Transactions on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) digital currency, e-Naira, platform has hit N4billion since its launch in October, last year.
Giving this update at the grand finale of the e-Naira Hackathon event in Abuja yesterday, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, stated: “Since the launch of this great initiative, the e-Naira has reached 840,000 downloads, with about 270,000 active wallets comprising over 252,000 consumer wallets and 17,000 merchant wallets.
“In addition, volume and value of transactions on the platform have been remarkable, reaching above 200,000 and N4 billion, respectively.”
Emefiele disclosed that despite the successes recorded on the initiative, the apex bank, in collaboration with private sector operators, has started the second phase of the e-Naira.
“Notwithstanding this appreciable progress, the second phase of the project has begun and it is intended to drive financial inclusion by onboarding unbanked and underserved users leveraging offline channels.
“Hence, greater success is envisioned for the project with phase two expected to deliver more gains with a target of about 8,000,000 active users based on estimations using the diffusion of innovation model,” he said.
He added that CBN remains strategic in charting the future of the Naira by balancing innovation with stability of the currency.