Central Bank of Nigeria to start testing digital naira by the end 2021 of the year – Bits Media

Head of IT Security Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria Rakia Mohammed (Rakiya Mohammed) reported, that the regulator will start testing its own digital currency this year.

Mohammed explained, that the digital currency of the Central Bank of Nigeria will act as Additions to the state currency - Nigerian Nayra, and also use to weaken restrictions on foreign exchange operations in the country. However, the policy of the Central Bank to protect the Nigerian Nyra from the fall of the course only provoked the interest of the population in cryptocurrencies.

Despite their ban in Nigeria, The government is ready to introduce state stablecoin, which will be available for the entire population of the country. In February, the Nigerian Central Bank forbade commercial banks to serve cryptocurrency firms, Motivating this, that crypto acts are used for illegal activity.

Later, the regulator explained, that local residents are allowed to trade cryptocurrencies. Mohammed added, that the Central Bank of Nigeria is studying the possibility of creating its own digital currency for about two years and intends to launch a pilot program to test evidence of the concept (PoC) for digital Nyra by the end 2021 of the year.

Note, that the Central Bank of Nigeria spoke about plans to launch state stablecoin after a recent statement by Bank Ghana, which is going to become the first Central Bank in Africa, introducing digital currency.