e-Naira Logo
Months after its announcement, the Central Bank of Nigeria finally launched the eNaira. The eNaira, Nigeria’s digital currency was launched on Monday, 25th October, 2021. While this has recieved heavy attention and mixed reactions, could this be the digital awakening of Nigeria? Recall that the CBN banned trading of digital assets in 2020. Amid suspending the operations of crypto-trading platforms in Nigeria by CBN, what then justifies the e-Naira today?
Unlike Bitcoin, Etherium and the likes, the e-Naira is a centralised finance instrument regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Similar to the regular bank account, a user’s Bank Verification Number (BVN) is required to create a wallet for transactions. This means that transactions can be traced to the source or destination. Futhermore, even stated on the official website, eNaira yields no interest; you can’t hold the e-Naira expecting huge returns as you could with Bitcoin. It simply is the same Nigerian Naira but you cannot touch.
In a time where Africa is making waves in the tech space, this system is huge win for Nigeria. Regardless of how it is perceived, this new system is expected to ease monetary transaction and according to President Muhammadu Buhari, it could grow the economy by $29 billion over ten years.
Whether or not it will be appreciated by Nigerian cryptocurrency traders, especially the youths, is still a debate; however as at the time of writing, validation of users account number and BVN while registering on the android app does not work.
See more: All you need to know about the eNaira.
