At least 33 banks have been integrated into the eNaira platform with N500m successfully minted for the take off of the digital currency programme, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said.
Governor of CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this on Monday at the official launch of the Nigerian Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), known as the eNaira, at the State House, Abuja.
He said the launch of the eNaira is a culmination of several years of research work by the bank in advancing the boundaries of the payments system in order to make financial transactions easier and seamless for every strata of the society.
He said since the eNaira platform went live, there has been overwhelming interest and encouraging response from Nigerians and other parties across the world with over 2.5 million daily visits to the website.
Emefiele said so far, N200m has been issued to financial institutions, while over 2,000 customers have been onboarded.
Over 120 merchants have successfully registered on the eNaira platform, the governor said.
“Today, customers who download the eNaira Speed Wallet App will be able to onboard and create their wallet; fund their eNaira wallet from their bank account; transfer eNaira from their wallet to another waller; make payment for purchases at registered merchant locations.
“Mr President, today you make history, yet again, with the launch of the eNaira – the first in Africa and one of the earliest around the world.
“Mr. President, as you make ground breaking reforms, there have been continuing debates on the true value of the Naira.
“Rather than worry today on the direction of the exchange rate, let us take a step back and analyze how we got here in the first place,” he said.
