Nigeria launches digital currency ‘to drive economic growth’

By CHINEDU ASADU
Associated Press

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria has launched a digital currency which the Central Bank of Nigeria says is a “major step forward in the evolution of money” in Africa’s most populous country. President Muhammadu Buhari said that the digital currency and the blockchain technology it uses can foster economic growth and increase the GDP of Nigeria’s economy, one of Africa’s biggest, by $29 billion over the next 10 years. Buhari said the use of the Nigerian Central Bank Digital Currency can help move many more people and businesses from the informal into the formal sector, thereby increasing the tax base of the country.