According to the Nigerian central bank governor, central bank digital currency or e-naira transactions have gone up 63% to $47.7 million, while the number of downloaded wallets since Oct. 2022 is around 13 million.
The governor attributed the rise in the value of CBDC transactions to the Nigerian government’s use of the e-naira when transferring social welfare funds to marginalized groups.
The value of Nigeria’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) transactions surged by 63% to $47.7 million (₦22 billion) while about 13 million e-naira wallets have been downloaded since Oct. 2022. Addressing local journalists on March 21, Governor Godwin Emefiele also revealed that the currency in circulation dropped from over $6.9 billion (₦3.2 trillion) seen in Sept. 2022 to around $2.2 billion (₦1 trillion).
The drop in the value of circulating naira banknotes has been attributed to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s botched demonetization policy. After announcing its plan to circulate newly designed banknotes, the central bank gave Nigerian residents a few months to return old 200, 500 and 1,000-naira banknotes.
Yet despite the CBN’s about-turn, both new and old naira banknotes have reportedly remained in short supply.
Meanwhile, Emefiele is quoted in a Bloomberg report attributing the increase in e-naira transactions to the Nigerian government’s use of the CBDC when transferring payments to marginalized groups. He also claimed that more than 4 million e-naira wallets had been opened as a result.
Although the CBN is thought to have minted more than ₦10 billion of the digital currency, according to the governor only ₦3.4 billion of the CBDC is in circulation