Barely 10 days after Nigeria launch it’s digital currency, e-Naira, the first in Africa, the number of users of consumer and merchant wallets has risen significantly, Persecondnews.com reports.
In the first week of the product launch as of Monday, Nov. 1, 2021, the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) recorded 367,000 consumer wallets and 58,600 merchants wallets.
The eNaira wallet is required to access, use and hold the eNaira. The eNaira will be exchangeable for other CBDC.
The eNaira will be made accessible only through the eNaira Wallets which is the digital storage that holds the eNaira.
On October 25, 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari had unveiled the e-Naira, saying the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to rise by $29 billion in the next 10 years.
He said:”Indeed, some estimates indicate that the adoption of CBDC and its underlying technology, called blockchain, can increase Nigeria’s GDP by US$29 billion over the next 10 years.
“CBDCs can also help increase remittances, foster cross border trade, improve financial inclusion, make monetary policy more effective, and enable the government to send direct payments to citizens eligible for specific welfare programmes.”
However, the enthusiasm that greeted the launch of the e-Naira waned a little with the number of downloads reducing but picked up thereafter, rising from about 180,000 on Tuesday to 367,000 consumer wallets and 58,600 merchants wallets on November 1.
READ ALSO: Nigeria’s digital currency eNaira debuts
Persecondnews.comalso reported that within 48 hours after the app was launched on the App Store and Google Play, the number of downloads of the eNaira Speed Wallet and the eNaira Merchant Wallet hit about 180,000.
However, following complaints of scammers’ activities, the eNaira speed wallet for consumers was removed for about a day, upgraded and later restored.
Some users, who spoke with Persecondnews.com, rated the initiative of the CBN very high.
Isaac Opara said: “The response is not bad at all for such a new product. This means that Nigerians all over the world are downloading the app and onboarding into the eNaira system.
“It also proves that it might have great benefits for cross-border trade and inflow of remittances.
“Contrary to the lie that Google pulled the app because of poor rating, we see something much more encouraging. Rating of the Apps also has been rapidly improving and is now nearly the 3/5 mark.”
Another businessman, Abiodun Oba, said it is another ease of doing business and seamless cashless transaction.
“The initiative is highly commendable. The CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele has done well. Kudos to him and his team at the apex bank.”
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