August 31, (THEWILL) – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Monday formally announced the engagement of the global finance technology firm, Bitt Inc., as its technical partner for the rollout of the digital currency e-Naira.
The selection of Bitt Inc. from among highly competitive bidders hinged on the company’s technological competence, efficiency, platform security, and interoperability and implementation experience, CBN stated.
E-Naira, according to CBN, is due to be unveiled later in the year. A statement from the bank quoted its Governor, Godwin Emefiele, as also listing the benefits of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to include increased cross-border trade, accelerated financial inclusion, cheaper and faster remittance inflows, easier targeted social interventions, as well as improvements in monetary policy effectiveness, payment systems efficiency, and tax collection.
“In choosing Bitt Inc, the CBN relied on the company’s tested and proven digital currency experience, which is already in circulation in several Eastern Caribbean countries,” the bank’s director of corporate communications, Osita Nwanisobi, stated in a statement.
“Bitt Inc. was key to the development and successful launch of the central bank’s digital currency (CBDC), pilot of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), in April 2021,” he said.
Speed Wallets in the first tier can be used by anyone who does not have a bank account, but users will submit a passport photo, a name, birth date and place, a phone number, and their address.
A N50,000 limit is in place for “Send and Receive”. A validated national identity card will serve as minimum requirement while a cumulative balance of N300,000 is fixed each day.
Tier two wallets will require an existing account with a bank and the user is limited to sending and receiving N200,000 each day with a cumulative balance of N500,000 daily. Here, a bank verification number (BVN) is the minimum requirement.
Tier three allows daily transactions of N1 million, with daily cumulative balances of N5 million and minimum of BVN is required. The guideline noted that those who possess this merchant level are able to send or receive up to N1 million daily. A merchant can move as much money as they want into their bank accounts.
CBN explained that neither merchants nor customers using the wallet will be charged a fee.
