Bitcoin Forum

I heard rumors that Uganda or some other country is adopting Bitcoin as its official currency. Does not make sense to me at all for a country to adopt a currency it has absolutely no control over. I am not 100% sure but I think they don't have internet or electricity down there. In any case, the Central Bank would have to first make a reserve which means they would have to buy Bitcoins first before just adopting it. Anyway, would be dope if some country officially adopted Bitcoin!

Any clearer information on what country is it? I'm not sure if that would be a good idea for a still developing country. I mean, the price of bitcoin can change quite quickly, how are they going to adjust for that?

Bitcoin being recognized as a legal tender alongside the official fiat would be a better setup in the meantime, I suppose.

Since its still a rumour as you have rightly connoted, then I will take it as such. But the argument that it does not make sense at all is where I will like to address and the fact is that it does not need to make sense to you because I am sure that for a country to adopt bitcoin, they must have done proper analysis and understanding of how the currency works before embarking on such venture. Don't know rich the human content of the Ugandan government but I know a proper understanding and consultation would have been adequately done.

I do think it does not make sense too if some country will adopt it promptly without proper documentation, legalization and proposals.  Probably there is a proposals but unless there is a link to the article/news that telling about this adoption then, I believe this is just a hearsay thing.  Though, if this thing is true, then this is one great milestone for Bitcoin.

Sorry, but this is a little bit ridicule. am living in an african coutry which is considered more developped than Uganda + the 80 percent of african countries and i can tell you that this is impossible for our government or any other government to adopt bitcoin as official currency. i think this is even impossible for advanced countries in the world. there is a lot of obstacles as the large number of ignorant people and all the international financial treatements and many other dilemmas. Any african member in this forum can confirm what am talking about.

I imagine there is no Ugandian subscriber in bitcointalk.

If they have heard about the benefits of bitcoin then it is not strange as any entity which hear about the importance of bitcoin adopt it but the problem is that many areas of Africa do not have much facility especially the facilities of internet and electricity so they will face some hardship in the start while using it.

A quick Google search of the below terms yields no countries in Africa about to officially adopt Bitcoin:

"Africa, country, adopts, Bitcoin"

https://www.google.com/search?q=Africa%2C+country%2C+adopts%2C+Bitcoin&oq=Africa%2C+country%2C+adopts%2C+Bitcoin&aqs=chrome..69i57.9620j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Nigeria and Uganda are talking about it, but...

That is not good if really happens... Who wants to adopt it as primary currency will be the government, what means they will tax their people to use Bitcoins, what means less profit for the citizens and more profit for governments. Bitcoin should be used as it is now everywhere, people use it, use local currency, governments don't matter about it and everyone is happy...

Give me a break.  For one thing, it's a rumor.  The second thing is that any country that adopts a wildly-fluctuating currency as their own is asking for disaster.  Wouldn't surprise me if it was Uganda or one of those underdeveloped ones.  One with a stupid leader, leading them into catastrophe.  But I strongly doubt it's true in any event.

How are they gonna use BTC when they do not have internet, a tv nor smartphone..  ::)

Maybe it's just the issue, so that it becomes the talk of many people. I was not convinced that the country that don't have internet access can adopt bitcoin as its official currency.

If this is true then it will be a big news for bitcoin because i think this is the very first time for bitcoin to be adopted as a primary currency and i think the country of Africa needs a stable internet connection because if they don't have then it will be a disaster for them because how can they use bitcoin if they will not have internet connection and the most important question is, do they have knowledge about bitcoin?

Wow this is great. We all know that in africa there are poor countries, if they accepts bitcoin it would be nice and great ,it will help them in their needs. This could be a great news for us. Hopefully they can manage their earnings hee too. Im so happy for this news.

Rumour is just a rumour whereas I'm pretty doubt that country in africa, especially outside their capital city or atleast the countryside be able to use bitcoin due to lack of technology, i don't know the real situation there but as I've seen in media that in the countryside of many country in africa barely have electricity, it must be hardly be applicable in the whole country

For a country to adopt bitcoin as there primary currency, especially one without its lowest ranking citizens( based on income) to be able to own technology would be extremely illogical. The two main reasons this can't be true are that a country with a primary currency it has no control over would be very much reliant on what ifs and would have no economical sense of security. The second reason is that how are you going to open up shop wanting people to buy stuff from you but primarily want bitcoin as the purchasing currency when you have to have technology in order to use btc and your entire economical environment doesn't have the means to use a bitcoin wallet? wtf? seriously...

They are not adopting bitcoin as a currency, but there are lot of small/very small/individual companies that take the advantages of using bitcoin.
Just like any shop add different payment processors to their site

Highly unlikely that of all the countries in Africa, Uganda will lead the bitcoin revolution there. You good infrastructure like internet to fully maximized the potential of bitcoin and I don't think Uganda has this kind of the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities yet needed for the operation of a bitcoin technology there. So this is fake news and rumors only.

Source or you're just posting lies.

If you don't have the source at least tell us how your heard about it?
At 4 am after you  had 8 beers and two joints and the pink wabbit that was making popcorn on your sofa told you?

And now seriously
Uganda?

75% Ugandans have no access to power
http://www.monitor.co.ug/Business/Technology/75--Ugandans-have-no-access-to-power/688612-1525390-wa1q42z/index.html

I think they should do something about this before thinking of going full bitcoin.



Forget internet and smartphones, they don't have water and electricity.

To me that sounds like a hoax.
Uganda is not know to be leading when it comes to technical developements of any kind.
30% of the people there can not even read or write (says wikipedia). How should they understand how bitcoin works?
Then again, its a middle african country. Governments in that part of the world have done stranger things in the past...

Rumors, that is exactly what you heard. There is no news about this case.

Why not? Some countries are using currency not controlled by their central bank/government: Ecuador, El Salvador, Zimbabwe all are using US Dollar.
It is not about control, it is about stability and faith in the strength of the currency they adopted. Bitcoin can offer the same.

Liberland wants to adopt Bitcoin as it's legitimate currency,so why not other countries ADOPT it also? It may be more realistic for each country, whether African or from another continent, to create it's own DIGITAL parallel currency, to run alongside FIAT, OR to replace it completely..This is more viable I think personally than to use Bitcoin as a national currency. Maybe African countries are looking to the blockchain for solutions, but mightcarve out their own unique altcoin or crypto token and not necessarily adopt Bitcoin as their national currency.

As others have said already, small countries (or countries with incompetent or out of hand rogue government) are in fact using currencies of other countries. Most often that would be the US dollar, but it is not the only pebble out there. For example, Russian ruble is used in a few satellite countries as well (like Abkhazia or South Ossetia). Apart from that, just a little over a hundred years ago most countries were on the gold standard, i.e. gold was money and that made sense somehow

I guess Zimbabwe should adopt Bitcoin instead of the US dollar

Not even sure how much this is true or just plainly stupid. Think about this, in a country where people are even fighting for food and their lives, do you really think there is a chance they can go on their smart phones and transfer bitcoins? I don't think so.

most of african countries was having civil wars and most of them also had Experiencing famine it always be the main problem for the majority countries at there and to utilization of bitcoin internet connections is necessary but these things is rare to get for the people on african countries basically slightly impossible to them using bitcoin and i don't think they will adopt bitcoin as the primary currency because it not to effective for people at there

They don't need btc reserves in order to adopt bitcoin as official currency.

Well Bitcoin is more needed in countries like these. People can use bitcoins and avoid taxes. Secondly they can find good jobs online in return of bitcoins. Bitcoins has changed many lives of people and it will continue to do so.

Actually, they need it. Their central bank must have bitcoin reserves so that every citizen can have bitcoin at any time they want. Banks there should have bitcoin ready to be accessed for the practicality of using bitcoin in a daily basis. Also for the purpose of bitcoin being rotated in their economy. Their government will not allow that they will not have any reserves due to the supply of bitcoin being low.

Yes bitcoin can help the poor but you are forgetting one vital thing in this and that us the internet . To the best of my knowledge, they still haven't fully adopted to the internet .  It's a good thing actually if it ever comes true cause once again bitcoin will be spread out . Its just that they should have a comprehensive learning on what bitcoin is before anything else .  To be honest there are many flaws that's why I also think that this is just a mere rumor .

I am from Africa and after analyze the curses of inflation and underdevelopment in most of the African countries is using Dollar to suppress African currencies by the western countries.  Adopting bitcoin as a mode of payment by African countries will suppress the infect on dollars on their Economic.

Adopting a recognized and legal currency is not that tough but bitcoins is tough to even regulate and manage as it's a virtual currency that works only online and that too it requires confirmations. It would be very tough to take over bitcoins and regulate this currency. The country would have to suffer in terms of collecting taxes and controlling the reserves which brings in more issues. The countries you mentioned were not capable enough to control the monetary policy. Also, the supply of bitcoins is limited.

The closest thing related to the OPs post is: http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/12/28/uganda-africa-bitcoin-regulations/ (http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/12/28/uganda-africa-bitcoin-regulations/) and this was half a year ago, so I don't know if he meant this article or another one maybe. :|

Every article is saying that there's an open field for implementing bitcoin but not that a specific african country has adopted it as a primary currency.

I am African and I agree with you, for Africans, this is impossible



I have not seen any yet, is there any member of uganda?

I think it's close to impossible. Bitcoin is to violate to be national currency for any country at this point of development.
A decision like this will ruin the whole import/export and many more.
Imagine you are buying oil/diamonds or whatever you find in Uganda and you get a pre-invoice. Then you have, for example, 7 days to pay it. Meanwhile the BTC price rises 20%. Will you pay it?? Or the priced drops by 20%. Will they honor your order??

I don't think that is good, bitcoin is not suitable to become primary currency, for short term maybe it's a good idea to maintain the country economic, but for long term it will create chaos and add a lot of new problem, like the price go up too quickly and the amount is not enough, so it is better not to used it as primary currency but as secondary currency

I am pretty sure that you’re just speculating that a part from Africa will be accepting Bitcoin as a Currency because the information would be all over the news and the price of Bitcoin would be much more volatile than it is right now. Knowing how much money the people within the African military and rebel Military area’s they won’t allow Bitcoin to become a Currency that easily, where would they put all that Fiat?

Do you have any credible sources for this? I highly doubt that any government would adopt a currency that they do not have control of as their national currency. The prospects of this happening is close to impossible. For bitcoin to become a national currency, the citizens in these countries would have to have access to computers and internet. how do you expect people to be able pay for goods and services with an internet currency in a third world country with limited access to computers and the internet?

This rumor has been going around the internet late last year. Its nothing to celebrate about. If a nation were to adopt Bitcoin for real then they would have to accept BTC payments for their taxes. If that doesnt happen, everything will stay the same no matter how you say its accepted.

For a country to adopt bitcoin as there primary currency, especially one without its lowest ranking citizens( based on income) to be able to own technology would be extremely illogical. The two main reasons this can't be true are that a country with a primary currency it has no control over would be very much reliant on what ifs and would have no economical sense of security. The second reason is that how are you going to open up shop wanting people to buy stuff from you but primarily want bitcoin as the purchasing currency when you have to have technology in order to use btc and your entire economical environment doesn't have the means to use a bitcoin wallet? wtf? seriously...

adopting bitcoin is not the same as adopting it as their "primary currency".
for that to happen, there should be a lot of prerequirements met before any country can do it. first thing is obviously access to internet, to computers or at least devices such as smart phones or anything similar to be able to hold a wallet on and spend bitcoin from them.

and apart from all of this, price needs to be stable. as stable as other fiat currencies such as USD, EUR,... so people can consider it.

that is why all these news, are either misinterpreting the situation or are talking about people adopting bitcoin as in buying it (mostly investing) and using it for their online payments, etc.

Very often it happens that the payment is processed for a long time in the blockchain. Accepting payment in bitcoin the seller can risk a cheap product, but to sell an expensive product under these conditions, no one will. On the other hand, the buyer will not risk paying for goods in advance. I think that when this problem will be solved the use of bitcoin will increase. Although I am still the official currency of bitcoin or not.

Uganda would be the first african country to regulate Bitcoin.If it regulates,it would be followed by kenya.In nigeria,due to failure of local currency,most people have started using bitcoins.Since africa is such a big continent having many countries,it would be much useful for bitcoin progress if they adopt bitcoin.

1.Uganda would be the first african country to regulate Bitcoin

Source?

2.If it regulates,it would be followed by kenya

Source , why?

3.In nigeria,due to failure of local currency,most people have started using bitcoins
Source ?

Show me a business with at least 10 customers a day paying in bitcoins in whole Africa please.

It seems that we are soon going to find out more about Ugandan bitcoins (in addition to Nigerian letters)

Apart from that, I basically agree with your approach, since accepting something as legal tender for payment of taxes and public debts is the least common denominator of what a genuine adoption by government should look like. That said, I am still somewhat doubtful that even accepting Bitcoin for payment of taxes and debts would make it an "official" currency. As to me, official currency would be that currency which is not only used for paying taxes and similar obligatory payments but also the one in which salaries of public employees are paid. I guess that would push much stronger toward official (read real and genuine) acceptance and adoption

I guess if that happen, it will become an additional edge and points again to all bitcoin fanatic to promote it as well to our friends in any place of the world. and besides Uganda is the first place in Africa that will adopt the system of bitcoin. ;)

I am sure, this is rumor only and not a fact! Uganda doesn’t have the infrastructure to adopt bitcoin as its official currency. They may adopt bitcoin for transactions but not surely as an official currency. Because they don’t have any control over it and they can’t generate bitcoin as per the requirement of their economy.

Not just Africa, I am sure no country would use bitcoin as an official currency. They can just accept bitcoin for their transaction by making it legal in their country. 

This is probably the problem for all poor countries. Even if they'd greatly benefit from that, they don't have the means of implementing it.
Now I was even thinking of how some charity can be made to teach them and operate a local mini bitcoin bank that will provide all the necessities for basic wallet operation, but the more I'm thinking of it, the more problems pop out.

It's simply too hard to implement something like bitcoin somewhere where the "basic" technology isn't implemented as much.

Adopting bitcoin is possible? Have read it correctly. I guess it would take a lot and lots of hard work and most importantly centralisation of bitcoins. If xyz country adopts bitcoin then they are going to regulate it and ultimately rest of the world will have to follow those regulations otherwise there won't be any meaning. If not, then just imagine I will own a currency of other country which may be crime as if I'm holding my money in the form of black money or performing acts of money laundering. May be I have fetched it a way lot but that is what it make sense to me.

Bitcoin adoption by a country is not feasible currently
- The value fluctuates wildly. It is not possible for shopkeepers to update prices on an hourly basis.
- How would the government control money supply and banks?

At best, it can function as an alternate currency along with fiat.

Not to mention, how the people in those countries buy stuff with bitcoin if the vendors dont have access to computers or internet? doesnt seem very feasible, not to mention, how would the Government trade with other governments who dont accept bitcoin? there are a lot of logistical problems with adoption bitcoin as an official currency.

Ok but how will they pay for their taxes? Do they still need to convert BTC to fiat? Regulation is different from primary acceptance. You should be careful what you wish for because it might happen like China again. You dont want your BTC stuck in an exchange do you?

I don’t agree. If there will be any country adopting and regulating the Bitcoin it will be Serilone in the African region I think.

There are many reasons for it to say and one of the most suitable reason is that there is a multi-cultural approach in that country. Many people from around the world are there and are serving various international organizations.   

That is quite untrue since Africas central bank has made a statement last year that they are studying bitcoin since they have seen its merits. And so it is also possible that bitcoin activities were already present in Uganda but since there is no official declaration from the government itself then we cannot really tell that Africa has already adopted bitcoins.

If it is true then I don't find it to be effective in them since they are just in developing state and not a lot of people knows how to access internet or don't have the ability to access internet. This is not a good thing really for them and how in the hell would the government get some taxes in there to be used to develop their country.

I don't know what Serilone is but I think you are referring to Sierra Leone.

How about you pick a country in which at least 20% of the population has access to electricity next?


Hey genius!!!!! Africa is a continent not a country.
The ACB will be completed in 2028.

I would guess thats true, that are talking about such an ideas.

Talking about solutions gives a misleading notion of helping with the troublesome sittuation. The less realistic the ideas of the talks, the better. They have more reason not to do anything that way.

Lets just leave it that way. Let them talk and discuss about it and let us forget they will do such an action.

I think you have mistaken a bit and the information that you are presenting here is not clear. I think it's just impossible to some country, especially in such region as Africa, would accept bitcoin as their main country. No way. But the case if some country there would legalize bitcoin and adopt it for payment - that have sense and sounds truly.

No country will never agree to accept bitcoins as the main currency. Agree to means to lose control over their own economies. Who would have thought it?

Yes, it is an alternative currency and it is happening now worldwide whether the country adopt and regulate or not. Bitcoin can go hand in hand with local currency or fiat, and only exchanges can mediate between the two and this exchanges can be regulate by government.

If Africa adopts btc, as a primary currency there is no difference with other country adopting it. Bitcoin is fast becoming a worldwide currency.

Wow if the African was adopted the Bitcoin as primary currency it is good to hear, but I was confused if what happened to the world if all nation and country were adopted the Bitcoin as primary currency. Do you think it was good to us? I think No because this is a digital currency never been touch so the risk of this was so very high due to there's a lot of hacker in the world they simply hack the account of every one to become rich. So if the African was adopted the Bitcoin it's a good luck to all of them if how they can handle that situation.

No country in Africa adopted bitcoin as it's primary currency, I couldn't find it anywhere on the web and it's highly unlikely that it will ever happen.

Well in general african some african locals do not have the access to internet daily and probably advertising it there would be hard but if Uganda can improve economically then chances are some of them can even try to adapt btc. Because btc is not taxable and the budget does not come from anyone and you will generate that without taxes instead of borrowing in some world banks.

as the OP mentioned they would need to buy huge amount in the first place to adopt bitcoi, this would make the value higher which would bring even more value to bitcoin due to panic buying

if then they were to issue those coins to their people through job, liek they do with fiat, i see no reason to believe that it won't work

the problem is that they first need a correct infrastructure to handle this, and without proper connection and security of their bank i see this an hard thing to do for a contry like that

another problem is that they need the fund at the beginning to buy all these coins to distribute to their citizens, and a poor africa country i doubt can have all these money...

First they will need electricity. Which Uganda does not have.
They will need access to the internet, they don't have it.
They need people who can read and write, currently the illiteracy rate in most of the countries is ridiculous.

How can somebody start investing in "infrastructure" when you have no roads no water pipes no... nothing.

Speaking of pipes, this is a pipe dream

whatever it is, if its true we must be happy for africa, bitcoin will help them in their everyday lives, it can help them to buy foods that they was been their most wanted , they can build shelter their house. it can buy also other stuffs that they are needed most.

Many african for sure will benefits with the opportunity of bitcoin.  Yes bitcoin help their lives because they have possible to earn with help of the bitcoin . They can now buy their foods, water and even their expenses everyday . We know that african country have not rich country they also developing and they have many people there are poor and dont have shelter . I hope those people see bitcoin and the people there who rich gives opportunity to the poor people to teach how to use and how to earn bitcoin because did not know bitcoin because they dont have internet .

They better adopt bitcoin as their currencies instead their offical currencies.

No I don't think so. Central bank of Uganda advises their citizens to stay away of bitcoin because she compares it with onecoin here (https://cointelegraph.com/news/uganda-bitcoin-queen-bank-of-uganda-warning-only-makes-bitcoin-popular). I see it extremely difficult any government of any country in the world even though it is very poor to accept is as official currency because this would be considered as a big failure for them.

However this news is not presenting the real scenario of Bitcoin in the African continent, but it's under consideration most of the African countries to approve Bitcoin as a currency. If it will be implemented according to the news then it'll be blessings for Bitcoin for spreading out everywhere. If they adopt it then other continent would be influenced to use Bitcoin as major currency for transaction.

I am agree with you here. This example and experience is going to be good for every country, to those who have the same plans already and to those who only think about it.

I agree with you in general, most people in Africa are too poor to use Bitcoin. Only 28% of African population use Internet and like you said many people have no power at all. However, there are countries, and Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Congo and South Africa are among them, where in big cities many people use Bitcoin already.

I agree, How can they use bitcoin while they don't have internet or smartphone. If there is one institution from africa as long as I know they use bitcoin for attracting donation all over the world. WHy, because when they use banking, they will find dificulties with beurocracy.

So far I know about that news, this is not representing the actual scenario of Bitcoin in the African continent. But some countries are taking it seriously to consider using Bitcoin as a currency. If it will happen then it would be great for Bitcoin.

This will be unheard of, a country adopting bitcoin as its official currency, but it is not that rare that another country adopted a currency they don’t control, some countries have adopted the US dollar as their official currency despite the fact they have no control over it.

Really? African country adopts Bitcoin as primary currency? I don't judge African people but most of them are very poor and not computer literate or whatsoever. But if it's true then it's good because as time passed by people are embracing cryptocurrency world which in fact has help it a lot and vice versa as well to the people who use it.

i personally have no idea about the economy of African countries, but the news that  i am hearing  about  them shows that they are not financially too much good, therefore i do not think that they can adopt bitcoin and can consider it as legal currency , may be in some part of African countries people may be using bitcoin but still they will be using is as an optional, because i do not think that there are any chances to use bitcoin for everything,

Well even though the majority of the African locals doesnt have access to internet but it will not be a hindrance to btc users in their country. But of course if we talk about using bitcoin as their primary currency that will be troublesome since internet access and computers or smartphones are needed to make transactions. But if they are decided the state could do something to make it possible.

Yes, many of them are very poor. But what prevents the state from allowing people to use crypto currency and learn computer literacy in order to be able to provide for their family.

You can google it, man ) Here's the statistics on Internet usage  for Africa:

http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm

And here's a good article on Bitcoin usage in some African countries:

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/23/africa/bitcoin-startup-africa/

African governments don't even need that

I mean they don't need to specifically ban or otherwise discourage and disallow Bitcoin to prevent their citizens from using it. They would just have to keep their folks in poverty (as they always did), and that will suffice for all practical intents and purposes. When you have no Internet access, no device to reach out and touch your coins, or just no money to buy a few satoshi to begin with, you are pretty much stuck, and Bitcoin will continue to remain your pipe dream mostly

Yes the govt will accept Bitcoins, but people know how to use that bitcoins in real life right, as you told in Africa they are not rich, and most of the cities don't have the internet facility. So how people can use Bitcoin? But if they started to use bitcoin means it is good news. And they need money to buy bitcoins if they are poor how they can afford this bitcoin price. 

Bitcoin fees are too high and confirmation time too long for most people in any African country. The short answer is they might accept is as a method of payment like Japan did, or banks may opt to use it as a background service, but its a long way off from being accepted as a primary currency.

We are all basically in the same conditions

And while I agree in general that Bitcoin fees may be way too high for the majority of African population, the confirmation times are essentially the same for everyone across the globe (provided the fees are the same, of course), so it is certainly not about just for "people in any African country". In other words, it is for other countries too. On the other hand, Bitcoin is not the only pebble on the beach, anyway. There are cheaper coins with faster confirmation times and lower fees, for example, Litecoin (which has been on the rise recently)

It would have to be a richer african country. Btc fee of a dollar is what most people make in 2 days work. No way they would want btc as their currency. It is so useless for them and costs way to much. Way better off with another coin with low fees.

I was thinking about it recently. If most people, not only African people, but people in the world in general, are only starting to realize the advantages of Bitcoin compared to fiat, how long will it take to realize the advantages of any other crypto compared to Bitcoin?

I think most people rather will come to terms with that 300-400 satoshis/byte fee and will stick to Bitcoin in the foreseeable future.

You are certainly not alone

I'm not just thinking about that, I'm in fact using Litecoin specifically as a transfer vehicle for Bitcoin. Litecoin's transactions are fast enough (though they could be faster, of course, since I still have to wait for 6 confirmations) and the fees are really low, at least, low enough not to think of them when making transfers for as little as a few dozen dollars (which is certainly not the case with Bitcoin where you would have to pay a few %% from the total amount transacted)

Maybe the government is planning to issue all citizens with Android smartphones and give them all free internet connections...and maybe it is time to migrate into this country so we can all enjoy all the benefits many of their people would enjoy soon.

It can really be funny when some government who are known to be sucking their own people and wasting all of the resources available can think of riding the crypto revolution.

that news is partially true, not all countries are adopting bitcoin but some of the African countries are taking consideration using as a currency, but it is not sure that they are using it as a primary currency.
but hopefully, in future, every country will approve it as the main currency.