Osinbajo tasks Central Banks on Blockchain Technology inclusion

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has called on the Central Banks of Nigeria to open up its scope of banking operations so as to accommodate more players, especially from the blockchain technology financial services.

The Vice President, while delivering a keynote address at the third edition of the Nigeria Digital Economy Summit with the theme: “Web3.0, Blockchain, and Defi: Impact of Africa’s Digital Economy”, tasked central banks around the world to adopt blockchain technology.  

Is blockchain technology posing any threat to the central banking system?

Professor Osinbajo in his keynote address said blockchain technology might disrupt central banking globally, in the near future, if it was not absorbed into the system, adding that “from a policy perspective, there may be a need to expand the range of banking licenses available to enable more players in the financial mediation value chain”.

He also expressed his fear that the world “might actually be in the last days of the central banking system”, with a possibility of being overtaken by blockchain technology if not adopted into the system.

What else did Osinbajo say?

 Osinbajo revealed that the old banking licenses that were in use in the past, which cost about 25 billion naira as share capital, were no longer tenable. But the new CBN modified banking licenses have seen the emergence of fintech and unicorns which do not require that amount of money as share capital, adding that more needs to be done.

“With the new iteration, with web 3, we have to rethink and create other types of licenses that are much cheaper so that more participants can come into the space,” Osinbajo said.