The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will launch the pilot scheme of its digital currency by October 1, 2021.
This was the outcome of a private webinar on Thursday where the bank and its stakeholders outlined a digital currency initiative.
Recall that two months ago, the CBN disclosed plans to launch its own digital currency before the close of the year.
It said about 80 percent of central banks globally are currently exploring the possibility of issuing their central bank digital currency (CBDC) and Nigeria could not be left behind.
CBN director of information technology, Rakiya Mohammed, explained at the end of the meeting yesterday that the apex bank had been researching the development of a digital currency since 2017.
She said the bank may conduct a proof of concept before the end of this year for the project name tagged ‘GIANT’ and it will use the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain.
Hyperledger Fabric is an open source project that acts as a foundation for developing blockchain-based products, solutions, and applications using plug-and-play components that are aimed for use within private enterprises.
The CBN said the importance of its digital currency will include macro management and growth, cross border trade facilitation, financial inclusion, monetary policy effectiveness, improved payment efficiency, revenue tax collection, remittance improvement, and targeted social intervention.
If the pilot scheme is eventually launched, Nigeria will join other countries across the globe and Africa racing to develop it’s CBDC.
Some of these countries include South Africa (digital Rand), Tunisia (eDinar), Ghana (e-cedi), Sweden, Japan, South Korea, and Russia.
Meanwhile China (digital yuan), Bahamas (sand dollar), Eastern Caribbean (DCash) are among the few countries that have officially launched their own national digital currency.
Earlier this year, the CBN banned cryptocurrency transactions in the country and cautioned that cryptocurrencies pose the risk of loss of investments, money laundering, terrorism financing, illicit fund flows and other criminal activities.
