Ecowas May Be Considering the Use Of Cryptocurrency For to Facilitate Trade

The Economic Community of West Africa may be considering the adoption of cryptocurrency according to a publication by local media in Nigeria.

Not much information has been released either by the ECOWAS or the local media but the adoption of cryptocurrency could spur cheaper and faster means of inter-country commerce.

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Already, the Nigerian Central Bank has noted plans to launch a cryptocurrency backed by the Banker’s bank – a CBDC and this is expected according to the announcement of the Bank to go live by December.

The ECOWAS has been looking to adopt a single currency – ECO for its member countries which will enable easy and efficient trade between member countries as well as booster economic growth and development.

The idea of a single currency was brought up in the 2003 and over the years, it has suffered delays. In a recent meeting, it was revealed the currency to go live in 6 years, 2027.

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It was gathered that the launch of ECO was supposed to launch this year, 2021 but due to the postponed due to the challenge posed by the global coronavirus pandemic.

“Due to the shock of the pandemic, the heads of state had decided to suspend the implementation of the convergence pact in 2020-2021,” Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, president of the ECOWAS Commission.

It is unclear if with the intention to adopt cryptocurrency for trade facilitation by the community of nations would work with the ECO and if the timetable will be readjusted to reflect the adoption of cryptocurrency, yet, with the growing conversation around the adoption of Central Bank Digital Currency globally, the entire population across the 15-nation organization will have to wait to see what will become of these endeavours.