BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Oct. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — eNaira, the Bitt-developed central bank digital currency (CBDC), has officially rolled out in Nigeria. Citizens and residents of Nigeria are now the first on the continent of Africa to use a legal tender digital currency for their daily financial transactions. 

Bitt is very excited to be entering the African CBDC market as the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Technology Partner. Bitt’s market-proven Digital Currency Management System (DCMS) is currently licensed by national financial institutions in six countries across Central America and the Caribbean. Nigeria is a sophisticated economy which operates on a modern infrastructure. Bitt’s DCMS fulfilled CBN’s criteria for technological competence, efficiency, platform security, interoperability, and implementation experience.

CEO of Bitt, Brian Popelka, “We are elated to have developed, tested and deployed the eNaira monetary infrastructure in record time. Today’s launch is an exceptional achievement for both the CBN and Bitt teams. We look forward to continued partnership on this CBDC deployment journey and to provide additional features to expand eNaira’s value to all…

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is set to officially introduce the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the eNaira.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has published a document in which it reaffirmed its intention to introduce the eNaira after previously attempting but failing to do so on Oct. 1. According to the design paper for the eNaira, the CBN now considers itself prepared to implement Nigeria’s CBDC. 

The CBN is working on a global cryptocurrency that will be used as a means of payment and a store of value in addition to replacing cash.

The CBN, in its own statement, downplayed the risks of missing a deadline. Rather, the bank emphasized the value of getting things right the first time and how doing so contributes to long-term success for digital currencies. The CBN stressed the need to get off on the right foot rather than rushing to release a digital currency that has not yet received all necessary approvals.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the Nigerian Federal High Court approved the rollout of a CBDC as a legal tender on Oct. 2.

Related: French central bank pilots blockchain-based CBDC for debt market

The CBN published the document containing…

The talks are part of an ongoing CBDC investigation phase instigated by the ECB in July and set to last two years.

The ECB is inviting potential candidates for participation in the debate to address four technical issues:

• Large-scale application of privacy-preserving technologies in retail payments in combination with the traceability of financial transactions. How do such technologies interact with those for user authentication for payment solutions?
• Security of offline payment solutions that are not linked to any external system for conducting consecutive payments. How can we make the top-up process and the use of the secure element more convenient?
• Top-up, funding and defunding of digital wallets or accounts for bearer and account-based payment solutions. How can we make it easier for customers to fund and defund a payment wallet or account, either manually or automatically?
• Impact of limiting (or disincentivising) the hoarding of large sums of money in a payment wallet or account on…

The Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, is expected to formally launch the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) on October 25, 2021.

High-Level Endorsement of the CBDC

According to a statement released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the formal event marking the e-naira’s launch will be held at the Buhari’s official residence. After the initial launch was postponed due to different factors, the CBN suggests in the statement that it has done enough to prepare for the launch this time around.

The press statement explains:

Following a series of engagements with relevant stakeholders including the banking community, fintech operators, merchants and indeed, a cross-section of Nigerians, the CBN designed the digital currency, which shall be activated on Monday, October 25, 2021.

Describing the e-naira launch as a major step forward in the evolution of money, the CBN insists its CBDC will be available to everyone.

The CBN to Promptly Address Challenges Encountered During Implementation

Meanwhile, the statement adds that the CBN, being aware that this will be one of the first of CBDCs, has already put in place a structure to promptly address any issue…

According to a recent report, Beijing is pressing the fast-food retail chain McDonald’s to support the digital yuan before the Winter Olympics in China scheduled for February 2022. The report notes that China is also pushing companies like Visa and Nike to join in on the central bank digital currency (CBDC) rollout.

Chinese Government Pushes McDonald’s, Visa, Nike to Accept CBDC

The People’s Republic of China is preparing for its full roll-out of the CBDC in February 2022, during the introduction of the Beijing Winter Olympics. According to the Financial Times’ (FT) unnamed sources, the Chinese government wants McDonald’s to get on board with the digital yuan. FT notes that a large quantity of McDonald’s restaurants in Shanghai are currently testing China’s CBDC.

Now Beijing is pressing the company itself to get more McDonald’s restaurants to follow Shanghai’s lead. A source stemming from McDonald’s told FT: “Shanghai is our pilot city and we will learn from customers’ response.” The information regarding the pressure from the Chinese government derives from sources that are “close to China’s financial regulators,” the report emphasized.

…

The launch will take place at the State House, Abuja.

President Muhammadu Buhari will on Monday formally unveil the Nigerian Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), known as the eNaira.

The Central Bank of Nigeria had earlier announced the launch of the digital currency on October 1 but postponed the launch citing lined up events for the country’s 61st independence anniversary.

A statement Saturday by the spokesperson of the bank, Osita Nwasinobi, said the launch will take place at the State House, Abuja.

“The launch of the eNaira is a culmination of several years of research work by the Central Bank of Nigeria in advancing the boundaries of payments system in order to make financial transactions easier and seamless for every strata of the society,” the statement said.

“Following a series of engagements with relevant stakeholders including the banking community, fintech operators, merchants, and indeed, a cross-section of Nigerians, the CBN designed the digital currency, which shall be activated on Monday, October 25, 2021.

“The eNaira, therefore, marks a major step forward in the evolution of money and the CBN is committed to ensuring that the eNaira, like the physical…

Whether RBI’s CBDC will bear interest depends on how the country’s central bank takes an approach on its scope, underlying technology, and validation mechanism. The central banks now understand the huge impact the blockchain and distributed technology is creating in the financial system which solves the complexity of import-export settlement in reducing risks, less dependent on intermediaries for domestic transactions and US Federal System for

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released the e-Naira design paper which breaks down the objectives, principles, and the eNaira design architecture.

The design paper praises distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) for their ability to offer transparency, secure, and tamper-proof transactions while creating trust among transacting parties.

Part of the document reads:

“This design document gives much more detail on the critical dimensions of the eNaira, including the eNaira design and architecture, the initial eNaira functionality, what roles different economic actors play as the eNaira is introduced, the risks of the eNaira and how they will be mitigated, and the eNaira Implementation roadmap.

These critical details should give comfort to Nigerians that the eNaira has been well-conceived and the launch of the eNaira has been robustly planned.”

                                               – Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

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SEE ALSO: [WATCH] The e-Naira Will Come with an e-Wallet with Zero Transaction Costs, 3rd-Party Wallets Supported, Says…

After failing to roll out its CBDC on October 1, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released a document in which it reiterates its commitment to launching the e-naira. In fact, in this document titled The Design Paper for the E-naira, the CBN says it is now ready to launch Nigeria’s CBDC.

CBN Prioritizes Robust Ecosystems

However, in the same document, the central bank appears to downplay the implications of failing to launch as planned. Instead, the CBN attempts to highlight the importance of getting things right the first time and how this guarantees the digital currency’s success in the long term. The document explains the CBN’s position:

While the launch of the e-naira is an important event, it is one milestone on a long journey. The e-naira is a process, not a single step. Over time, the CBN believes the robust ecosystems that will be built on the e-naira platform will ensure Nigeria and Nigerians receive all the benefits from the e-naira.

E-Naira Roadmap

Instead of putting its entire focus on launching the e-naira on time, the CBN says it has spent time working on the e-naira design and architecture. It has also prioritized sharing with prospective e-naira…

The Bank of Israel reportedly launched a digital currency pilot program, aiming to create its central bank digital currency based on the Ethereum blockchain. However, the project might face some significant challenges.

Israel Aiming at CBDC

Many leading nations including China, Japan, France, Sweden, and more have worked for years on developing a digitalized version of their national currency.

According to a report by Globes, the central bank of Israel has joined the trend and is at the initial stages of issuing a CBDC. The institution chose the Ethereum network to achieve the move. Yoav Soffer – CBDC Project Manager at the Bank of Israel – explained why:

“We did a trial with Ethereum technology, not because we think that that’s necessarily the technology we’ll use, but because it was a technology that was available for us to get our hands dirty with, in order to understand its advantages and disadvantages.”

The Bank of Israel created teams that set up a trial environment based on the Ethereum blockchain and issued a token representing CBDCs. Subsequently, it designed digital wallets, from which team members could exchange “imaginary digital…