The financial institution of Nigeria (CBN) has named the fintech firm Bitt Inc. as a technical partner for its digital currency project, the e-naira. As a technical partner, Bitt is predicted to use its “technological competence and implementation experience” to assist the CBN successfully launch the financial institution digital currency (CBDC).
E-Naira Draft Guidelines
The CBN’s unveiling of the Barbados-based firm as its partner comes shortly after reports suggested that the financial institution had released draft guidelines for the e-naira. In justifying the choice of Bitt, Osita Nwanisobi, the CBN’s director of communications, touted the fintech’s “tested and proven digital currency experience.”
These claims by Nwanisobi appear to be supported by a press release on Bitt’s website that means the fintech firm had signed a contract to conduct a CBDC pilot for the Eastern Caribbean financial institution (ECCB). The contract was signed in 2019 and in April of 2021, ECCB finally launched its digital currency.
E-Naira and therefore the Financial Inclusion Cause
As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, the CBN has set October 1, 2021, because the launch date for its CBDC. The financial institution insists this digital currency will deepen financial inclusion, and enable cheaper, faster remittance inflows. The apex bank says it expects the e-naira to reinforce cross-border trade also because the effectiveness of its monetary policies.
The launch of the e-naira by the CBN — if successful — will mark the ultimate culmination of an idea that was set in motion nearly four years ago. The launch also will be seen as a crucial victory for both the CBN and its anti-bitcoin governor, Godwin Emefiele.
Still, with just a couple of weeks left before the launch, CBN must cross its fingers that it's done adequate preparation to make sure the e-naira may be a success.