Nigerian authorities are in talks to develop a digital economic zone focused on crypto and blockchain-related businesses in partnership with Binance. The Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, in its latest blog post, revealed that the proposed digital hub will be similar to Dubai’s virtual free zone.
As such, the crypto exchange is holding talks preliminary discussions with and technology infrastructure company Talent City to build the country’s ambitious “Virtual Free Zone” that is expected to help entrepreneurs accelerate blockchain technology in the West African nation.
The discussions between Binance’s Executive Director, Business Development & Strategic Partnerships, Nadeem Ladki, and NEPZA’s Managing Director, Adesoji Adesugba, are still in the early stages.
Commenting on the partnership, the latter stated,
“We seek to break new grounds to widen economic opportunities for our citizens in line with the mandate of the Authority, the directive of the Honourable Minister, and the economic development agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari.”
Adesugba further added that the end goal is to “engender a flourishing virtual free zone to take advantage of a near trillion dollar virtual economy in blockchains and digital economy.”
Despite the crash in asset prices last year, Nigeria has shown more interest in crypto than any other nation. As per a study conducted by CoinGecko, Nigeria emerged as the most crypto-curious nation across the globe. It was found that the residents of the country are most inclined to “buy the dip” and have primarily entered the digital asset space for the long term.
Binance’s latest move follows a similar collaboration with the South Korean city of Busan established earlier this year. The CZ-led platform signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Busan to help the city build its blockchain ecosystem and promote the Busan Digital Asset Exchange.
Under the agreement, Busan will be able to leverage Binance’s technological and infrastructure support for the development of its blockchain ecosystem. On the other hand, the exchange will use Busan’s blockchain regulatory-free zone to advance blockchain initiatives and businesses and simultaneously offer specialized blockchain education and online resources from Binance Academy.