The Central Bank of Nigeria will work with Bitt Inc, a Barbados-based fintech company, as a technical partner to help it launch Nigeria’s digital currency, the eNaira. It is a form of digital currency that allows exchange between people online.

Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele said the eNaira will operate as a wallet against which customers can hold existing funds in their bank account.

Emefiele said the currency will accelerate financial inclusion and enable cheaper and faster remittance inflows. He said the digital money, also known as cryptocurrency, would lead to easier targeted social interventions, as well as improvement in monetary policy effectiveness, payment systems efficiency, and tax collection.

In June 2020, the CBN had announced that its digital currency will be launched by the end of 2021. The announcement came months after it banned financial institutions from cryptocurrency-related transactions in the country, claiming the digital currency is used for money laundering and terrorism.