CBN Appoints Technical Partner For Digital Currency
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday announced the formal engagement of global fintech company, Bitt Inc., as technical partner for its proposed digital currency, also known as e-Naira. CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this in Abuja.
Emefiele said the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) would bring about increased cross-border trade, accelerate financial inclusion, and lead to cheaper and faster remittance inflow. He said the digital money, also known as cryptocurrency, would lead to easier targeted social interventions, as well as improvement in monetary policy effectiveness, payment systems efficiency, and tax collection.
CBN’s Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mr. Osita Nwanisobi, explained, in a statement, that the e-Naira project had been a long and thorough process for the apex bank following its resolve in 2017 to digitise the local currency after extensive research and exploration.
Nwanisobi said CBN’s decision was in line with an unmistakable global trend in which over 85 per cent of central banks were considering adopting digital currencies in their countries.
The CBN pointed out that the selection of Bitt Inc. from among highly competitive bidders was based on the company’s technical competence, efficiency, platform security, interoperability, and implementation experience.
The statement said, “In choosing Bitt Inc. the CBN will rely on the company’s tested and proven digital currency experience, which is already in circulation in several Eastern Caribbean countries.
“Bitt Inc. was key to the development and successful launch of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) in April 2021.”
Emefiele had recently hinted that a national digital currency would be launched in October. The apex bank had also said the digital currency would be treated as a critical national infrastructure to protect it from operational and cyber-security risks.
