By Babajide Komolafe, Economy Editor. The value of eNaira in circulation rose by 302 per cent in nine months to N10.26 billion at the end of September reflecting increased adoption of Africa’s Central Bank Digital currency. Enaira is a form of digital currency under CBDC that have been centralized under the Nigerian government regulation, allowing for the tracing of every exchange made on electronic payment platforms (Akinbanjo et al., 2024). As of March 2024, eNaira, Nigeria'sdigital currency, made up less than 1% of the total currency in circulation. Despite being an innovative step towards digital financial inclusion, it has yet to achieve significant adoption compared to traditional cash. Nigeria was the first country in Africa to roll out a central bank digital currency. The eNaira was launched in October 2021. The main reasons were to promote financial inclusion, increase cross-border transactions... Introduction In October 2021, Nigeria made history by launching the eNaira, becoming the first African nation and one of the few countries globally to introduce a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Nigeria was the second country after the Bahamas to launch a CBDC, but questions regarding its use case have refused to go away. As of August 2023, the volume of eNaira in circulation was N9.78 billion, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria. eNaira is Nigeria’sdigital currency, issued and regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for retail use. It is a liability of the CBN, similar to coins and cash. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are similar to eNaira in terms of the underlying Bitcoin technology.
