Tanzania's Move to Introducing Their own Central Bank Digital Currency

[Davidvictorson]

Tanzania is on the move to introducing a central bank digital currency CBDC for payments.
WARY OF CRYPTO, TANZANIA SHIFTS CLOSER TO OWN DIGITAL CURRENCY

“It’s important for us to provide a central bank digital currency as a safe alternative because many people are being affected by cryptocurrency speculators,” Bank of Tanzania governor Florens Luoga said in an interview in Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital. The bank can’t ignore the technological advancement of money, he said.

Luoga spoke in reference to introducing a CBDC for payments similar to Nigeria, which was the first African country to start using the digital cash in October. China, the Bahamas, the Central African Republic, Kenya and Zambia are among the other nations that are issuing, piloting or studying consumer-facing digital currencies.

The news is not completely unexpected though, because:

Firstly, in 2019, the Directorate of Economic Research and Policy at the Central Bank of Tanzania (BoT) issued a circular titled: STUDY ON THE CRYPTOCURRENCY AND ONLINE FOREX TRADING IN TANZANIA

This is the official document:




Secondly, on June 14, 2021 during her speech, the Tanzanian president Samia Suluhu Hassan had already instructed the Central Bank to Prepare for Crypto adoption.

TANZANIA'S PRESIDENT URGES CENTRAL BANK TO PREPARE FOR CRYPTO

• President Samia Suluhu Hassan said the Bank of Tanzania should "be ready for changes and not caught underprepared".
• "I know that throughout the nation ... they have not accepted or started using these routes. However, my call to the central bank is that you should start working on that development," she said.
• Her speech took place after El Salvador's adoption of bitcoin as legal tender.
• Attention will be focused on other countries that spot an opportunity in crypto to boost economic development and stabilize financial instability.

And five months later, specifically in November, 2021, the Bank of Tanzania governor Florens Luoga already gave a hint about their preparations for them to have their own central bank digital currency (CBDC) during their 20th Conference of Financial Institutions (COFI) which was quoted on their central bank’s Twitter feed.



While this is a good move I am of the opinion that as long as it tied to the fiat it will still be affected by many external influences, inflation, taxes, Federal Reserve policy etc. Hopefully, we'd hear of the big announcement soon enough.

Tanzania Cheatsheet
Tanzania on Wikipedia
Tanzania on CIA World Factbook

 


 

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That should be a good move by the central bank of Tanzania but fiat is still fiat, CBDCs are just fiat of the modern time, there is nothing more than that but just that the control shift more away from the commerical banks to central bank but CBDCs are totally centralized and it is fiat, not an alternative to bitcoin or any good cryptocurrencies that are existing.

[gantez]

Having a regulation for cryptocurrency trading isn't bad. It is good for the system to monitor what is happening with the currency exchange market and to avoid to make things to be easy for brokers having exploiting or scamming motive for others. It will be serious to the exchange market that scam will be out. It is not new to hear this but it is adding to the list of other countries doing this regulation.

[Moneyprism]

this is a good step for small countries like Tanzania.. because then their economy will be helped by the adoption of cryptocurrency ,, and it would be even better if they adopt bitcoin fully like El Salvador did because then they will can benefit from the rising price of bitcoin in the future

[crwth]

Do you think once they have settled it all, they will affect the entire countries interested in creating their CBDCs? The total benefit of this would be the part where countries are trading against other currencies with their CBDCs.

[batang_bitcoin]

Even the news isn't completed or completed. I guess the world and each country is starting to see the relevance of cryptocurrencies and they're all sharing the same idea of having CBDC.
That's all they can do to have a sense of support for cryptocurrencies because they can't regulate the whole market. But, through the CBDC, they'll have their own centralized crypto.

[24Kt]

Even the news isn't completed or completed. I guess the world and each country is starting to see the relevance of cryptocurrencies and they're all sharing the same idea of having CBDC.
That's all they can do to have a sense of support for cryptocurrencies because they can't regulate the whole market. But, through the CBDC, they'll have their own centralized crypto.

Since the government can't regulate the circulation of cryptocurrencies, what they can do is really introduce their own CBDC. That is to address the control they want. If their people will start understanding how to utilize CBDC, then later on, for sure they will get oriented with crypto and learn the benefits if they will deal with decentralized platforms. Many countries are now exploring to create their own CBDCs, and with this initiative, these government officials will also understand why people are into crypto when they compare it to using CBDC. They may even change their mind towards the crypto market once they educate themselves with its technology.

[batang_bitcoin]

Even the news isn't completed or completed. I guess the world and each country is starting to see the relevance of cryptocurrencies and they're all sharing the same idea of having CBDC.
That's all they can do to have a sense of support for cryptocurrencies because they can't regulate the whole market. But, through the CBDC, they'll have their own centralized crypto.

Since the government can't regulate the circulation of cryptocurrencies, what they can do is really introduce their own CBDC. That is to address the control they want. If their people will start understanding how to utilize CBDC, then later on, for sure they will get oriented with crypto and learn the benefits if they will deal with decentralized platforms. Many countries are now exploring to create their own CBDCs, and with this initiative, these government officials will also understand why people are into crypto when they compare it to using CBDC. They may even change their mind towards the crypto market once they educate themselves with its technology.

Yes, that's exactly why they choose cbdcs. Although the good thing with that is they're for crypto but, they can alter that decision and just make a law that other cryptos are ban.
In reality, CBDCs aren't really cryptos at all as they're just trying to put a string to attach on it so that citizens that are not into crypto will easily understand that's how it goes based on how the government's introduction for it because it's popular and known.

[ajochems]

It’s best option to inverse your money in the native coin.If the Tanzania was introduced new Digital currency,surely the people of that country will inverse their money.It was credit to the government which was updated to the new technology.Accepting and adoption to the new technology will help the government to make changes in their country future.

[hyudien]

That should be a good move by the central bank of Tanzania but fiat is still fiat, CBDCs are just fiat of the modern time, there is nothing more than that but just that the control shift more away from the commerical banks to central bank but CBDCs are totally centralized and it is fiat, not an alternative to bitcoin or any good cryptocurrencies that are existing.

Agree and completely devoid of any growth regarding crypto. They are currently focusing on developing traditional to modern fiat. When it comes to adopting crypto, it's a completely different story. If in the announcement they will adopt Bitcoin. Despite all that the fact that the CBDC will still have the same threat as their banknotes, namely inflation.

[TheNineClub]

Tanzania is on the move to introducing a central bank digital currency CBDC for payments.
WARY OF CRYPTO, TANZANIA SHIFTS CLOSER TO OWN DIGITAL CURRENCY

The news is not completely unexpected though, because:

Firstly, in 2019, the Directorate of Economic Research and Policy at the Central Bank of Tanzania (BoT) issued a circular titled: STUDY ON THE CRYPTOCURRENCY AND ONLINE FOREX TRADING IN TANZANIA

This is the official document:

Secondly, on June 14, 2021 during her speech, the Tanzanian president Samia Suluhu Hassan had already instructed the Central Bank to Prepare for Crypto adoption.

TANZANIA'S PRESIDENT URGES CENTRAL BANK TO PREPARE FOR CRYPTO

And five months later, specifically in November, 2021, the Bank of Tanzania governor Florens Luoga already gave a hint about their preparations for them to have their own central bank digital currency (CBDC) during their 20th Conference of Financial Institutions (COFI) which was quoted on their central bank’s Twitter feed.

While this is a good move I am of the opinion that as long as it tied to the fiat it will still be affected by many external influences, inflation, taxes, Federal Reserve policy etc. Hopefully, we'd hear of the big announcement soon enough.

That's been a trend as we hit the upward movement of the last cycle, but it kinda slowed down as of recently it seems. This is just riding the crypto hype but has nothing to do with it nor does it hold to the same core concepts that drove early crypto developement. But I think peopke see through it.

[Johnyz]

It’s best option to inverse your money in the native coin.If the Tanzania was introduced new Digital currency,surely the people of that country will inverse their money.It was credit to the government which was updated to the new technology.Accepting and adoption to the new technology will help the government to make changes in their country future.

Unfortunately it is still a fiat money which I don’t see any difference if you have money on your banks since they already have online transactions. Well, Tanzania really see the growth of digital currency and in order for them to stay in control with their people, they come up into this decision but the good thing is the central bank was instructed the possibility of adopting cryptocurrency which i think is way better than to create your own digital fiat money.

[roslinpl]

It’s better to develop a traditional modern digital Fiat,then legalised of certain coin. Which was controlled by the market and some individual like whales. Most for the benefit of the individual. So it’s better to had own government owned digital currency. It will transfer with the control of the government. All the Eurasia should follow this system. So it will spread in large scale.

[kaya11]

That should be a good move by the central bank of Tanzania but fiat is still fiat, CBDCs are just fiat of the modern time, there is nothing more than that but just that the control shift more away from the commerical banks to central bank but CBDCs are totally centralized and it is fiat, not an alternative to bitcoin or any good cryptocurrencies that are existing.

Banks will never be left out that is true, even if they do migrate to digital currency totally, their structure is always the same. Even the at moment we can transact digitally and hold cards and without money. They are just changing their approach but still the same, since digital currencies is taking the pace.

[Darker45]

Do you think it is a little bit irresponsible from no less than the governor of the Bank of Tanzania to start a statement by saying cryptocurrencies are not safe and proceeds with an admission that they are still in the process of researching? There was an admission that the research is not yet done, so why prematurely conclude that cryptocurrency is not safe? It is obvious what will come next. They are conducting a research with a biased mind.

I'm also surprised that in line with the research there will be "interviews with randomly selected individuals who may assist to gather information to be used to guide decision-making." How on earth would you be able to come up with an informed study on cryptocurrency when instead of inviting experts on the matter you will be interviewing randomly selected individuals?

[yhiaali3]

According to what I understood through the reading that they are on their way to use a digital currency and not a cryptocurrency, this is completely different, it is natural for the central bank to adopt the digital currency because it is completely central and agrees with the policy of banks and this is what China and other countries did, this thing does not contradict the policy of banks and the nature of banks I mean centralization, but the big development will be in the event of accepting a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, but at the present time I see that the bank has shifted towards the era of digital cash instead of paper money and nothing more.

[fiulpro]

What do they mean by cryptocurrencies are not safe ? I think they should understand that cryptocurrencies are not *centralized* asset therefore Volatility is to be expected but am happy that they are not stating out things bluntly rather using terms like : 'study' which is essential so that they don't have probelms like El Salvador othet than that they are more or so trying to do it with CBDC which are not really cryptocurrencies therefore we cannot really label them the same as well. Cryptocurrencies would not be adopted at this time because of volatility but CBDC are an extension of fiat, then again let's see how their study goes.

[Agbe]

That is very good move. And I believe they will realize their dream. One thing is that it is not to adopting btc or creating fiat digital currency but how effective active the creation and adoption will be. Central Africa Republic and El-salvador have adopted bitcoin but it has not changed anything, I was expecting these two countries to at least become an influential to others though I live far from them but if such was happening we would have heard it from the afar.

And also most countries that have created digital currency with their fiat currency has nothing to talk about. They are all like redundant that occupying the internet space because the citizens are not using it. The leaders in the various countries are just making things difficult to themselves. They should just  adopt what the just like and make effective then their economy will be booming.   

[palle11]

I think Tanzania as a country want to move with the global movement for recognizing bitcoin and cryptocurrency so they want to do that and upgrade their own currency in digital form. You don't want to encourage acceptance of bitcoin in your local business whilst your currency is still in physical form only. This move will encourage more business in Tanzania as a tourist attraction country where foreigners visit. I read from the link the transportation system in Kampala Uganda is getting a boost from acceptance of bitcoin in payment and that is really encouraging, Tanzania may later transform into this.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

Every country want to try out something new, but what exactly are they giving a try on? is CBDC the long awaited solution to economy challenges all over the world? It's good and am not against Tanzania in it decision but i think there's more better offer opportunities with bitcoin than on altcoins, the difference that the people want is the truly decentralized digital currency in a digital economy with bitcoin, that they can buy, invest, sell, hodl, exchange and remain valuable over time, this is how far bitcoin could go in helping a society.