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The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced that it will own a majority stake in Bitt Inc. after its registration in Nigeria. The Caribbean fintech company is the technical partner of the CBN is the launch of Nigeria’s digital currency on October 1.
The bank’s governor, Godwin Emefiele, on Friday after the Monetary Policy Council meeting also denied having personal stakes in the company.
“Bitt Inc would establish a company in Nigeria and the CBN would own a majority stake in the company. So it is not my company as people have said,” he said.
Mr. Emefiele also clarified that the CBN went through a “rigorous” selection process before Bitt came first with an average of 82.3 percent, scoring above the other 5. bidders.”
“As with all attempts at choosing contractors, the CBN went through a rigorous vendor selection process in line with the Public Procurement Act conducted by seven departmental directors and a deputy governor,” he said.
“Ten companies were evaluated based on the following criteria: technology ownership and control; implementation timeline; efficiency and ease of adoption; support for anti-money laundering and combatting of terrorism; platform security; interoperability; and implementation experience.
“Why did we choose Bitt Inc? Bitt is a leader in central banks’ digital currency space, with subject matter experts at the intersection between technology and policy.
“Bitt Inc is the first company to digitize a Central Bank digital currency on a blockchain.”
He ascertain that the currency will be launched on October 1, 2021.
“On that date, Nigerians should be able to download the eNaira application from either Google play store or Apple app store,”
“They would be able to find their wallets using their bank accounts and conduct transactions such as transfers and purchases at merchant outlets that have boarded to the platform”. Mr. Emefiele said.
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