Reported yesterday by Forbes Monaco, a division of Forbes Media located in Monaco, the Central African Republic will become the first African Nation to adopt Bitcoin as "a payment currency"
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.
The report specifically mentions Bitcoin as legal tender, but it also mentions the acceptance of cryptocurrencies as legal forms of payment.
The application of the legal-tender implies the acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a legal means of payment established through specific legislation.
It is unclear if other forms of cryptocurrency will also be adopted as legal tender or if this legal framework is required to make Bitcoin specifically legal tender. The report has yet to be verified by other sources.
The Central African Republic (CAR) is a small nation in central Africa with borders formed as a French colony in the late 19th century. The country achieved its independence in 1960. CAR is a small country with a population of approximately 5 million people and listed as the 7th poorest country in the world with a gross nation income per capita (GNI) of $510.
Its current national currency is the Central African CFA franc (XAF), a currency used by 6 nations in Central Africa, which is pegged to the Euro at €1 = 6.55957 FRF = 655.957 XAF. The XAF has been devalued multiple times since its inception in 1945, and critics of the XAF believe the only way to achieve economic development in Central Africa is to dispose of the XAF. If these reports of Bitcoin legal tender are true, CAR would be the 2nd nation to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, and like El Salvador could use it to generate capital flow into the nation, bolster their economy, and provide its citizens with a means of exchange outside of the CFA franc of which the populace has no say in the monetary policies agreed upon by European nations. If these legal tender bills prove to be successful, many more impoverished nations could begin to harness the energy of Bitcoin to spark their economic development.