This week, I introduced NGNb, and Dr. Samuel-Biyi made the case for why tokenised Nigerian markets need it. Both posts raise the question we are sure most people will ask: why launch a Naira token when one already exists?
We have thought about that longer than most, because Busha was there at the start of cNGN. In February 2025 we became the first exchange to list it, and we minted and redeemed it for our users. NGNb is not a vote against other Naira stablecoins. It is a vote for the Naira becoming a real onchain currency, which no single token can do alone.
One dollar, many tokens
Look at how the dollar went onchain. It did not happen through one issuer. Tether, Circle, Paxos and others each issue dollar tokens, with different reserve structures, banking partners, chains and customers. That variety is a strength. Markets can choose, issuers compete on transparency and redemption speed, and no single bank account, operational failure or regulatory event can freeze the whole onchain dollar.
Naira deserves the same resilience. One issuer means one set of banking partners, one redemption desk and one point of failure for every business that builds on it. Two credible issuers, both fully reserved and both redeemable at par, make the onchain Naira safer to build on, not more fragmented.
Built for a specific job
NGNb is designed above all to be the naira settlement asset for tokenised markets.
NGNb puts the naira on the same network as the asset, so both legs of a trade settle together. A fund can take subscriptions, pay distributions and process redemptions in NGNb. An exchange can settle with another venue on a Sunday. A remittance company can hold its Naira leg onchain and pay out to a bank account by API when the transfer is due.
What we bring as an issuer
We have been moving naira for Nigerians since 2019. That gives NGNb two things from its first day.
Distribution: NGNb is available on Busha at launch, alongside the partners who join us.
Redemption: NGNb can be burned for naira in a Nigerian bank account, or for USDT, USDC, cNGN or NGNT, by API and on published terms.
Open, not owned
Busha issues NGNb, but a settlement asset only works if the whole market can use it, including our competitors. Any compliant exchange, wallet, fintech or protocol can integrate NGNb on the same terms we use ourselves.
We also want NGNb and other stablecoins to sit side by side, interoperable.
What NGNb is not
NGNb is not a savings product and pays no interest. It does not protect anyone from Naira depreciation: one NGNb is one Naira, today and tomorrow. Holders who want a return can use NGNb to buy regulated investment products from licensed partners, but the return comes from those products, not from NGNb.
Held to a high standard
Every NGNb is backed by Naira-denominated reserve assets of equal value, held with regulated institutions and kept separate from Busha's operating funds. Circulation is read directly from the networks, and reserves are examined by an independent firm and published regularly. Nigeria's SEC has published draft rules that would require Naira-backed stablecoins to hold at least 100% reserves and meet liquidity and stress-testing standards. We welcome that direction, and we built NGNb to meet it.
More Naira onchain
The onchain Naira is still small. Its real competition is not another Naira token. It is bank cut-offs, prefunded floats and dollar conversions forced onto Naira obligations. Every credible Naira token makes that case easier to win.
If you run an exchange, wallet, fund, payments business or protocol and want to mint, list, settle or pay out in Naira, we would like to hear from you. Register your interest at ngnb.co.
Naira is onchain. Let's build on it.
Michael Adeyeri
Co-founder & CEO, Busha