First African country adopts Bitcoin as official currency

[bbc.reporter]

Are we witnessing only the beginning of bitcoin's adoption as legal tender around the world? What would the world be like if more developing countries and 3rd world countries adopt bitcoin and begin trading each other using bitcoin? Everyone knows I am a skeptic and have speculated these countries accepting bitcoin as legal tender are only doing it for publicity. However, I am presently not certain of this anymore hehe.



The Central African Republic has become the first country in Africa to adopt Bitcoin as a payment currency. In a worldwide first, the National Assembly unanimously adopted the bill to help put the country’s plan for economic recovery and peacebuilding on track.

The minister of digital economy, post services and telecommunications, Gourna Zacko, and the minister of finance and budget, Calixte Nganongo, initiated and submitted the draft law establishing both the legal framework for cryptocurrency regulation and Bitcoin as an official currency in the Central African Republic.

Read in full https://forbes.mc/article/first-african-country-adopt-bitcoin-legal-currency-central-african-republic

[Bttzed03]

~ Everyone knows I am a skeptic and have speculated these countries accepting bitcoin as legal tender are only doing it for publicity. However, I am presently not certain of this anymore hehe.

Understandable. They probably do not have the technology yet to fully implement this.

To be honest, I didn't know that such country exists in Africa (no offense to those who live there). Upon looking it up, it seems they do not have their own local currency just like El Salvador and also a country trying hard to recover economically. Bitcoin won't solve all their issues but it might attract some foreign investors and tourists.

[South Park]

I am not that well informed about that part of the world but a quick search tell us that in total six countries are using the Central African CFA franc which is pegged to the euro, so it would be interesting to see what will be the reaction of the remaining five countries? Will they follow the move of the CAR or will they oppose it? It would be interesting if the whole block of countries took the same stance as the CAR as this will mark yet another milestone in bitcoin’s history.

[tranthidung]

The minister of digital economy, post services and telecommunications, Gourna Zacko, and the minister of finance and budget, Calixte Nganongo, initiated and submitted the draft law establishing both the legal framework for cryptocurrency regulation and Bitcoin as an official currency in the Central African Republic.[/i]

From draft laws to official one and fully implementation of it nationwide are a long journey. In order to have a fully implementation and adoption, it requires lot of things, from national infrastructures by governments to easy access to Bitcoin for their citizens. If governments can implement the first part, then second part will play its role to convince citizens to use Bitcoin or reject it.

Convenient access and use cases for Bitcoin nationwide will be keys to convince citizens. Personally I don't think that process will be easily built in short term.

[Kakmakr]

The Central African Republic is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of the Congo to the southwest, and Cameroon to the west. Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_African_Republic

They do have their own local Fiat currency ==> Central African CFA franc (XAF), Bitcoin (XBT) and they have +/- 4.83 million (2020) people living in that country.

Let's hope this spreads to the rest of Africa and that it will replace digital currencies like MPesa in Africa.... if all of this is true.  

https://cryptotips.eu/en/knowledge-base/what-is-the-abbreviation-xbt/  <=== Explains XBT

[pooya87]

What would the world be like if more developing countries and 3rd world countries adopt bitcoin and begin trading each other using bitcoin?

It is a bit complicated in my opinion.

On one hand we have bitcoin that this kind of adoption (real adoption as currency not just a speculation tool) is good for and it can benefit these countries as they lack some infrastructure specially in their foreign trades. It also creates more incentive for more countries to do the same. But also the volatility is somewhat hurtful when bitcoin is used for trades in large scale. I'm very curious about how they are going to deal with it.
These countries usually have other economic problems that makes it hard to see what the real effect of bitcoin adoption is going to be in their country.

On the other hand what you said could be a little dangerous for those countries. We know that anybody who has ever thought of dumping US dollar has been canceled throughout history. Because simply US dollar and economy is big but one of the weakest since it is not backed by anything at all except some weird faith in this currency that started after WWII. When more countries dump USD, the US economy could go under specially if US dollar continues tanking.

Take El Salvador for example. It is a tiny country with one of the weakest economies in the world that doesn't even have its own currency (their national currency is US dollar!) they didn't dump USD, they just added an additional option called bitcoin. Suddenly previously known democracy is no longer referred to as a "democracy" by the propaganda machine known as media and there are mass protests for no reason in El Salvador against Bukele government!!!

[tranthidung]

Take El Salvador for example. It is a tiny country with one of the weakest economies in the world that doesn't even have its own currency (their national currency is US dollar!) they didn't dump USD, they just added an additional option called bitcoin. Suddenly previously known democracy is no longer referred to as a "democracy" by the propaganda machine known as media and there are mass protests for no reason in El Salvador against Bukele government!!!

El Salvador is a good example because we can see how early hype in that nation occurs and how it disappears months later. It is more easily for their citizens to accept Bitcoin in early days that combined with the bullish market. Who don't like to receive Bitcoin and months later, it has a double value. Oppositely, it is less acceptable for them (as non-Bitcoiners) to take Bitcoin from customer payments and months later, its value is halved.

There are minor proportion of their citizens successfully converted from non-Bitcoiners to Bitcoiners by legal tender in that nation. I am not optimistic but I believe it's just a minority of El Salvadorians have become Bitcoiners in last 2 years.

[Rikafip]

Understandable. They probably do not have the technology yet to fully implement this.

Central African Republic is the 2nd poorest African country, having only $988 GDP per capita, and only Burundi being below them so yeah, its safe to assume that they don't have the technology yet to properly implement this. I mean, its of course a good news to hear countries being more and more open to bitcoin but it would be nice if those countries have the basic things sorted out before they move on bitcoin otherwise its nothing but a cheap gimmick imho.

[davis196]

I usually don't trust such news,but Bitcoin getting adopted as legal tender by another small and underdeveloped country was pretty much expected.
BTC would never be adopted as legal tender by the big and developed countries,because there's no need for them to adopt BTC.
Good luck to the Central African Republic with this decision.Maybe more African countries would followup and decide to give Bitcoin a chance.Unfortunately the Central African Republic isn't a good place to build crypto mining facilities(not that it matters that much).I really hope that African countries get industrialized and adopt high technologies ASAP.

[pooya87]

~
El Salvador is a good example because we can see how early hype in that nation occurs and how it disappears months later. It is more easily for their citizens to accept Bitcoin in early days that combined with the bullish market. Who don't like to receive Bitcoin and months later, it has a double value. Oppositely, it is less acceptable for them (as non-Bitcoiners) to take Bitcoin from customer payments and months later, its value is halved.

There are minor proportion of their citizens successfully converted from non-Bitcoiners to Bitcoiners by legal tender in that nation. I am not optimistic but I believe it's just a minority of El Salvadorians have become Bitcoiners in last 2 years.

To be fair part of that hype was because they were giving away free money to anybody who downloaded and used their closed source centralized wallet. I think it was $30 and considering the exchange rate and low cost of living there, it was a sweet deal.

I think some more years have to pass before we can look back and make a good conclusion. So far we aren't impressed.

[stadus]

Major countries will not adopt bitcoin as a legal tender because they want to take advantage on the power of their currency. However, those countries that are underdeveloped or struggling from hyper inflation, crypto is definitely a big help for them so we can expect an adoption of these countries and overall, I would say it will help them economically as they can trade with the world using a powerful currency, which is crypto.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

Because simply US dollar and economy is big but one of the weakest since it is not backed by anything at all except some weird faith in this currency that started after WWII.

Actually, it was backed by gold until 1971: Nixon shock.

Are we witnessing only the beginning of bitcoin's adoption as legal tender around the world?

We are likely witnessing the beginning but just with regard to poorer countries that have more to gain than to lose by adopting bitcoin as a currency.

[Flexystar]

Frankly speaking third world countries shall be focusing on valuing their own fiat first before they could barge into something like this. The problem with their world countries is they don’t have enough tax payers and most of the big lords within country always earn put money overseas because they know they have beautiful life out there. This way nation always underdeveloped and progresses very slowly.

With bitcoin, things could worsen for them. There will be everyone accepting and paying bitcoins but does this nation has proper channelling of whole thing?

Have they made it clear how they will track the transactions and get the taxes if it is going to be national monetary part?

[aoluain]

~ Everyone knows I am a skeptic and have speculated these countries accepting bitcoin as legal tender are only doing it for publicity. However, I am presently not certain of this anymore hehe.

Understandable. They probably do not have the technology yet to fully implement this.

To be honest, I didn't know that such country exists in Africa (no offense to those who live there). Upon looking it up, it seems they do not have their own local currency just like El Salvador and also a country trying hard to recover economically. Bitcoin won't solve all their issues but it might attract some foreign investors and tourists.

Good point, whatever struggles economically exist in the country, its difficult to see
how Bitcoin can solve these in the short term. If they ^{generally speaking} need to transfer
funds, Bitcoin will be a benefit.

The Central African Republic is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of the Congo to the southwest, and Cameroon to the west. Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_African_Republic

They do have their own local Fiat currency ==> Central African CFA franc (XAF), Bitcoin (XBT) and they have +/- 4.83 million (2020) people living in that country.

Let's hope this spreads to the rest of Africa and that it will replace digital currencies like MPesa in Africa.... if all of this is true.  

https://cryptotips.eu/en/knowledge-base/what-is-the-abbreviation-xbt/  <=== Explains XBT

If some other neighbouring countries can make the same move maybe they will strengthen
each other rather than a single country on its own.

But still the big issue exists, for example, how does the country grow financially
today after adopting Bitcoin yesterday so to speak?

In the case if El Salvador they know that much the same problems exist even after
adopting Bitcoin, creating a Bitcoin City creates a big economic opportunity.

[bittraffic]

There should at least one in Africa because there is already on in South America. Its mostly needed in parts of the world where the unbanked people are.

I can not remember where I got the argument about it that Bitcoin today are used by politicians to win a position in the government. Not really the type of things you want to happen but its possibly what politicians are doing today and it has to start somewhere even in a shady manner. Even in US election, there were politicians claiming to turn their cities into crypto city.

[Joshapat]

The rapid development of Crypto in Africa up to more than 2500% in 2021 made many countries now legalize Bitcoin, I believe the Central African Republic will be followed by other countries such as Congo, South Africa, and so on who will legalize Bitcoin.

[FatFork]

The minister of digital economy, post services and telecommunications, Gourna Zacko, and the minister of finance and budget, Calixte Nganongo, initiated and submitted the draft law establishing both the legal framework for cryptocurrency regulation and Bitcoin as an official currency in the Central African Republic.[/i]

From draft laws to official one and fully implementation of it nationwide are a long journey. In order to have a fully implementation and adoption, it requires lot of things, from national infrastructures by governments to easy access to Bitcoin for their citizens. If governments can implement the first part, then second part will play its role to convince citizens to use Bitcoin or reject it.

Convenient access and use cases for Bitcoin nationwide will be keys to convince citizens. Personally I don't think that process will be easily built in short term.

It appears that this is a passed law, not a draft. If there is anyone from from the CAR here who can confirm this? However, I agree that there is still a long way to go.

The parliament meeting in plenary session on Thursday, April 21, 2022, adopted by acclamation and unanimously the Bill Governing Cryptocurrency in the Central African Republic. This project enables the government to create an enabling environment for the financial sector in the country.

Source: https://www.rjdhrca.org/centrafrique-le-projet-de-loi-regissant-la-cryptomonnaie-vote-a-lunanimite-par-les-elus-de-la-nation-%EF%BF%BC/

[slaman29]

I think you can still be a skeptic, even I don't really feel these are such big developments in the big picture, unless a country really does it and builds the infrastructure to actually encourage a Bitcoin economy, and the way it's done so far, it's not working.

Look at El Salvador, martial law and rocked by violence. They need to fix those things first before just adopting BTC as legal tender. IMO...

[DdmrDdmr]

This looks like yet another case where terminology leads to jumping promptly to conclusions, without knowing full well the underlying details. The term "adoption" is often maximized to the point of linking it to legal tender. Nevertheless, it can also be tied to softer meanings such as setting a legal framework for it to be used, but not as legal tender. This happened recently when Portuguese island of Madeira was echoed as adopting BTC as legal tender, when in fact, the intent was to make the conditions more favourable on the island, but not reaching the legal tender status.

I’ve gone over dozens of articles clearly stating that BTC has become legal tender in the CAR, whist a few have now started pointing to having overdone it again with the interpretation, promptly hitting the headlines.

The below article is one of those that states that:
-   BTC has not become legal tender in the CAR
-   What has actually happened is that the CAR has approved a framework for crypto usage in the financial markets.

The new law would reportedly allow traders and businesses to make crypto payments and also make way for tax payments in crypto through authorized entities.

In any case, I’d wait for "someone" to fully dissect the approved bill (if the can find it – I can’t) to see the extent of the implications. Some frameworks are more favourable than others, and we’ll have to see where this case really falls.

See: https://cointelegraph.com/news/the-central-african-republic-reportedly-passes-a-bill-to-regulate-crypto-use

[Wind_FURY]

The Central African Republic is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of the Congo to the southwest, and Cameroon to the west. Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_African_Republic

They do have their own local Fiat currency ==> Central African CFA franc (XAF), Bitcoin (XBT) and they have +/- 4.83 million (2020) people living in that country.

Let's hope this spreads to the rest of Africa and that it will replace digital currencies like MPesa in Africa.... if all of this is true.  

https://cryptotips.eu/en/knowledge-base/what-is-the-abbreviation-xbt/  <=== Explains XBT

That will be merely be one of the illustrations/examples of Bitcoin weakening, and breaking down political and financial strongholds. There will be entities that will use every means they have/own to reject Bitcoin and its use, but like the invention of the Telephone or the Internet, they must adopt it. The cat is out of the bag sers.