eNaira has recorded 840,000 downloads, N4bn transactions – Emefiele

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, said on Thursday the digital currency, eNaira, has recorded N4 billion transactions since its launch last year.

Emefiele disclosed this at the grand finale of the “eNaira Hackathon” held in Abuja.

The hackathon is a CBN’s collaborative initiative with the African Fintec Foundry (AFF).

It is aimed at bringing together teams of talented entrepreneurs, developers, designers, solution developers, problem-solvers and coding experts from Africa to develop innovative solutions for improved adoption of the eNaira.

President Muhammadu Buhari launched the eNaira on October 25, 2021.

Emefiele said the eNaira had reached 840,000 downloads with 270,000 active wallets comprising 252,000 consumer wallets and 17,000 merchant wallets since its launch.

READ ALSO: CBN announces designated USSD code for eNaira transaction

He stressed that the digital currency would enhance financial inclusion, support poverty reduction, enable direct welfare disbursement to citizens, support a resilient payments ecosystem and improve availability and usability of money.

The CBN governor said: “The eNaira will also facilitate diaspora remittances, reduce the cost of processing cash, and also reduce cost and improve efficiency of cross-border payment.”

He stressed that the eNaira was the same Naira with far more possibilities.

“The eNaira will make a significant positive difference to Nigeria and Nigerians. It was also developed to provide Nigerians with a cheap, safe and trusted means of payment.

“It is unlike the offline payments channels like agent networks, USSD, wearables, cards and near field communication technology.

“The eNaira would give access to financial services to underserved and unbanked segments of the population,” he added.

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