In its latest move to integrate crypto and blockchain, Nigeria’s stock exchange plans to start a blockchain-enabled exchange platform in 2023 to deepen trade and lure young investors to the market.
The move follows the introduction of regulations to guide trade in digital assets by the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission. Moreover, Nigeria, which launched the first CBDC in Africa in October 2021, also announced plans to roll out a nationwide digital wallet to allow for international commercialization of intellectual property (IP) forms.
For the exchange, they are looking to deploy blockchain technology in settlement of capital market transactions,
Temi Popoola, the CEO of Nigeria Exchange, said in an interview with Bloomberg Magazine.
“For a lot of young and upcoming Nigerians, that is the kind of technology they adopt and we want to see how we can deploy it to grow our market.”
– CEO, Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE)
54% of Nigerians are 19 years old or younger.
Young Nigerians account for the largest volume of cryptocurrency transactions outside the U.S., according to Paxful, a popular P2P for crypto exchange.
Nigerians traded $185 million of Bitcoins on the platform in the first 3 months of the year, accounting for a quarter of all transactions on the platform.
The Nigerian bourse will partner with a technology firm and get the approval of regulators before the launch in 2023, according to Popoola.
“Blockchain technology can facilitate different parts of the capital markets, whether around creation of products or facilitation of the Exchange to trade financial assets.”
– CEO, Nigeria Stock Exchange
According to Popoola, Digitizing transactions will help attract young buyers looking for diversified products as well as fast and easy access to the market.
The bourse’s first complete electronic share offering, issued by MTN’s Nigeria unit in 2021, was 1.2 times oversubscribed, with 85% of the investors under 40 years.
