News Digest #16: African economies moving forward with crypto possibilities

What happened after the Central African Republic officialized bitcoin as legal tender and much more; we never miss a movement and are always following the ups and downs of our favorite market! Follow the thread of this week’s news digest to understand the key points of the latest news we curated to keep you informed about Africa’s heated crypto market

Last week we found out that the Central African Republic (CAR) officially became the first African nation to declare bitcoins as legal tender in their territory. The country’s National Assembly defends that regulations on bitcoin adoption will boost CAR’s recovery from years of economic downturns.

However, the decision created controversy. Some opposition parties in the country started to raise questions and some concerns regarding CAR’s readiness to make this change. Currently, the Central African Republic is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a concerningly low rate of Internet access and energy infrastructure. One of the arguments against bitcoin implementation is that the technology relies on huge amounts of electricity, which CAR is yet not ready to offer its citizens. Some opposition leaders also claim that the country also doesn’t have the capacity to closely enforce regulations that guarantee a smooth transition and adaption. The future will show who made the best projections of this scenario, and we hope to see CAR benefiting from its decision.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-29/central-bank-caught-unaware-as-african-nation-endorses-bitcoin

The Central African Republic is not the first nor the last to surf this wave. We have been witnessing a variety of countries bet on the promising advantages of crypto adoption, and the latest news from CAR got some specialists and countries wondering what’s next. African crypto users are currently responsible for the highest transaction volume rate in P2P platforms, a rhythm that made the African crypto market grow by over 1000% in the past years. With this important step towards investment even more in this technology, CAR joins other nations such as South Africa, Tanzania, and Kenya, that have already made it to the top 20 of the worldwide crypto usage index. Zambia and Zimbabwe also seem to be preparing the territory for new crypto-related upgrades and initiatives. CAR’s decision might’ve strengthened even more the ties Africa is developing with financial inclusion and might have been a milestone that is likely to keep bringing more news for us to share here in the upcoming weeks.

https://www.theindependent.co.zw/2022/04/29/ceteris-paribus-a-win-for-crypto-as-car-adopts-bitcoin/

And since we are talking about countries embracing crypto adoption, let’s bring the spotlight to Namibia, which recently announced a plan to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The head of the Bank of Namibia (BON), Johannes Gawaxab, confirmed that the country has been following the development of crypto adoption and studying possibilities, but now it has a solid plan to make CBDCs happen. As the number of crypto currencies and crypto-based operations keeps growing, Gawaxab identified that it is time to make Namibia a more active part of this context. The final implementation still depends on agreements between the central government, financial institutions and the general public, but the launch is expected to happen soon and positively impact Namibia financial agenda.

https://news.bitcoin.com/namibian-central-bank-announces-plan-to-launch-cbdc/

Approximately 3500 miles up, there’s Egypt, also making similar movements. Although the Egyptian government has been extremely cautious with its crypto initiatives, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has been willing to move forward and regulate the country’s scenario aiming to prepare it for crypto adoption. Egypt has once worried about the negative potential of cryptocurrencies, especially when it comes to how they can be used for terrorism financing. However, as the crypto market gets safer and filled with solid solutions, Egypt started to draft new laws to crypto-related agreements, but the process got frozen during the most severe periods of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the CBE has picked from where it stopped, and it has been studying the potential of issuing a digital currency version of the Egyptian pound to start promoting safe and efficient cashless alternatives for Egyptian citizens. We will keep an eye out to see how Egypt will join Africa’s crypto revolution.

https://nilefm.com/geekdom/article/4750/betting-on-bitcoin-egypt-to-release-a-digital-currency-framework-soon

This week’s news summary is full of “to be continued” stories. Follow our social channels to keep up with the latest updated about these and other events in the crypto world.

George Hung

Chief of Staff

George Hung our chief of staff is a leader in management and B2B relations, running multiple successful business across many boarders.