Following President Muhamadu Buhari’s launch of the enaira, the application for the CBN’s digital currency has become available for download, with over 5,000 downloads within hours of the announcement.
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 October 25.
Following this period, applicable charges listed in the Guide to Charges by Banks, Other Financial, and Non-bank Financial Institutions shall take effect.
At 4 p.m., the eNaira speed wallet app for individuals had received over 5,000 downloads, while the eNaira speed merchant wallet had had 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 eNaira stock wallet belongs solely to the CBN and it shall warehouse all minted eNaira,” the guideline stated.
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 branches tied to it and fund them from its single eNaira treasury wallet with the CBN and FI may create eNaira branch sub-wallets for its branches.
“The eNaira branch sub wallet shall be funded from the treasury eNaira wallet.
“eNaira Merchant speed wallets shall be used solely for receiving and making eNaira payments for goods and services. eNaira speed wallets shall be available for end-users to transact on the eNaira platform.”
To ensure the security of funds, the eNaira is expected to have two-factor authentication and other measures.
Meanwhile, Tier 0, which is simply a phone number without a validated National Identity Number, has a daily transaction limit of N20,000 and 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.
“Additionally, it will improve monetary policy effectiveness, enhance government’s capacity to deploy targeted social interventions, provide an alternative less costly channel for collection of government revenue and boost remittances through formal channels.
“The guidelines seek to provide simplicity in the operation of the eNaira, encourage general acceptability and use, promote low cost of transactions, drive financial inclusion while minimizing inherent risks of disintermediation or any negative impact on the financial system,” it reads in part.
