NIGERIAN Exchange Limited plans to launch a Blockchain-enabled Exchange Platform next year to increase trade and attract new investors.
Blockchain is the technology behind cryptocurrency. This innovation comes at a time when policymakers and African businesses are making more efforts to use the technology to facilitate trade. The Securities and Exchange Commission, a regulator for digital asset transactions, is also a watchdog of the capital market.
After Terra blockchain crashed last month and Bitcoin shrank by more than half, cryptocurrency markets are experiencing a plunge. Bitcoin reached its all-time high eight months ago.
According to Paxful, which offers a platform for trading Bitcoin, but not equity trading, the largest cryptocurrency transaction volume in the world is held by Nigerian youths.
Young investors, who are now exploring cryptocurrency and foreign markets as a way to avoid Nigeria’s inflationary pressures, will likely be pleased with the new decision. Between April 2019 and April 2022, Nigeria’s inflation increased from 12.3 percent to 16.8 percent.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Temi Popoola (CEO of Nigerian Exchange Limited) stated that the exchange plans to use blockchain technology for capital market transactions.
“This is the technology that many young Nigerians use, and it is what we want to see.”
Popoola reports that the Nigerian Stock Exchange would partner with a technology company and get regulatory clearance before it launches in 2023.
Popoola believes that digitizing transactions will attract young buyers who are looking for a wide range of products and quick access to the market.
Remember that MTN Group Ltd’s Nigeria unit published the first electronic share offering last year. It was 1.2x oversubscribed with only 85 percent of the investors under 40.
His organization hopes to create synergies with technology companies and receive approval from regulators before next year’s launch.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has placed a ban on cryptocurrency transactions by commercial banks because they could pose a threat to the financial system.
He stated that the digitization of trade will open up new opportunities for young investors to invest in diverse products and provide seamless access to the markets.
