Many countries are widely accepting cryptocurrencies in different means. After European countries, the Middle East Region has welcomed digital currencies by granting leading exchanges licenses and accepting crypto payments in various shops.
Recently, the Central African Republic has taken the first step toward accepting cryptocurrency. And the act is quite bold as it has announced the first cryptocurrency as an official currency for the country; the presidency announced it on Wednesday. The Central African Republic is the first country in the African continent and the second nation on the earth that has accepted any digital currency as its official one.
The African authorizations have used numerous approaches to regulate digital currencies and blockchain technology. The Nigerian Central Bank banned local banks from dealing with virtual currency and launched its individual digital currency named eNaira.
On the other hand, the future of cryptocurrencies seems bright in South Africa. South African regulators have long taken the responsibility to explore the potential regulation of digital currencies and blockchain technologies. Tanzanian Central Bank also confirmed that it worked on a presidential ordinance to set up digital currencies.
The Central African Republic has rich reserves of gold and diamonds, but it still ranks among the world’s most impoverished and least-developed nations. A series of rebel violence has also beaten the country for many years now.
The Central African Republic parliament unanimously adopted a bill about using digital currency last week. It released a statement signed by Mr. Obed Namiso, the Chief of President Staff. The President, Mr. Faustin Archange Touadera, supports this bill believing that it will enhance the financial conditions of the people of the Central African Republic. However, he did not take the time to elaborate his statement.
According to the statement by the President, he believes the step of adopting cryptocurrency is a decisive movement to expose new opportunities for the country. Likewise, the Central African Republic is among the six countries that make use of the BEAC-governed regional currency- the CFA franc.
However, the two former prime ministers of the Central African Republic have some concerns over the latest imitative of the government. Last week, they signed a letter to document their concerns about the acceptance of bitcoin as an official currency without involving the Bank of Central African States and called it a serious offense.
At the same time, the BEAC noticed the public passing of the latest law on digital currency in the Central African Republic, the spokesman of BEAC said. The bank hasn’t received an official response up till now. Before the Central African Republic, EI Salvador was the first country to adopt bitcoin as the official currency in 2021. However, scepticism hampered the roll-out, and it postponed the proposed bitcoin bond last month amid international market chaos.
