Nigeria issues new CBDC update

The Central Bank of Nigeria has released a new update regarding the country’s CBDC. According to a report by Bloomberg, the premier bank is in talks with partners over a more sophisticated technological approach to manage the country’s CBDC. In the report, the Nigerian bank is looking to partner with R3, a company based in the United States. Although the CBDC has been developed and rolled, all things point to a mishap in the technological aspect of the eNaira.

Nigeria will partner with Bitt for the project

According to the report, the technology firm will build entirely new software for the CBDC. This way, the Nigerian bank will have full access and control over the CBDC. Meanwhile, a source has noted that the deal is under wraps and would take a while before it is brought to the public.

The CBN ventured into creating the CBDC in 2021 after teaming up with Bitt, another technology firm. The report clarified that Bitt would continue to work on the project, but the new firm would take up the next phase, which will see it hand over control to the premier bank. Bitt previously mentioned that it was aware that the CBN contracts different companies for its technological needs. The firm also noted that its works align with what the CBN wants and is working on an update to the earlier version of the CBDC.

Countries intensify their CBDC projects

Nigeria was one of the few countries to launch its CBDC, but it did come with some issues. After the launch of digital currency, the premier bank complained that digital currency was witnessing low patronage, with citizens choosing to use other methods of payments to facilitate payments. Other sources claimed that the project could have lived up to expectations as it only accounted for about 0.5% of the entire banking population of the country.

In January, a Bitcoin proponent announced the launch of the first-ever lightning node. Before then, there had been many talks over the country’s legal state of digital assets and related products. Nigeria has put itself on the map regarding countries actively working on or testing the use of CBDC. Japan and some other countries have also announced plans to roll out their CBDCs before the end of the year. However, there has been criticism from some groups on individuals over the development and use of the assets. Most of them claim that they are surveillance tools and should be abolished.