Nigeria’s first regulatory-approved stablecoin, cNGN, is vying for listings on African crypto exchanges to drive wider adoption.
While the Africa Stablecoin Consortium (ASC), the token’s developer, has initiated discussions with Roqqu and Yellow Card, neither platform has committed to listing it.
Despite cNGN’s approval under Nigeria’s SEC Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme (ARIP) and its availability on Busha and Quidax, its wider adoption hinges on securing listings on platforms with a pan-African reach. Without that, the stablecoin’s use in remittances and cross-border transactions is still not certain.
Jason Marshall, chief operating officer of Yellow Card, acknowledged ASC’s regulatory approval but stressed that listing decisions require more than compliance. “We have a lot of respect for any project that has been admitted to Nigeria’s SEC Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme (ARIP); we take it seriously,” he said. However, he noted that Yellow Card is selective, with a focus on demand, financial reserves, and compliance.
“Before we would consider a coin most times, they would have raised the equivalent of ₦50 billion ($32.5 million) in capital reserves and have an accounting firm sign a document saying it validates those reserves,” Marshall explained. “We would expect them to be well-capitalised to back the coin.”
The main challenge for cNGN isn’t just getting listed, but proving that users actually want it. In Nigeria, digital transactions via traditional banking channels are already fast and cheap. This makes some exchanges sceptical about the stablecoin’s domestic relevance.
“For domestic use cases within Nigeria, I’m not sure because the Naira is already digital,” Marshall admitted. “The Nigerian bank transfer system is very advanced; transfers are instant and low-cost, but we’re open-minded to domestic use cases—we’re just unsure as of yet.”
Roqqu’s CEO, Eseoghene Onomor, also confirmed talks with ASC but noted the same concerns. “These things take time,” he said. “It’s not enough to list a coin or token on your platform. It has to be something that people want. Not everyone is seeing the value of the cNGN right now, because adoption is low, but I see its value.”
This brings a catch-22 for ASC: without exchange listings, cNGN’s adoption will be slow, however, exchanges want evidence of demand before listing it.
While the stablecoin’s likelihood to enable seamless swaps between African currencies exists, its immediate viability is still questioned Unless it gains stronger institutional backing or a clear market need emerges, Nigeria’s first compliant stablecoin could remain on the sidelines of Africa’s crypto economy.
