Across the African continent, governments are racing to digitise their currencies, launching Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) with a narrative framed around financial inclusion, innovation, and the future of money. But beneath the surface of this technological leap lies a deeper, unresolved question: are CBDCs truly about banking the unbanked, or are they about expanding state control over personal finances?
As Digital currencies like Nigeria’s eNaira, Ghana’s eCedi, and South Africa’s digital Rand prototype are on the rise, the motivations are increasingly under the microscope. These digital currencies are not cryptocurrencies; they are state-controlled, programmable, and traceable, and therein lies both their promise and peril.
READ ALSO: Is EdTech Closing or Widening the Digital Learning Gap?
According to a report by Yellow Card, Africa is home to over 54 million digital asset users. The continent not only leads the world in stablecoin adoption, but Nigeria stands out with approximately 25.9 million digital asset users, representing a penetration rate of 11.9%. This positions Nigeria as the second-highest adopter of digital assets globally. Beyond Nigeria, nine other African countries feature among the world’s top 50 adopters: Ethiopia (26th), Morocco (27th), Kenya (28th), South Africa (30th), Uganda (34th), Algeria (43rd), Egypt (44th), Ghana (46th), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (48th).
According to the Atlantic Council’s CBDC Tracker, as of June 2025, 11 African countries are actively exploring or piloting CBDCs, with Nigeria being the only one to have fully launched one. Globally, over 130 countries, representing 98% of global GDP, are studying CBDCs, a dramatic rise from just 35 countries in 2020.
Nigeria launched the eNaira in October 2021, becoming the first African nation, and one of the first globally to officially roll out a retail CBDC. However, adoption has been sluggish. A report in October 2023 revealed that less than 0.5% of Nigerians had actively used the eNaira for transactions, with most users preferring existing fintech solutions like Opay, Palmpay, or Flutterwave.
Ghana’s eCedi, currently in pilot phase, began in September 2021 under the leadership of the Bank of Ghana. Early tests were conducted in the Eastern Region, with plans to expand nationwide. A 2023 update from the Bank of Ghana stated that interoperability with mobile money platforms and offline functionality remain priorities.
South Africa, the continent’s most advanced economy, is exploring its CBDC under Project Khokha and Project Dunbar in collaboration with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and other international financial institutions. Unlike Nigeria and Ghana, South Africa is currently focused on the wholesale CBDC model, designed for interbank settlements rather than direct consumer use.
Inclusion or Illusion?
Governments often market CBDCs as tools for financial inclusion. In Africa, where about 45% of the population remains unbanked, the case for inclusion is compelling. Yet, data paints a more nuanced picture.
In Nigeria, despite the unbanked population estimated at 28 million adults, the eNaira has failed to penetrate rural or underserved communities. In fact, Nigeria’s own Central Bank Digital Currency Adoption Barriers report (2023) admitted that urban elites, not the unbanked were the primary users.
Ghana’s eCedi pilot revealed similar trends. Field trials in small communities reported that while users found the concept useful, poor internet infrastructure and lack of integration with familiar platforms like MTN Mobile Money discouraged sustained usage.
In contrast, South Africa’s approach, focusing on wholesale transactions between banks and large financial institutions avoids the inclusion rhetoric altogether. Instead, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) appears more concerned with modernising payment systems and enhancing cross-border settlements within the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Surveillance or Safeguard?
Unlike cryptocurrencies, which operate on decentralised, often anonymous networks, CBDCs are programmable, traceable, and governed by a central authority. This feature, while offering benefits like fraud prevention and monetary policy enforcement also introduces the risk of financial surveillance.
In Nigeria, concerns have emerged about the government’s ability to monitor eNaira transactions. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has acknowledged that all transactions are visible to regulators and can be traced to individual users. Civil liberties advocates argue this gives the government disproportionate oversight into citizens’ spending habits, with little transparency on how data is stored, used, or protected.
South Africa, to its credit, has been more transparent. The SARB’s Project Dunbar documentation (released in 2024) outlines rigorous data governance protocols, developed in partnership with the Bank for International Settlements, although it remains to be seen how these will translate to public-facing digital currency projects in future.
Tech Without Trust?
One major blind spot in many African CBDC projects is the issue of public trust. In countries with histories of corruption, economic mismanagement, and institutional overreach, asking citizens to embrace a centralised digital currency is not a simple matter.
Furthermore, financial institutions in Ghana and Nigeria have expressed concern about “disintermediation”, where citizens might bypass commercial banks entirely in favour of CBDCs, disrupting the banking ecosystem. The Nigerian Bankers’ Committee and Ghana Association of Bankers have both called for clear roles for financial intermediaries within the CBDC framework.
Infrastructure and Interoperability
Another critical barrier is technological infrastructure. Many African nations still struggle with inconsistent internet connectivity, low smartphone penetration, and high data costs all of which hinder the seamless adoption of CBDCs.
According to GSMA’s Mobile Economy Report (2024), only 49% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population had access to mobile internet, and just 39% owned smartphones. Nigeria’s CBDC strategy acknowledged these issues and introduced offline wallet functionality, but uptake has remained limited due to poor awareness campaigns and limited merchant acceptance.
Ghana’s eCedi pilot attempted to use QR code-based payments and feature-phone compatible platforms, but logistical issues and a lack of public education proved problematic.
South Africa, benefiting from better infrastructure, is arguably best positioned to implement CBDCs in a meaningful way, especially in the wholesale sector. But even here, experts caution that cross-border compatibility and regional payment integration remain unaddressed.
The Global Playbook: Who’s Setting the Rules?
Africa’s CBDC experiments are unfolding within a broader international context. China’s Digital Yuan is already operational in over 200 pilot zones, and the European Central Bank plans to launch the Digital Euro by 2026. The Bank of International Settlements (BIS), IMF, and World Bank have published numerous frameworks urging developing nations to adopt digital currencies for resilience, transparency, and financial inclusion.
The G7’s 2023 CBDC Principles stress the importance of transparency, democratic values, and individual rights. Yet, many African implementations appear to prioritise control and surveillance, risking deviation from these international standards.
In particular, the IMF’s CBDC Handbook (2023) recommends “phased implementation”, “stakeholder education”, and “public-private collaboration”, three pillars that African nations have inconsistently embraced.
Between Promise and Peril
Africa’s push for CBDCs reflects a genuine desire to modernise its financial systems and boost economic resilience. However, unless governments commit to transparent governance, robust data protections, public consultation, and interoperability, CBDCs risk becoming tools of control rather than instruments of inclusion.
Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa are each pursuing different paths, revealing a continent grappling with the same questions facing the rest of the world, only under more fragile political and economic conditions. Whether CBDCs will uplift the underserved or deepen digital inequalities depends not just on technology, but on trust, transparency, and political will.
As Africa stands at this monetary junction, the real challenge lies not in creating a digital currency, but in building a digital future that is both free and fair.
