African regulators warn cryptocurrencies may not be legitimate

[Hydrogen]

Negative statements about crypto abound in the media.

As an american who has never visited africa, the first thing that comes to mind when I think about african economies are images below relating to hyperinflation.





While crypto is by no means perfect, there is no example of them plunging economies of entire african nations into poverty due to hyperinflation caused by centralized economic mismanagement. There are also many positive benefits created by crypto in terms of opportunities and options they grant to society.

I think the natural reaction is to find the african media's remarks on crypto puzzling. What does crypto being labeled "illegitimate" mean. Is it worse than existing corruption and hyperinflation african nations have already been plagued by. What if crypto's "illegitimacy" were a higher standard than conventional financial options.

In this era where many choose to oversimplify reality within harsh shades of black and white. There could be many different shades of grey. In contemplating news and current events, I hope most will choose not to be colorblind.

[Charles-Tim]

I think the natural reaction is to find the african media's remarks on crypto puzzling. What does crypto being labeled "illegitimate" mean. Is it worse than existing corruption and hyperinflation african nations have already been plagued by. What if crypto's "illegitimacy" were a higher standard than conventional financial options.

There is no three reasons why some countries deemed cryptocurrencies as illegitimate, it is because of self-centeredness or ignorance. Like China, it is clear that they want there currency to be the strongest currency in the world, Chinese government are looking for ways to make sure US dollar and other strong currencies are not strong like Yuan, that is why they are doing all means digital Yuan is created while most especially decentralized currencies are banned while trying all ways other countries buying from them and selling to them do not convert their fiat first into US dollar before trade.

Some countries deemed cryptocurrencies illegal because of ignorance and unintelligent leaders, this can be the case in Africa. Countries like Nigeria which supposed to be the role model of small populated countries in Africa. The Central Bank of Nigerian ones said some countries do not support cryptocurrencies while China was included, CBN is not concerned about how important cryptocurrencies can be while portraying it bad at the time to people and that it is banned in countries like China.

Some countries will follow China and ban cryptocurrencies while not knowing China is only having its own selfish interest, many may also follow Nigeria in Africa which do not conduct researches to actually know how cryptocurrencies are very important especially in underdeveloped and developing countries.

All needed is regulation, China is not ready for regulation because of ways it is looking for to devalue US dollar while need Yuan to be the strongest people will be using for trade in the world, many countries will not consider regulation because of ignorance while following other countries not knowing some countries can have internal agenda.

[paxmao]

As I have said a few times, states that ban crypto or put pressure on it are not illogical nor stupid. They make a calculated move, yet many times failed, to prevent their people from having options in life. And it is not just about crypto and bitcoin, it is about having a full control of everything that happens in their societies and in peoples lives. They know that the moment they give freedom and means people will start questioning them. There is something I learned from a friend that left a country of zero opportunity (I do not want to mention the name): If you are too busy looking for food, you cannot think of anything else (such as changing the government).

They cannot control bitcoin, is that tiny little seed of monetary freedom that could spark protests and revolutions.

[Charles-Tim]

As I have said a few times, states that ban crypto or put pressure on it are not illogical nor stupid.

Never mind my opinion about this, I also saw your post to be right. I think the government making everything to be centralized is not right at all in its entirety, the citizens do not have freedom. I do not just comment about this, until I realized crypto can be regulated by individual countries in such a was to protect their foreign reserve in relation to cryptocurrencies, and also promoting crypto trading within their country. Like China, after all the restrictions, why banning mining recently, if not for digital Yuan ambition, I think this is getting to finding of power.

And it is not just about crypto and bitcoin, it is about having a full control of everything that happens in their societies and in peoples lives.

Never mind me to be specific about this. Nigeria recent government ban Twitter, the recent government placed fine to be paid for hate speeches. EndSARS protesters bank account were blocked, they resorted to Bitcoin payment, the CBN ban cryptocurrencies some months after. Central Bank of Nigerian president said cryptocurrencies  are illegitimate at the time. Although, Nigeria is just a country that its citizens no more believe the government, all banned are bypassed. Full control will only later lead to what is not right, I couldn't believe Chinese government can ban crypto mining, they are stating it is because of energy consumed by miners but I think they have hidden agenda.

Even, if cryptocurrencies are banned, yet, it should not be deemed illegitimate, the governments needs to do more research rather than saying what is wrong, misleading people. Although, I will be specific on Bitcoin and strong cryptocurrencies, not shit coins.

[cabron]

The government will always choose to control whatever is there to have its power over the people. Having CBDC will be the choice of the government if they won't be using cryptocurrency, it's necessary to have control. But I think if Bukele will prove to them that government will still have control even if they use cryptocurrency, African countries might also follow what he did.

[bitmover]

While crypto is by no means perfect, there is no example of them plunging economies of entire african nations into poverty due to hyperinflation caused by centralized economic mismanagement. There are also many positive benefits created by crypto in terms of opportunities and options they grant to society.

Not long ago, when I was a kid, Brazil was like that as well.

We had hyperinflation of about 80-100% per month, which is very crazy. That lasted for more than a decade. Government simply could not pay all his debts and printed money day after day, year after year.

It is very crazy to live in a place like that. I remember when I was a kid, when I was going to buy something like and ice cream that costed 100. A few monts later it was like 800, then 4000. There was no limit for price increase.

This was originally a 100,000 Cruzeiros banknote. Do you see the stamp of 100 Cruzados? It was stamped by our central bank.


After some years, government just stamped 100, and that's it. Let's cut off 1000 cruzeiros of every banknote and every thing. Now the money loses three zeros so we can talk about thousands and not millions again lol
The new currency, the Cruzados is going to be worth 1000 Cruzeiros. And that's it! Lets use the same banknotes!

ANd there are others:


Things are more controlled here nowadays. Anyway, bitcoin is one of the best protections we have against such abuses from the government, specially in Latin America/Africa etc...

[magneto]

I haven't yet heard of a single regulator that has endorsed BTC, apart from perhaps El Salvador.

But you're absolutely right. They should be embracing BTC for the fact that it is able to hedge against the hyperinflation that is so rampant within countries in Africa historically.

But there is absolutely a conflict of interest between the central bank/authorities and the decentralisation that crypto brings to the table. Not surprising whatsoever that such a statement was made.

[passwordnow]

The government will always choose to control whatever is there to have its power over the people. Having CBDC will be the choice of the government if they won't be using cryptocurrency, it's necessary to have control. But I think if Bukele will prove to them that government will still have control even if they use cryptocurrency, African countries might also follow what he did.

CBDC isn't always the choice. They can take the perfect example of El Salvador that has chosen it as a legal tender. No matter what the situation of the countries there in Africa, they always have the choice to do what's better for their constituents. Stopping isn't a choice for most of their citizens, if they find their people earning through cryptocurrencies and making a decent living, why they should stop them? I guess it's because of the bad impression coming from the scammers that use crypto with their tricks.

[evilgreed]

               This is very saddening. I really feel for the Nigerians that are being rid of the chance to be finally capable of achieving financial freedom. I feel sad for the wasted opportunities that could change the lives of the many in Nigeria. The lives that are the very foundation of the nation; the future. All of this because of what? Selfish reasons, closed minds and greed. If karma is true, I really wish that these leaders get f*cked up so bad by it that they would rather wish to be dead.

[Ucy]

Of course, that's the kind of images i got bombarded with when i was in the centralized mind-control systems/networks controlled by an entity with evil agenda. 
I remember coming back to my sense in those days and saying to myself if they could lie about alot of things around me that i experience regularly, they could be lying about these beautiful continents/countries they constantly potray in bad light.  So ,i stop trusting the news and people who are often one sided and say alots evil/bad things about others. ..and started doing thorough investigation/verification before trusting
Once you unplugged from the matrix or mind control system and start visiting and verifying such info by yourself rather believing what media controlled by a deciever feed you,you could be easily shocked and humble by the truth.

[HashingTower]

I'm from Africa and cryptocurrency is the only thing saving the lives of many people here, Government can't provide for my people and yet they won't let us be, blocking all ways that poor people can atleast have some hope, if crypto wasn't a decentralized things would have gone wrong a long time ago cos some people really want crypto to disappear

[so98nn]

That is horrifying to see how that man is carrying that money on the cement vehicle. That's just the sign of how they have mis-directed the country / counties in the wrong direction. This kinda of mismanagement also has more branches, I mean from poor education to poor job opportunities must be counted in this scenario.

Though we talking about bitcoin as saviour here, I think they are far from that as well. The country who is not able manage the centralised process (where they are the masters) how could we expect them to depend on Bitcoin?

Those people may or may not understand the technological advancement. If they are not educated enough to have normal degree jobs then what would they do with those bitcoins man?

[Kakmakr]

The countries in Africa where you see negativity towards Crypto currencies have one thing in common, namely : Dictatorship

You have to remember one thing, Bitcoin and Crypto currencies stand for Freedom and countries with some kind of dictatorship will do everything in their power to retain control over their citizens. The government of these countries will only support a "currency" that are regulated and designed to control people's wealth (through manipulation) and to track it's movement. (What are the citizens doing with their money..... example : Are they donating money to their opposition or are they using their money to buy guns and ammunition.... See where I am going)

Also, if the governments control the Banks .... then they control people's wealth. (They can block people's accounts / Restrict access to cash and worst case scenario ===> confiscate their own people's savings.)

https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Adam-Smith-Institute-Blog/2011/0102/European-nations-begin-seizing-private-pensions

https://www.forbes.com/sites/instituteforjustice/2015/07/17/how-an-obscure-banking-law-let-the-irs-seize-bank-accounts-from-innocent-americans/?sh=5f1eee753613

[Taskford]

Not surprising to see that there are leaders or normal person tells that cryptocurrencies are not legitimate its because they doesn't get a chance to get a education about cryptocurrency that's why they are skeptical and afraid to use it because thet don't want to lose there money. Maybe time will come for this people to be enlightened that this could bring a good opportunity to them.

[jaysabi]

I haven't yet heard of a single regulator that has endorsed BTC, apart from perhaps El Salvador.

But you're absolutely right. They should be embracing BTC for the fact that it is able to hedge against the hyperinflation that is so rampant within countries in Africa historically.

But there is absolutely a conflict of interest between the central bank/authorities and the decentralisation that crypto brings to the table. Not surprising whatsoever that such a statement was made.

Imagine your domestic currency being is so volatile, cryptocurrency is less volatile and a better store of value.  Because as much as everyone around here circlejerks to what a great "investment" bitcoin is, the fact remains that it regularly loses 50% of its value in a matter of days (the most recent instance barely a month out from today).  The vast majority of fiat currencies are still a better store of value because they're less volatile, and the point of savings is not to be at risk that you don't know how much money you have saved because you can't predict the value of the underlying currency.

[Coyster]

What does crypto being labeled "illegitimate" mean. Is it worse than existing corruption and hyperinflation african nations have already been plagued by. What if crypto's "illegitimacy" were a higher standard than conventional financial options.

I've expressed this ideology a couple of times already, using "African giants" Nigeria as a case study cause I understand her present economic, security, social etc problems, I find it actually nonsensical that a country like Nigeria placed a ban on crypto, don't get me wrong, I know quite a few other countries are doing the same thing, but many of them do not have even half the problems Nigeria has, China for example are cracking down on crypto to assert their dominance in years to come, their economy is doing pretty well, they basically don't want their citizens controlling their funds, they want all the control to themselves and of course we can understand that cause their government is a dictatorial one.

Having said that, I'm not making excuses for China or other bigger nations to have issued one sanction, ban or restrictions on Bitcoin or the other, they are really selfish in doing so; but in Africa the case is different, in Nigeria for example, the government do not really have any worthwhile plan in solving most of the issues plaguing the nation, one being unemployment, I think that's enough reason for the government to allow crypto to thrive, so people can actually see what they make of it, whilst they focus on more pressing economic issues, it's basically just a sign of the government being clueless and just an attempt to blindly follow the bandwagon.

[AniviaBtc]

Yes, just like China, they are a communist country who only wants to revolve their money only inside their country.

They don't want to adopt other currencies especially crypto because they want to make their own, they want to isolate their economy to other countries.

In Africa? It is not so far from other countries who hate and have a hard time to regulate cryptocurrency in their market.

[Silberman]

Negative statements about crypto abound in the media.

As an american who has never visited africa, the first thing that comes to mind when I think about african economies are images below relating to hyperinflation.

While crypto is by no means perfect, there is no example of them plunging economies of entire african nations into poverty due to hyperinflation caused by centralized economic mismanagement. There are also many positive benefits created by crypto in terms of opportunities and options they grant to society.

I think the natural reaction is to find the african media's remarks on crypto puzzling. What does crypto being labeled "illegitimate" mean. Is it worse than existing corruption and hyperinflation african nations have already been plagued by. What if crypto's "illegitimacy" were a higher standard than conventional financial options.

In this era where many choose to oversimplify reality within harsh shades of black and white. There could be many different shades of grey. In contemplating news and current events, I hope most will choose not to be colorblind.

This is really simple when we think of this considering human nature, politicians are at the top of the current system together with their friends and other rich people, that is what they care about and not how the average citizen on their country is doing, with this in mind then it is completely natural that they do not want to leave that position of power, this means that anything that threatens this is illegitimate and a threat and they are not afraid to label it as such, bitcoin is revolutionary and like in any revolution regardless of whether it is pacific or violent there are winners and losers, and politicians see they will be one of the losers so they do not want people to adopt bitcoin and will do anything to stop it.

[beerlover]

The reason why African nations and media do not like bitcoin or any crypto is the fact that their own people could use it and disregard their fiat, which makes it even more worthless. I am not saying that people should use fiat to give it some power but when a wheelbarrow full of money worths as much as maybe 100 bucks at best, and you leave and start using crypto, that means the fiat that is already worthless will become even more worthless. That Zimbabwe dollar thing is just one place and I do not know what their situation is like now but in places like Nigeria or South Africa the problem is not "that" bad, they are still not leading economies of the world obviously but they are doing fine.

However if you leave fiat and move to crypto only that means those nations which are not "that" bad could become like Zimbabwe as well. So should people live a worse life and wait for politicians to fix things? No of course not, go with crypto and screw fiat, but also understand that governments will not be kind to you as well.

[TheGreatPython]

I think the natural reaction is to find the african media's remarks on crypto puzzling. What does crypto being labeled "illegitimate" mean. Is it worse than existing corruption and hyperinflation african nations have already been plagued by. What if crypto's "illegitimacy" were a higher standard than conventional financial options.

In this era where many choose to oversimplify reality within harsh shades of black and white. There could be many different shades of grey. In contemplating news and current events, I hope most will choose not to be colorblind.

First of all, when you say Africa, Africa is not a country, rather it is a continent. You will have to be specific as to which country exactly in Africa has said that bitcoin is bad. There are countries there too that are not against the use of cryptocurrency and they are allowing their citizens to make use of it, and of course there are those of them that are against the use of cryptocurrency. For sure I have seen news of countries like Nigeria that banned cryptocurrency, but even at that, they were not able to stop their citizens, people still continued trading cryptocurrency there with the help of P2P. It never really bothered them at all.