The Naira Is Going Onchain. We’re Joining the Race.

When we started Busha, our ambition was to make digital assets more accessible to Africans. That ambition has since grown into something much bigger: making money, in all its forms, easier to access, move and use.

Today, I'm pleased to introduce NGNb, a Naira-backed stablecoin we're building at Busha to bring the Nigerian Naira onto blockchain networks.

We're not the first to do this. cNGN has already helped establish the market for tokenised Naira, and we previously supported it on Busha. But I believe we're still at the very beginning of what local currency stablecoins can make possible, and we're excited to join the race.

Between building Busha and undertaking my doctoral research at IE Business School, I've spent much of the past decade exploring the economics of tokenisation. One of the central findings from my research was that tokenisation doesn't necessarily change the value of an asset. What it changes is how that value moves, how frequently it circulates, and who can access it.

We've seen this play out remarkably well with US Dollar stablecoins like USDT and USDC. They've become an important part of global financial markets, particularly in emerging economies like Nigeria, where they help people save, trade and move money across borders. But the benefits of tokenised money need not be limited to the US Dollar.

Consider what happens as more Nigerian financial instruments become tokenised. If you want to buy a tokenised Nigerian Treasury bill, invest in a Naira-denominated fund, or settle a transaction involving Nigerian equities onchain, you shouldn't need to route your payment through a Dollar stablecoin first.

More importantly, consider what this could mean for international participation in Nigerian financial markets. Today, a financial institution, investment fund or market maker operating outside Nigeria may need to navigate local banking relationships, account requirements, currency conversion and settlement arrangements to participate in Naira-denominated markets. These processes create costs and operational friction that can discourage participation, particularly for smaller institutions and newer entrants.

Now imagine those same financial instruments tokenised and traded against NGNb on blockchain networks. A fund manager in London, a market maker in Singapore or a financial institution elsewhere in Africa could potentially access Nigerian financial instruments, acquire tokenised Naira through an integrated liquidity provider, and settle transactions onchain. They could also avoid the additional conversion steps, spreads and settlement risks that may arise from using US Dollar stablecoins as intermediaries for Naira-denominated transactions.

The relevant investment, foreign-exchange and compliance requirements would still apply, and investors would remain exposed to movements in the Naira's value. But the infrastructure required to access and transact in Nigerian markets could become considerably simpler.

This is what excites me most about NGNb. Beyond giving Nigerians another way to hold and transfer Naira, it could provide a new route for capital from around the world to participate in Nigerian financial markets, bringing additional liquidity and potentially broadening the investor base for locally denominated assets. Businesses, payment providers and financial institutions could also use tokenised Naira for settlement, treasury operations and transactions across compatible platforms.

Each NGNb is designed to represent one Nigerian Naira, backed by corresponding Naira-denominated reserves. Our ambition is to make it a reliable and widely accessible settlement instrument that other exchanges, fintechs, financial institutions and developers can build around, not merely another asset listed on Busha.

It also fits naturally into what we're building with Busha 3.0: a broader financial platform bringing together savings, lending, payments, trading and, increasingly, tokenised traditional financial assets. As more of these assets move onchain, we need local-currency infrastructure to support them.

Of course, NGNb won't determine the Naira's value against the Dollar, nor will it solve Nigeria's monetary challenges. Those are questions of economic fundamentals and policy. Its usefulness will also depend on trust, transparent reserves, reliable redemption and meaningful adoption. What it can do is make the Naira more useful in an increasingly digital and interconnected financial system.

I believe the next chapter of tokenisation will bring much more of the existing financial system onchain, from currencies and government securities to equities and other real-world assets. If that future is going to be genuinely global, local currencies and the financial markets built around them deserve a place in it too.

That's why we're building NGNb.

Learn more at ngnb.co.