reduce the cost of operations and cash management and generate attractive opportunities for Nigeria’s financial system.
Nevertheless, Comercio Partners published a report recently, in which the company advised the CBN to initiate a pilot project on the e-Naira before its full-scale launching on 1 October. “While implementing the e-Naira and a digital wallet (DW) has the potential to bring numerous benefits to the Nigerian economy and its major stakeholders, including citizens, businesses, and all levels of government, a test run would seem a more appropriate action to take,” the Lekki-based financial advisor said in its report.
The company further noted that out of 81 countries who are pursuing digital currencies, 14 are in their pilot stages, including several major economies like Sweden and South Korea.
In its report, Comercio Partners also revealed that when CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele announced plans to launch a new digital currency following the MPC meeting in July, it was assumed that this was a “far-fetched idea that would necessitate extensive planning and technological infrastructure”.
“Well, we guess that we were wrong. In a recent press statement, the CBN stated its plans to launch its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot scheme called the eNaira on October 1, 2021, with Bitt Inc, a financial technology company that utilises blockchain and distributes ledger technology to facilitate secure peer-to-peer transactions, as a technical partner,” it added.
So far, only five countries have been successful in launching their own CBDCs. The Bahamas was the first to launch a widely available CBDC, the Bahamian Sand Dollar, followed by Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Antigua and Barbuda.
