Miami on the Ubangi: Bitcoin will officially be legal tender in CAR after all

Hodl Up!

In typical crypto fashion an abrupt about face came Wednesday when President Touadera signed the recently passed law relating to cryptocurrency into law. A press release on his Facebook account cleared up the confusion of the last few days by confirming Bitcoin would now be legal tender in the country.?Initial reports?did in fact claim CAR was joining El Salvador as a bastion of Bitcoin but those stories were?walked back?a day later and even as late as yesterday there were denials from within the government that Bitcoin would actually be a fully legal tender. Well start warming up the Lambos kids because the first African country is now fueling up the rockets for a moonshot.

The buzz surrounding this announcement has put the Central African Republic in the spotlight like never before and maybe this can be a catalyst for lasting change. Hopefully the?painful lessons of El Salvador's awkward roll out?have been properly studied in Bangui and this isn't just a cynical move to enable elites to continue earning easily and opaquely. The?business ties with Russia and the shadiness surrounding its Bitcoin operations and transactions?call this all into question to a degree though. Also considering the lack of internet access and electricity in the country one wonders how much this will influence day to day life for the average citizen. I'm not sure what the remittance market is like in CAR but perhaps BTC can facilitate easier transactions for some. There's also the hype factor, in a year and a half of following CAR I've never seen it get this much attention. Properly parlaying this attention and interest will be key, I'm curious to see how this all plays out.