Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says it has become urgent for central banks worldwide to adopt blockchain technology.

Mr Osinbajo made this submission in his keynote address at the third edition of the Nigeria Digital Economy Summit (NDES) on Monday in Abuja.

Speaking on the theme “Web 3.0, Blockchain and DeFi: Impact of Africa’s Digital Economy,” Mr Osinbajo cautioned that blockchain technology—which allows digital information and transactional records to be securely stored and distributed–might disrupt central banking globally if not absorbed into the system.

He said it had become necessary for Nigeria to broaden the scope of banking licences further to accommodate more players in the financial mediation value chain.

“Even central banks all over the world will have to rethink their roles since blockchain will challenge the centralisation of monetary authority with its clear imperfections.

“ Who knows? We might actually be in the last days of the central banking system as we know it.

“We are certainly, in my own view, in the last of the central banking system, which means the space is open for all sorts of innovation in the central banking space.’’

He said from a policy perspective in Nigeria, there might be another expansion of the range of banking licenses available to enable more players in the financial mediation value chain.

According to Mr Osinbajo, clear rules must be set to support crypto markets and trading in other digital assets.

He said it was evident that the same old banking licences that were in use were no longer tenable.

“In the past, there was only one type of banking licence that cost N25 billion; but in the past few years, these are excellent policy changes that took place with a lot of pressure from young men and women in the tech and entertainment space.

“The CBN has modified, and there are different types of banking licences, which is why we have fintechs, the unicorns because they are using different cadres of CBN licence that do not require N25 billion share capital.

“So, for example, Kuda and several others have a different type of licence—Fluterwave, Paystack although they are in some form of banking or the other.

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

According to him, one thing that needs to be done is to change the regulatory atmosphere.

He said that in terms of regulation, what should be done was to look more at taxes.

Earlier, in his opening remarks, Lanre Osibona, founder, Foresight Group, said digital transformation was a formidable force for change in Nigeria.

(NAN)