In order to maintain complete control over the project, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is apparently in negotiations with blockchain company R3 to create a new system for its digital currency, the eNaira.
After its introduction in October 2021, eNaira, Nigeria’s first digital form of its national currency, has reportedly been used to transact business totaling 4 billion (about $10 million), as of August 2022, according to the head of the nation’s central bank.
Due to a lack of knowledge and a lack of contrast between the project’s features and those offered by banks and fintech firms, the initiative has struggled to find widespread approval across the nation. Despite the fact that more than 10% of Nigerians are exposed to cryptocurrency, it is believed that fewer than 0.5% of Nigerians utilize eNaira.
Due to a lack of awareness and poor understanding of how digital currency works, many Nigerians are ignorant of the distinctions between the digital representation of cash deposits in bank accounts and the eNaira in digital wallets. Experts claim that banks and other fintech businesses already accomplish everything the eNaira can do, and even better.
While Bitt Inc. and the CBN collaborated to create the eNaira, the firm won’t be quickly replaced by other collaborators. The eNaira system is supposedly getting new features and improvements from Bitt, while Bloomberg claims that the central bank is also looking at new collaborations with R3.
