The Chief Executive Officer of Bitt Inc., Brian Popelka, has
said a phone application for people without bank accounts will be rolling out
soon.
He said the present version of the eNaira app could only be
used by people with bank accounts.
Bitt Inc. is the Central Bank of Nigeria’s technical partner
for the digital currency, eNaira.
According to the CBN, inclusion is a core objective of the
eNaira.
Popelka, in an interview with CoinDesk, said, “In Nigeria,
it is a methodological rollout; this is our initial stage. A phone app specific
for folks that are unbanked will be rolling out very soon, considering the fast
follow-up from us.
“So that is how we see the financial inclusion question
coming through. As far as interest goes, it is hard to say this early what the
interest is. I imagine that the concept has a newness to it; people want to
understand the inner workings of it and what to use it for.”
According to the CEO, launching the eNaira app was
challenging, but the company relied on its past digital currency experience in
Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.
Popelka added, “It is a sort of methodological rollout. We
like the idea that there are stages. Nigeria has a very foursome rollout for
all of the users for which we hope to get to over the course of many years,
which means that they and we, of course, are in it for the long haul.
“Post-launch though,
as you can imagine, as the initial rollouts, it is really just sign-ups. Well,
the central bank has minted and disbursed digital currencies to several key
financial institutions. And therefore, there are merchants and consumers that
are really just getting into the app store, downloading the app, and moving
their traditional currencies into digital format at this stage.”
Popelka said the government would not be able to access the
individual purchase histories of individuals using the eNaira app but would
able to access bulk transaction histories.
He added that banks would have access to individual
transactions in order to track fraud.
According to the CEO, financial institutions have a role to
play in ensuring more people trust and use the digital currency.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com