Financial inclusion will be aided by establishing credit records for the few users of the innovative African CBDC.

A memorandum of understanding between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Gluwa Nigeria has been completed in order to encourage the use of the eNaira central bank digital currency (CBDC). A blockchain-based financial platform called Gluwa has been operational in Nigeria for a number of years.

According to a statement provided to Cointelegraph, Gluwa will incorporate its Credal technology into the eNaira network as an agent partner of the CBN. It intends to advance financial inclusion by enabling unbanked individuals to build "credit reputations." It will boost the efficacy of the CBDC by creating "accessible across borders" credit profiles:

“The integration of Credal is anticipated to streamline loan origination, management, settlement, and credit assessment processes for local fintech lenders.”

This is the CBN's most recent effort to increase eNaira usage. The eNaira, which debuted in October 2021, is the second-oldest CBDC globally. Less than 1% of Nigerians with bank accounts as of mid-2023 had eNaira wallets, and fewer than 1.5% of those wallet holders used them every week.

In Africa, credit ratings are a sensitive topic. Of Africans, just 20% to 30% have a credit score, making the rest of the population "invisible" to lenders. Alternative blockchain-based programs that aim to give Africans access to credit histories gather data from low-value peer-to-peer transactions and employ soulbound nonfungible tokens (NFTs).

Many of the payment solutions available in Africa, including Gluwa, depend on the use of mobile phones in place of traditional financial infrastructure.

Since at least 2022, when it collaborated with the regional government of Lagos to tokenize agricultural assets, Gluwa has operated in Nigeria. In April 2023, it made a highly publicized proposal to the Nigerian government offering advice on cryptocurrency policy. The Nigerian authorities and cryptocurrency exchanges have frequently clashed.

After being singled out by the Nigerian government in February for criticism of cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance will stop using the naira as of March 8.

Tae Oh, the founder and CEO of Gluwa, is also in charge of the Creditcoin Network, a layer-1 blockchain similar to Gluwa. A public ledger of credit history and on-chain loan performance is created by Creditcoin.