Key Takeaways
1. Experts argue that despite the CBN's claims, the e-naira will be unable to boost economic growth.
2. Fundraising sale of horn NFTs by top African rhino sanctuary kicks in NFTs soar.
3. As Nigeria becomes the first African country to launch its own CBDCS, Africa is taking greater moves towards the trend.
Punch newspaper reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria is working on a version of the E-Naira app just for the unbanked, although it does not specify when this would be released. Players in Nigeria's blockchain business have begun to doubt the CBN's capacity to operate the CBDC as a result of this seeming incompetence.
Either way, this statement and the withdrawal of the e-naira app from Google Play add weight to suspicions that the CBN hurried to create Africa's first CBDC.
To put it another way, the failure of the CBN's digital currency rollout implies that the central bank's principal aim of delivering financial services to Nigeria's unbanked population is unlikely to be met. Chiagozie Iwu, CEO of CI Cryptosolutions and creator of Naijacrypto, provided the following explanation:
“My banks already provide a lot of the same services, so what is the use of this app? As a result, it doesn't seem to me that the CBN is targeting persons without a bank account. If you're going to download an app, you need to have a bank account in order to do so. "Banking the unbank" doesn't make sense since I have to log in using my bank account”.
At the time of this writing, the CBN had claimed that its e-naira wallet will be accessible to non-smartphone users, but this service had not yet been implemented.
To make matters worse, Iwu believes that since the e-naira app isn't available to those with feature phones, it was created in an unplanned manner. Iwu acknowledged that the e-naira app, like other apps, may have some "bugs," but he argued that the CBN could have prevented this if it had properly used the monies allocated for the project.
Expert Charles Okaformbah of Convexity claimed that the CBN may have avoided disseminating the flawed program if it had run it through beta testing before release. Okaformbah is quoted as saying in the report:
A lot more testing, maybe with a small group of individuals outside the app's development team, would have helped the app developers find and address several problems.
This may have been a better outcome had the CBN and blockchain players collaborated, according to Lloyd Onaghinon, an economics professor at the University of Lagos.
Cryptoassetbuyer's research concludes that there is a trust gap and that the CBN has the responsibility to address this.
Related news: eNaira app yanked off the Google Play Store after CBN governor said it will be free for 3 months
Top African rhino conservancy to auction horn NFTs to raise funds
The Top conservancy in South Africa plans to sell the Rhino Horn NFT at one of the country's most popular Non-Fungible Token platforms, Momint. The Conservancy said that the funds generated from the auction on November 11 would be used to cover the Sanctuary's daily needs.
The money will be utilized for food, vaccines, proper protection for the region, and other everyday expenditures that the conservationist will spend on the conservative.
The grant will be used to support the conservationist's efforts to reduce rhino death. As said, the number of Rhinos in government-owned parks has decreased from 18,000 to barely 2,000 in the recent decade.
However, other scientists say that animals killing each other is responsible for a large portion of the drop. To prevent them from killing one other, specialists advised the conservationist to cut off the sharp end of the animal's horn.
In light of these recent developments, notably the eNaira, what do you think?
