need answers. How do I know what to trust?!

Bitcoin, like other crypto, is bound to go low at some point. It's the "king of crypto" due to how high it went. But there isn't exactly a figure Bitcoin is supposed to get to. We're merely just hoping goes up for our own benefits.
What's the figure it should get to in order to be considered "alive" or "dead". It's merely rising and falling.

Making Bitcoin a legal tender means when a person goes to purchase a commodity, instead of paying with dollar or whatever currency is being used, they pay with BTC.

Given the unstable nature of cryptocurrencies, and the untraceable nature, would you suggest it wise for countries to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender?

Recently, El Salvador and Central African Republic announced that they have adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender.