Nearly 500,000 Nigerian CBDC Wallets Downloaded Since Launch – Fintech Bitcoin News

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Nearly half a million e-naira wallets were downloaded a few weeks after the official launch of the central bank digital currency (CBDC) by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, the central bank said.

Initial E-Naira Exchange Volumes

In addition to the 488,000 wallets that have been uploaded, Osita Nwanisobi, who is the spokesperson for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is quoted as confirming that a total of 78,000 traders from 160 countries have now signed up to do so. part of the e -naira ecosystem.

Despite the seemingly early success of the CBDC, a Bloomberg report quotes Nwanisobi as confirming that only $ 150,000 (62 million Naira) of digital currency has been traded since its launch. Yet, on the other hand, Nigerians traded some 60,215 bitcoins, which are currently valued at over $ 3.6 billion, between 2017 and 2020.

This traded volume, which the report finds to be the largest outside the United States, suggests that the cryptocurrency has become an important alternative to the depreciation of the naira. As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, some Nigerians working overseas now prefer to send money home via bitcoin. Others use the best cryptocurrency to make cross-border payments, while some now use BTC to hedge against inflation.

Continued attempts to restrict the use of cryptocurrency

However, as part of an effort to restrain growth and interest in cryptocurrencies, the CBN initially asked financial institutions to cut cryptocurrency entities from the banking system. The launch of the e-naira, which is Africa’s first CBDC, is the CBN’s latest attempt to drive Nigerians away from cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

Yet despite these efforts, a study by Chainalysis has consistently found that Nigeria has one of the highest proportions of retail users who conduct cryptocurrency transactions under $ 10,000.

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Tags in this story CBDC, CBN ban, crypto CBN, Chainalysis, cross-border remittances, Cryptocurrency, Digital currency, e-naira, depreciation of the naira, Nigeria, Osita Nwanisobi

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