Nigerian CBDC: The Government Approved It, But Will The People Care To Use It?
Some few weeks ago, or months thereabout, the Nigerian government announced the release of the official Nigerian Central Bank Digital Currency called e-Naira. This is supposed to be the digital Naira, that will be used digitally to make transactions. I was less enthusiastic towards it because I don’t want to invest my money on an asset that will keep depreciating in value every time I sneeze.
Early 2021, I think February, the government banned financial institutions from approving any cryptocurrency transactions. This is because they claimed it is illegal and is used for illegal activities, but they went ahead and suggested that building a centralized currency based on the technology of cryptocurrency will be a better idea. This new development is supposed to help solve the problem behind the devaluation of naira. By making payment faster, easier and cheaper, it is expected to encourage citizens to use it. But the ironic part is, every youth that has used cryptocurrency and is using cryptocurrency does not want to associate theirselves with the CBDC.
Being a Nigerian and staying in Nigeria all my life, I wouldn’t trust my money with the government. Aside not trusting my money with the government, am also concerned about the value.
Last week an anonymous person I don’t know randomly sent me a video explaining what the e-Naira will be. The video goes this way, I have to be selected by my bank and probably consider my self lucky that the bank selected me and feel am liable to have an e-wallet app. An invitation code from the bank will be sent to me that will lead me to where I can download the e-wallet app.
After downloading the app, I will be required to enter an invitation code that was sent by my bank through the message. After entering, I will need to register on the app and get verified on the app to be able to use it. Then to fund the wallet, I need to transfer money from my bank to the wallet.
How Can I Use It?
I can use it by sending money to another e-wallet user or send to another bank by entering the bank account details. But guess what? I can’t withdraw cash using my e-wallet. So can you tell me why I should be interested in e-Naira? Everything I have read about e-Naira just makes me less interested in it. My regular bank app is way better than the e-Naira, banks app can do everything the e-wallet and e-Naira can do and more, like withdrawing from the ATM to get cash.
After watching the video, in conclusion, the e-Naira is like cryptocurrency but centralized and controlled by the government. No thanks. Am cool with the usual cryptocurrency I trade. The only time I might use e-Naira is when I want to pay bills and they were specific that I need to use e-Naira to pay for that bill or charge. But personally, I don’t consider that a good idea to use it frequently, majorly because of the devaluation of the currency.
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Like i said... They are being led by their noses... 😂
Lol, the government might just end up being the only users
Lmao. Will they even use it? They know how worthless it is. I see ghost accounts rising...
It’s Nigeria, you will surely see that. This is when you will start seeing invisible bridge that were constructed with billions of naira written on the ledger
It makes me happy to see people fully coming to the realization that their respective governments are not their friend.
When the idea of CBDCs first started getting kicked around, I laughed. Any CBDC is just going to be the same crap as the original bank notes, but worse, just trying to ride the coat tails of real crypto. All the advantages of crypto like decentralization, privacy, censorship resistance, maximum supply in some cases, etc. are DISADVANTAGES for governments and central banks. Not to mention they'll likely add in there advanced surveillance, the ability to lock wallets, inflation at a keystroke. Like you said, what person, with half a brain, would touch something like that other than VERY briefly, and only to hand it right back to them? 😆
Thanks a lot, I only fear for those people that don’t know they are caged with fiat and antagonize bitcoin. They will only key into this CBDC idea.