Following President Muhammadu Buhari’s inauguration of the eNaira, the CBN’s digital currency application is now accessible for download.
CBN stated that the programs had acquired over 5,000 downloads within hours of their release.
This comes as the apex bank issued regulatory guidelines stating that costs for transactions originating from the eNaira platform will be waived for the first 90 days beginning Oct. 25.
Following this period, applicable charges listed in the Guide to Charges by Banks, Other Financial, and Non-bank Financial Institutions shall take effect.
As of 4 p.m., the eNaira speed wallet app for individuals had received over 5000 downloads, while the eNaira speed merchant wallet had received close to 1,000 downloads.
Banks will be automatically onboarded by the CBN, while merchants will be onboarded once they download the app, and people would have to onboard themselves, according to the regulatory and issuing rules.
The guidelines suggested that several wallets would be created for different stakeholders.
The guideline said that “the eNaira stock wallet belongs solely to the CBN and shall warehouse all minted eNaira.”
It stated that financial institutions should have one treasury eNaira wallet to store eNaira received from the CBN eNaira stock wallet.
“Financial Institutions (FI) may create eNaira sub-treasury wallets for their branches and fund them from their single eNaira treasury wallet with the CBN, and FI may create eNaira branch sub-wallets for their branches.”
“The treasury eNaira wallet will be used to fund the eNaira branch sub wallet.”
“eNaira Merchant speed wallets may only be used to receive and make eNaira payments for goods and services.” End users will be able to transact on the eNaira platform using eNaira fast wallets.”
The eNaira is expected to have two-factor authentication and other security measures to safeguard the security of funds.
Meanwhile, the daily transaction limitations for Tier 0, which is simply a phone number without a validated National Identity Number, have been set at N20,000, with a balance limit of N120,000.
Tier 1 has a transaction limit of N50,000 and a balance limit of N300,000 and has a verified number.
Tier 2 and Tier 3 categories have daily transaction limits of N200,000 and N1 million, respectively, as well as balance restrictions of N500,000 and N5 million, respectively, whilst merchants have no limit.
According to a circular signed by Mr. Chibuzo Efobi, CBN Director of Financial Policy and Regulation Department, the eNaira would supplement cash as a less expensive, more efficient, generally acknowledged safe, and trustworthy mode of payment and store of value.
“It will also improve monetary policy effectiveness, strengthen the government’s capacity to deploy targeted social interventions, provide a less expensive channel for collecting government revenue, and increase remittances through formal channels.”
“The guidelines seek to provide simplicity in the operation of the eNaira, encourage general acceptability and use, promote low transaction costs, and drive financial inclusion while minimizing inherent risks of disintermediation or any negative impact on the financial system,” according to the statement.