TL;DR Breakdown
- ENaira gains acceptance with about half a million downloads.
- Less than a month ago, Nigeria launched eNaira, which is a digital version of its currency.
Almost half a million Nigerians have acquired the eNaira wallet. Moreover, nearly 80K merchants from over 160 countries have signed up. Spokesman Osita Nwanisobi verified this information.
The wallet is gaining mainstream adoption. It was launched less than one month ago. Central bank Governor Godwin Emefiele said that Nigeria had formed over one million dollars eNaira when the CBDC went up.
According to reports, eNaira has been used for over NGN 60 million ($150,000) in transactions since its establishment in October.
Launching eNaira
Barbados-based Bitt established this CBDC. It made Nigeria the first African country to get legal tender for digital currency. Nigeria is now among seven countries that have established central bank digital currencies.
The country established new rules preventing the use of cryptocurrencies earlier this year. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launched a digital currency to lure its citizens from crypto. CBN requires all commercial banks to freeze accounts of people that are using crypto.
According to the spokesperson, the CBN established the CBDC since it’s the future trend. Almost 90 percent of central banks globally want to adopt digital assets.
Most banks in Nigeria introduced an internal memo requiring their employees to track accounts with suspicious transaction volumes. Or accounts associated with cryptocurrency trading.
Bringing everyone onboard
ENaira targets to increase financial inclusion. Presently, the wallet only caters to people with bank accounts. However, it will soon expand to cover everyone whether they have a bank account or not.
The development targets that more than three-quarters of the population will utilize eNaira. Almost 40 million people do not have bank accounts. When these unbanked populations get access to the wallet, then financial inclusion will rise.
Additionally, it will facilitate a more straightforward and swift application of social transfers programs. Risk such as money laundering can always arise with the new wallet. Nigeria has drawn measures to deal with potential threats.
There is a limit for transferring funds from bank deposits to eNaira wallets. The measure is there to prevent dwindling the roles of financial institutions.
A tiered identity verification system has been put in place to increase security. This will prevent fraudsters from gaining access to people’s wallets.
