The Africa Stablecoin Consortium (ASC), the developers of Nigeria’s first regulatory-approved stablecoin, cNGN, have held early talks with Roqqu and Yellow Card, two prominent African crypto exchanges, to secure listings for the Naira-backed token.
While both companies confirmed the discussions, neither platform has committed to listing the stablecoin.
ASC did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
cNGN has secured listings on Busha and Quidax, the two provisionally licenced Nigerian exchanges. Yet, expanding to more platforms—especially those with a pan-African presence—is critical for its remittance use case. Without firm commitments from major exchanges, its growth remains uncertain.
The reluctance poses a challenge to cNGN’s adoption, which hinges on exchange support, but exchanges are hesitant to do so without proven demand. The stablecoin, designed to facilitate remittances and cross-border transactions, risks stagnation in a market where digital Naira transfers are already widely accessible.
“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,” said Jason Marshall, Yellow Card COO. “But we are very selective about the coins we list.”
Yellow Card currently lists 14 tokens, six of which are stablecoins. Marshall cited market demand, financial backing, and compliance as key factors in the company’s listing decisions.
“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,” said Marshall. “We would expect them to be well-capitalised to back the coin.”
While ASC envisions cNGN as a bridge for African remittances, allowing users to swap it for other stablecoins like a Kenyan Shilling-backed token (cKES), Marshall remains unconvinced about its domestic use.
“I think of the cNGN as a two-way street,” he said. “For domestic use cases within Nigeria, I’m not sure because the Naira is already digital. 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.”
Eseoghene Onomor, CEO of Roqqu, a Nigerian crypto exchange, confirmed discussions with cNGN’s developers but echoed concerns about market demand.
“These things take time,” said Onomor. “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.”
The ASC faces a chicken-and-egg problem: cNGN needs exchange listings to drive adoption, but exchanges want proof of demand before listing it. Without stronger institutional backing and clear utility, Nigeria’s first compliant stablecoin could struggle to gain a foothold in a market where crypto users remain sceptical.
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