Central Bank of Nigeria Hints At Stablecoin Reforms

Bank of Nigeria has hinted at stablecoin reforms.

Last week, the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four Technical Group Meeting was hosted in Nigeria. Representatives from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spoke about ways to reform the internal economy and in particular, the current state of international payments coming into the country. Both foreign and local African currency stablecoins are rising.

Governor Olayemi Cardoso at CBN expressed:

“Today, cross-border payments remain too slow, too costly, and too fragmented, especially for developing economies. With global remittance corridors costing over 6.0 per cent, settlement lags of several days, and compliance burdens that exclude MSMEs, millions remain disconnected from global opportunity.”

President Nathaniel Luz of the Africa Stablecoin Network added:

“While stablecoins are a luxury for the West, they are a lifeline for Africa. For our continent, the conversation is not about speculation; it is about solving real payment and trade problems.”

The Africa Stablecoin Network highlighted its support for implementing real progress, with an underlying mission to build a better landscape for issuers, researchers, policymakers and local actors. Its next conference is expected to take place in July in Lagos, Nigeria, inviting attendees like YellowCard driving stablecoin payments.

Also, the number of local stablecoins throughout Africa are growing steadily. According to Dune dashboard made by @muh_raf, the latest figure has broken the initial $600M mark back in December and now sits at just under $630M. Accounting for most of it is xZAR and then ZARP at $3.8M (South African Rand), with cNGN (Nigerian Naira) in third at $1.1M.