The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), through a press briefing delivered by the Director of the Information Technology Department, Rakiya Mohammed, has disclosed its plans to launch a digital currency – e-Naira; this is coming after the Central Bank of Nigeria banned financial institutions in the country from dealing in or facilitating transactions in cryptocurrencies. Unlike decentralised cryptocurrencies, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are controlled by the issuing authorities.
According to Nairametrics, the Nigerian Central Bank Governor – Godwin Emefiele, had earlier announced that the bank will be working on a central bank digital currency during the 306th Banker’s Committee meeting.
CBN also underlined the benefits for the fintech ecosystem, which include enhanced operational efficiency, opportunities for fintech start-ups in building services/products like financial inclusion that will contribute to economic growth, and the creation of a new system complimenting the traditional payment system.
Rakiya Mohammed clarified that the digital currency would be accessible to all Nigerians and would operate alongside other virtual currencies but warned that the CBN does not have control over cryptocurrencies, which have been labelled as too risky to invest in.
The project name is tagged Project GIANT, and a blockchain technology known as the Hyperledger Fabric Blockchain is being used for the same.
Watch this space for more updates.