Busha Lists Nigeria's First Private Stablecoin cNGN, Pegged 1:1 to the Naira

Busha, a Nigerian cryptocurrency exchange that secured a provisional licence from the country's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in August 2024, has listed the compliant NGN (cNGN) on its platform. This marks the introduction of Nigeria's first private consortium-backed stablecoin, pegged 1:1 to the Naira.

Nigerian cryptocurrency exchange Busha has listed the cNGN stablecoin on its platform, marking the introduction of Nigeria’s first private consortium-backed stablecoin, pegged 1:1 to the Naira.

The stablecoin listing was announced by Busha on February 3. According to the announcement, users can buy cNGN and sell it back to the platform, as Busha controls its own liquidity. However, users cannot send it to third-party wallets or decentralised exchanges yet, limiting its use cases.

The cNGN stablecoin is not a government-led project, like the eNaira, which was launched by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2021. However, the stablecoin owes its existence to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a government Commission which has been clear on its intention to regulate the Nigerian crypto sector. The SEC approved the stablecoin initiative as part of its sandbox Regulatory Incubatory (RI) programme in August 2024, granting an entity called “Wrapped CBDC Ltd,” an approval in principle. The Wrapped CBDC is a 2023-registered Nigerian business credited as a joint venture—along with Convexity—pushing the cNGN.

The private consortium leading the cNGN stablecoin push includes banks, fintechs, and other blockchain advocacy and tech consulting firms like Convexity, Alpha Geek Technologies, Digital Currency Coalition, and Interstellar, all coming together under the African Stablecoin Consortium (ASC).

The discussions around creating a stablecoin started three years ago for the sole purpose of giving the Naira a fighting chance against widely traded USD-pegged stablecoins like Tether ($USDT) and USD coin ($USDC). With wider adoption and wide usage among users, the cNGN would increase the demand for the local currency, helping it gain value in the forex market.

The stablecoin is built on the Bantu blockchain—a layer-1 network—and designed to operate across multiple protocols, including Binance Smart Chain, Base, Ethereum, Polygon, and Assetchain, according to Adedeji Owonibi, founder of Convexity.

The stablecoin is currently only fully integrated on Binance Smart Chain (BEP-20) and Base, a builder-friendly layer-2 blockchain. This allows users to transfer cNGN between wallets on the Base network. However, since the stablecoin is only accessible on Busha and not trading on-chain, this hinders widespread adoption.