In Brief
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Regulated stablecoin cNGN achieved approval by co‑creating its framework with Nigeria’s SEC over a year of collaborative sessions.
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Built on Bantu Chain and interoperable across major blockchains, cNGN empowers developers to build DeFi, escrow, and lending applications.
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Addressing utility, liquidity, and accessibility challenges—cNGN sets the blueprint for future regulated stablecoins across Africa via ASC mentorship.
With digital assets taking a core role in shaping Africa’s digital economy, cNGN stablecoin has emerged as a certified blueprint of how to deploy and grow within regulated borders.
In a recent Web3Africa Interview, Victor Olorunfemi, Senior Product Lead, shed light on the journey of the first African stablecoin.
The Regulatory Blueprint: Collaboration Over Confrontation
Kickstarting the interview was an obvious question of most industry leaders, innovators and users: How did cNGN crack the regulatory hurdle?
The answer revealed that the common “innovate first, regulate later” approach prevalent within the crypto space doesn’t pan out for everyone.
“It was a convergence of several things, but what set us apart was our team’s approach and intention, not going through the typical pathway.
The scope and size of the project couldn’t allow us to start, so we had to be on the same page with regulators.
We spent over a year engaging with the SEC through multiple interactions and collaborative sessions,” – Victor.
The team’s goal wasn’t approval. Rather, it was to build understanding and co-creating a framework. As Victor put it, “we didn’t want to preach, we wanted to show its practicability.”
“The second factor that really confirmed our decision to work with regulators first was the recent passing of the Nigerian Investment and Securities Bill.”
For the short version, the Bill classifies digital assets as securities, giving the Nigerian SEC regulatory oversight.
Victor’s key takeaway resonated powerfully: “Collaboration beats confrontation.”
“The main focus of regulators is safety. We often demonize regulators saying they hamper developments, but the truth is they aren’t that bad. We showed them how to mitigate risks and deal with them like the human beings they are and they really came around.”
Powering the Future: The Bantu Blockchain and Beyond
The African stablecoins exemplify the notion, For Africa, by Africa, with the digital asset residing within the Bantu Chain, a Pan-African blockchain infrastructure provider.
CHECK OUT: cNGN Investments: Xend Finance’s Gateway to African Markets
At its core, the Bantu blockchain mints the stablecoins. However, the team recognized the need for interoperability in a multichain world.
The stablecoin is transmittable across major public blockchains currently, including Ethereum, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, Base, and Asset Chain – with Solana integration on the horizon.
Beyond the CBDC: cNGN vs eNaira – A Fundamental Distinction
The next point of clarity sheds light on the very need for cNGN stablecoin. The region already launched Africa’s first CBDC digitizing their currency. However, its practicability, nature and use have led to a decline in its use.
“CBDCs and stablecoins are fundamentally and philosophically different. The eNaira is minted by the Central Bank of Nigeria, and used to facilitate monetary control and some of their fiscal policy. In addition, it’s built on private chains and unable to interact with open systems.”
Victor likened this nature to the intranet, which focused more inwardly, having various limitations and challenges.
cNGN, conversely, functions like the open “internet.” It’s a naira-backed, programmable digital asset built for an open financial ecosystem.
The idea behind cNGN was to bridge Nigeria’s financial systems with the global Web3 economy without compromising on security or regulation.
It empowers developers, fintech and institutions to build innovative on-chain applications – spanning DeFi (Decentralized Finance), digital lending, automated escrow, and social banking.
cNGN vs. eNaira boils down to reach, applicability and its inherent nature. One focuses on broadening financial services to the global network, while the other focuses on enhancing internal financial systems.
How Does CNGN Make an Impact and Who benefits
“The real flavor, the real impact of CNGN is on the developer side. Its capabilities are only limited by the creativity of developers. Some of them are building innovative solutions linking on-chain access to money market funds. It enabling a more inclusive financial products,” Victor stated.
The practicability of cNGN is visible, with the issuers growing from 4,400 tokens to a staggering 300 million.
Programmable money unlocks possibilities previously difficult or impossible: decentralized crowdfunding, where contributors track funds in real-time, automated trustless escrow systems, and frictionless micro-lending.
When asked the secret behind this growth, Victor clarified:
“Adoption, Adoption, Adoption. There is a budding developer ecosystem who are creating the need for cNGN stablecoin.
In fact, what you have there is only on-chain circulation, not volume or off-chain figures.
We have surpassed this figure with the growing demand and our listings; however, we are trying to make that information available.”
The regulated stablecoin is listed on local exchanges like Quidax, Busha, Xend Finance, AzaWire, and Paycrest, contributing to its growth.
Additionally, on-ramp and off-ramp services are lining up to add cNGN to their listing.
When asked who benefits the most, Victor clarified the cNGN’s stance;
“Remember, we are issuers, we don’t directly influences the use cases however we are aware of the growth. The true benefit often lies in qualitative improvements: the speed, cost reduction, and accessibility. We see the befits across board. ”
Taming the Three-Headed Hydra: Utility, Liquidity, Accessibility
Every adventure needs its antagonist, and the regulated stablecoins also faced its ups and downs despite its head start.
CHECK OUT:Nigeria Stablecoin Transactions Boom: A Positive Financial Shift
Victor candidly described it as wrestling with a “three-headed hydra: “: utility, liquidity, and accessibility.”
“The earliest challenges we had was people asking us where can we get it outside exchanges.”
Addressing this means expanding listings on compliance exchanges and enabling easier on-chain swaps.
Its nature made it easy for on-chain swaps to line up.
The next issue was utility, providing a use case for its needs. This, however, heavily depended on Nigeria’s active developer ecosystem handling applications from GameFi engaging retail users to sophisticated DeFi tools for businesses.
Once both heads were dealt with, liquidity naturally followed.
Progress is continuous, tackled “month by month,” with each solution reinforcing the others.
The Road Ahead for the Regulated Stablecoin.
“We want to move in terms of accessibility through centralized and decentralized exchange deepening liquidity. We’ve seen a lot of demand.”
Their vision extends far beyond Nigeria; as the first African stablecoins from Africa Stablecoin Consortiums, cNGN will effectively write the blueprint of other stablecoins.
The agenda of ASC is to birth other regulated stablecoins, and cNGN intends to be a supportive force.
Victor confirmed they will provide “mentorship, governance support, and tech expertise” as the “first born sons of ASC stablecoins.”
The ultimate goal? A future where diverse African digital currencies interact seamlessly, enabling fluid intra-African trade and significantly improving the efficiency of cross-border payments across the continent.
