Following the confusion that surrounded initial reports, a
senior staffer in the Central African Republic (CAR)’s presidency has
now confirmed that bitcoin will become the country’s reference currency.
First Country in Africa to Officially Adopt Bitcoin
A press statement supposedly issued by the office of the Presidency
of the Central African Republic (CAR) appeared to confirm reports by
multiple media outlets suggesting that the bill passed by the National
Assembly not only proposes to govern cryptocurrencies but recognizes
bitcoin as a reference currency.
In a statement
posted on Facebook, Obed Namsio, the chief of staff, said President
Faustin Archange Touadera’s government will support all necessary
efforts that allow the country to “carry out this approach that places
the Central Africa Republic on the map of the most courageous and
visionary countries in the world.”
Namsio said with this move the CAR had become the first country on
the African continent to adopt bitcoin as a reference currency. Lauding
the move, Namsio said:
We are going on a new path that will mark a new milestone
for our country while being aware of the difficulties we will have to
face to continue our mission.
The chief of staff’s statement, however, appeared to contradict an
earlier report by Bloomberg suggesting the bill passed had only gone as
far as to propose the creation of a cryptocurrency regulator.
Conflicting Reports
In the report,
Hervé Ndoba, the minister in charge of finance and budget, is quoted
insisting the CAR is not about to follow in the footsteps of El
Salvador, which became the first country to introduce bitcoin as legal
tender. Rather, the proposed legislation only seeks to establish a
regulatory framework, the report quotes minister stating.
While
the release of the French language statement is expected to end the
confusion which followed the initial report which said the country had
adopted bitcoin, Useful Tulips’ peer-to-peer bitcoin volume data
starting in 2020 suggests interest in the crypto had been growing. In
fact, by the end of September 2021, the CAR had, according to the data, become the country with the fifth-highest P2P volumes in Africa.
Bitcoin ‘Undefeated’
Meanwhile, the news and Namsio’s apparent confirmation of CAR’s
decision have delighted players in the crypto community. In comments
shared with Bitcoin.com News, Christos Krokides of ARK36, a crypto hedge
fund, said:
“Bitcoin adoption continues undefeated by any geopolitical or
financial global matters. Even in such uncertain times, the Central
African Republic (CAR) adopted bitcoin as a legal tender marking yet
another big step toward a global digital transformation. This initiative
will completely transform the CAR’s digital infrastructure, which is
now considered underdeveloped, by applying the blockchain technological
innovation necessary for the project’s implementation.”
Ransu Salovaara, the CEO of Likvidi, said that as “bitcoin gets
bigger and bigger, it will become also more stable and that will speed
up the government level adaptation even more.”
However, others like Anthony Oduu, the co-founder and CTO at
cross-border payment platform Verto, said a wider adoption of the crypto
will depend on attitudes as well as how the country improves its
infrastructure, elaborating:
“Country-wide adoption will be very much dependent upon the
performance of infrastructure and locals’ attitudes towards the
currency. The Central African Republic does not have the best standard
of telecommunications and digital infrastructure. In 2021, internet
penetration was around 10% and mobile connections were available to just
30% of the population.”
According to Oduu, the CAR needs to invest significantly in
infrastructure in order to make digital currencies accessible to the
entire population.
source link : https://news.bitcoin.com/central-africa-republic-has-adopted-bitcoin-as-reference-currency-office-of-presidency/
