Nigeria Approves National Blockchain Policy to Promote Digital Economic Development

Nigeria is one of the major exporters in the international markets with products like Cocoa beans, Crude Petroleum, and Gas, among others such as special purpose ships. The African nation has recently approved a new National Blockchain Policy.

By the decree of this new legislative development, the country is planning to move one step further in the matter of the digital economy. Many major local industries are going to adopt the new technology.

Nigerian officials have been working on taking new steps to integrate blockchain technology into the economic infrastructure. The Federal Executive Council is the government committee that is responsible for the charter and approval of this digital economy.

The Ministry of Communications and Digital Economic Development has mentioned in a new tweet the latest updates concerning this policy. The public and private sectors seem to have been actively participating in the process of implementation and development.

The Ministry of Communications of Nigeria has been researching blockchain technology to harness its power for the greater good. To this end, the government is planning to utilize the disruptive payments network to support its local economic development.

With the induction of this policy, government enterprises would be able to perform secure transactions. It is also going to work on areas such as data sharing, value exchange, and value exchange among people and businesses.

It means that the exchange between businesses and retailers is going to improve, and at the same time, it can ensure prosperity, trust, and growth for all stakeholders. National Blockchain Policy can have a positive impact on the development and growth of public and private sectors in the country.

The latest press conference conducted to brief on the matter has maintained that it may be able to work for healthcare, transportation, and supply chain. To this end, the Ministry of Communication has suggested the firm start implementing blockchain solutions in their respective fields.

Nigerian Regulator is Working on Approving Tokenized Securities

Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria has decided to approve the tokenization of assets. It means that in the coming days, there is going to be a new flurry of tokenized coin offerings on the local centralized or regulated digital exchange platforms.

However, the regulators have mandated that these tokenized products are to be fully backed by property, debt, or equity. Thus far, companies cannot create a tokenized product with crypto reserves.

Nigerian officials have ensured that there are policies in place that are going to protect the average investor in the region. For this reason, they have been working on introducing new standardization processes and options.

One important measure in this regard is the compulsory registration requirement for Fintech organizations that are dealing in digital currencies. It means that the entities such as sub-brokers, fund managers, crowdfunding intermediaries, and others can only operate legally after getting a practice license from the local SEC.

These security measures can keep enhancing and adding to the regulatory measures in the near future. African countries are getting ahead in the matter of bringing regulatory clarity to the crypto sector.

It is worth noting that cryptocurrencies are fairly popular in Nigeria. Therefore, the citizens and business class seem eager to get federal approval for the given asset class. The state of Nigeria has proceeded to introduce its local CBDC project, which has been dubbed as e-Naira.

This project has been well-received among the Nigerian populous. The project has been open for public access since October 2021, and thus far, around 31 million participants have created a new digital wallet.

It seems that the government of Nigeria will be able to collect valuable data concerning the economic and financial impact of the CBDC introduction. This data can be used by various other countries and Central Banks that are still in the process of conducting their research.

Nigerian Central Bank attempted to regulate cryptocurrencies in 2022 but failed. However, Bitcoin has continued to trade in the region at a high premium.