Launched as the first regulated Nigerian stablecoin, cNGN represents Nigeria's evolving financial landscape, bridging the gap between digital assets and traditional finance, while also reflecting the government's relaxation around cryptocurrency. 

The cNGN is a local stablecoin designed to maintain a 1:1 value to the Nigerian Naira (NGN), i.e. meaning 1 cNGN will always equal 1 Naira. It is regulated by Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

It essentially takes the Naira onchain, making it programmable, borderless, and faster to move, but in a way that pleases God and the Feds, making it safe and legal for businesses and individuals to use.

A stablecoin is an onchain asset or currency whose value is pegged or tied to reserve assets like gold or fiat currencies such as the US dollar, making them efficient programmable versions of these assets.

However, stablecoins are mostly USD-centric, with dollar-pegged stablecoins like USDC, DAI and USDT controlling over 94 percent share of the market cap, which creates an over-reliance on the dollar. This has given rise to local stablecoins like cNGN and IDRX, which are pegged to local currencies like the Naira and the Indonesian Rupiah, respectively.

Local stablecoins allow countries, especially those in emerging markets, to join the global onchain economy without relinquishing monetary sovereignty to the US dollar. cNGN is the first from Africa to be regulated by its country's securities and exchange commission.

cNGN is developed by the Africa Stablecoin Consortium (ASC), which comprises top-tier financial institutions and blockchain experts across its five African member states. The consortium's objective is to transform the continent's financial landscape by integrating secure and compliant virtual assets with traditional financial systems.

cNGN is its pilot stablecoin and is minted when a registered merchant deposits Naira on the official platform, cngn.co. An equivalent amount of cNGN is then generated at a 1:1 ratio with the Nigerian Naira on the merchant's chosen blockchain.

Supported blockchains include Base, Bantu blockchain, BSC, Assetchain, Ethereum, and others.

The value of every stablecoin is tied to its ability to maintain a consistent value relative to the asset it's pegged to. For cNGN, this is achieved through its fiat-collateralization model: for every cNGN in circulation, there's an equivalent verifiable amount of Naira in the bank (reserve account). For example, if there are 50 million cNGN circulating, there must be 50 million Naira in the bank.

The company publishes daily proof of funds on their website. As of the time of this writing, there are 163.5 million worth of cNGN in circulation, matched or exceeded by money held in reserves.

The most obvious use cases and benefits of cNGN include cross-border payments and instant remittances and settlement, just like its older dollar counterparts, USDC and USDT. This is especially valuable for businesses and individuals who deal with customers and family/friends outside Nigeria but want to encourage smooth and easy ways to pay or send Naira.

Another important use case is serving as a rail or gateway for onchain products and companies expanding into the Nigerian market and integrating the Naira, particularly as they can't integrate with Web2 solutions like Paystack and Flutterwave's APIs.

As Damilare Aregbesola, Base's West Africa Lead, puts it, "cNGN facilitates or helps with processing crypto-to-Naira conversions for companies expanding into Nigeria."

A major bottleneck to adoption for digital assets like cNGN in Nigeria is trust and security. While it's easier for younger people who are the bulk adopters of the onchain economy in the region, for the general populace — if cNGN aims to be embraced by the mass market — trust around a digital naira will be crucial.

Will it always maintain its peg to the Naira, and are people's funds secure and safe?

Concerns about safety are addressed by the regulatory oversight of the Nigerian SEC. Being compliant means cNGN operates under a defined legal and regulatory framework as one of five firms from the  SEC’s Regulatory Incubation program. 

The SEC Regulatory Incubation Program was created to assess the business models of Digital Assets firms and test innovative products, services and technology in a real-time market environment under close supervision by the SEC. 

In other words, cNGN operates under defined rules designed to protect adopters, users, and investors.

A crucial aspect of this is the transparency around cNGN reserve backing through its daily public reports, which show that every cNGN in circulation is backed by money in licensed banks. Independent audits are also conducted and published quarterly to confirm that the supply of cNGN tokens doesn't exceed the cNGN reserve assets (money in bank), and these are published to ensure transparency and trust.

The last published audit report showed that cNGN tokens in circulation totalled 152,456,049 and the value of assets in reserve was ₦152,508,045. This was as of March 31st. The total amount in reserve and circulation has now increased to around 165M according to the cNGN website.

Getting on the cNGN bus is pretty easy and straightforward if you're already familiar with buying stablecoins like USDT and USDC. The easiest method is through regulated central exchanges (CEX) like Busha and Quidax — both allow you to buy, sell, and trade cNGN. You can also get cNGN on Coinbase.

Licensed merchants can also purchase cNGN directly on the cNGN platform.

While cNGN enables cross-border payments involving Naira, businesses and individuals who receive money can easily off-ramp to Naira on the licensed exchanges mentioned above.

cNGN is also available on different DEXes on its supported blockchains; you can get it on Aerodrome, Base's primary liquidity hub.

Please subscribe to receive more Base Yaps every week!

Launched as the first regulated Nigerian stablecoin, cNGN represents Nigeria's evolving financial landscape, bridging the gap between digital assets and traditional finance, while also reflecting the government's relaxation around cryptocurrency. 

The cNGN is a local stablecoin designed to maintain a 1:1 value to the Nigerian Naira (NGN), i.e. meaning 1 cNGN will always equal 1 Naira. It is regulated by Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

It essentially takes the Naira onchain, making it programmable, borderless, and faster to move, but in a way that pleases God and the Feds, making it safe and legal for businesses and individuals to use.

A stablecoin is an onchain asset or currency whose value is pegged or tied to reserve assets like gold or fiat currencies such as the US dollar, making them efficient programmable versions of these assets.

However, stablecoins are mostly USD-centric, with dollar-pegged stablecoins like USDC, DAI and USDT controlling over 94 percent share of the market cap, which creates an over-reliance on the dollar. This has given rise to local stablecoins like cNGN and IDRX, which are pegged to local currencies like the Naira and the Indonesian Rupiah, respectively.

Local stablecoins allow countries, especially those in emerging markets, to join the global onchain economy without relinquishing monetary sovereignty to the US dollar. cNGN is the first from Africa to be regulated by its country's securities and exchange commission.

cNGN is developed by the Africa Stablecoin Consortium (ASC), which comprises top-tier financial institutions and blockchain experts across its five African member states. The consortium's objective is to transform the continent's financial landscape by integrating secure and compliant virtual assets with traditional financial systems.

cNGN is its pilot stablecoin and is minted when a registered merchant deposits Naira on the official platform, cngn.co. An equivalent amount of cNGN is then generated at a 1:1 ratio with the Nigerian Naira on the merchant's chosen blockchain.

Supported blockchains include Base, Bantu blockchain, BSC, Assetchain, Ethereum, and others.

The value of every stablecoin is tied to its ability to maintain a consistent value relative to the asset it's pegged to. For cNGN, this is achieved through its fiat-collateralization model: for every cNGN in circulation, there's an equivalent verifiable amount of Naira in the bank (reserve account). For example, if there are 50 million cNGN circulating, there must be 50 million Naira in the bank.

The company publishes daily proof of funds on their website. As of the time of this writing, there are 163.5 million worth of cNGN in circulation, matched or exceeded by money held in reserves.

The most obvious use cases and benefits of cNGN include cross-border payments and instant remittances and settlement, just like its older dollar counterparts, USDC and USDT. This is especially valuable for businesses and individuals who deal with customers and family/friends outside Nigeria but want to encourage smooth and easy ways to pay or send Naira.

Another important use case is serving as a rail or gateway for onchain products and companies expanding into the Nigerian market and integrating the Naira, particularly as they can't integrate with Web2 solutions like Paystack and Flutterwave's APIs.

As Damilare Aregbesola, Base's West Africa Lead, puts it, "cNGN facilitates or helps with processing crypto-to-Naira conversions for companies expanding into Nigeria."

A major bottleneck to adoption for digital assets like cNGN in Nigeria is trust and security. While it's easier for younger people who are the bulk adopters of the onchain economy in the region, for the general populace — if cNGN aims to be embraced by the mass market — trust around a digital naira will be crucial.

Will it always maintain its peg to the Naira, and are people's funds secure and safe?

Concerns about safety are addressed by the regulatory oversight of the Nigerian SEC. Being compliant means cNGN operates under a defined legal and regulatory framework as one of five firms from the  SEC’s Regulatory Incubation program. 

The SEC Regulatory Incubation Program was created to assess the business models of Digital Assets firms and test innovative products, services and technology in a real-time market environment under close supervision by the SEC. 

In other words, cNGN operates under defined rules designed to protect adopters, users, and investors.

A crucial aspect of this is the transparency around cNGN reserve backing through its daily public reports, which show that every cNGN in circulation is backed by money in licensed banks. Independent audits are also conducted and published quarterly to confirm that the supply of cNGN tokens doesn't exceed the cNGN reserve assets (money in bank), and these are published to ensure transparency and trust.

The last published audit report showed that cNGN tokens in circulation totalled 152,456,049 and the value of assets in reserve was ₦152,508,045. This was as of March 31st. The total amount in reserve and circulation has now increased to around 165M according to the cNGN website.

Getting on the cNGN bus is pretty easy and straightforward if you're already familiar with buying stablecoins like USDT and USDC. The easiest method is through regulated central exchanges (CEX) like Busha and Quidax — both allow you to buy, sell, and trade cNGN. You can also get cNGN on Coinbase.

Licensed merchants can also purchase cNGN directly on the cNGN platform.

While cNGN enables cross-border payments involving Naira, businesses and individuals who receive money can easily off-ramp to Naira on the licensed exchanges mentioned above.

cNGN is also available on different DEXes on its supported blockchains; you can get it on Aerodrome, Base's primary liquidity hub.

Please subscribe to receive more Base Yaps every week!