Previously, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that Nigeria’s eNaira was more secure in comparison with Bitcoin. However, the IMF now warns of money laundering risks associated with Nigeria’s eNaira.
A recent IMF consultation report shows the associated risks of eNaira utilization. Using the eNaira to make international payments poses the risks of money laundering and supporting terrorism. As a result, IMF urged Nigeria’s central bank to perform risk assessments to its present anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism funding processes.
Following more, Nigeria strictly enforces a daily transaction restriction for each tranche of Nigeria’s CBDC. Customers in the lowest category, including the unbanked population, have a limit of $120 per day. On the other hand, the daily restrictions for the top levels people are between $487 and $2,438.
The IMF’s analysis also mentioned the cybersecurity risks related to the CBDC in Nigeria.
As per the record, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) created the eNaira in October 2021. Earlier that year, banks imposed bans on cryptocurrency exchanges. Nearly 500,000 clients and 80,000 merchants downloaded the CBN’s digital currency wallet in the first month. The Central Bank of Nigeria reported these statistics.
As of the first three months of operation, just 188 million nairas ($450,000) had been transacted. As a result, there was quite a decrease in percentage. According to Reuters, China’s e-yuan CBDC, by contrast, carried out around $315,000 in daily trading volume during the Winter Olympics this year.