The value of Nigeria’s first digital currency rose by 57 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to N18.32 billion in the first ten months of 2024 (Q3’24) from N11.66 billion in the corresponding period of 2023.
The value grew by 31 percent YoY to N18.38 billion in Q2’24 but fell by 0.16 percent to N18.35 billion in Q3’24.
However, Month-on-Month, MoM, the value of eNaira fell by 0.16 percent to N18.32 billion in October.
Introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN in October 2021 the eNaira is the digital form of the Naira and used just like the paper money (cash). The eNaira wallet is a digital storage that holds the eNaira. The eNaira wallet is required to access, hold and use eNaira.
According to the CBN, the eNaira was designed to deepen financial inclusion by bringing more people into the financial space, support a resilient payment ecosystem, reduce the cost of processing cash, enable welfare intervention to citizens, increase transparency in revenue and tax collections, facilitate Diaspora remittances, reduce the cost of financial transactions and improve the efficiency of payments.
Recently, the Governor of CBN, Olayemi Cardoso revealed the apex bank’s Payment System Vision 2025, disclosing that a comprehensive review of the eNaira implementation would be made to enable broad and positive economic impact.
Speaking at the 59th Annual Bankers Dinner of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN, Cardoso said, “To further enhance confidence in the payment system, our Payment System Vision 2025 initiative will drive initiatives to encourage quick and affordable cross border payment, a critical step toward unlocking trade , investment and economic growth.
“Additionally, the eNaira, our CBDC, holds significant growth potential.
“We will therefore undertake a comprehensive review of its implementation to optimize broad and positive economic impact.”