Almost a year after the Central African Republic, one of Africa’s poorest countries, declared cryptocurrency bitcoin legal tender, the country’s National Assembly voted to repeal a law.
The Parliament of the Central African Republic unanimously approved the amended law on March 23. The report specialist media. The specialist for political communication consulting, Gaetan Kongo, published the relevant decision per Twitter. Accordingly, the Congress of the Central African Republic has decided to change the law that gives Bitcoin the status of a second legal national currency alongside the CFA franc.
The new wording of the law suggests that the crypto asset is now among the benchmarks along with the other cryptocurrencies that citizens can use or accept as payment, albeit on a voluntary basis. “The National Assembly has just adopted by acclamation the draft law regulating cryptocurrency in the Central African Republic. Bitcoin is no longer considered an official currency but a reference cryptocurrency,” Congo wrote on its Twitter account.
Bitcoin project failed
In April last year, the Central African Republic became the second country in the world after El Salvador to make Bitcoin legal tender. As in El Salvador, there was a lot of criticism of the move in the Central African Republic, mainly because of the economic situation and the lack of development in the country. In fact, the African country tried to follow the path of the Salvadorian government and also announced the construction of a Bitcoin city and its own cryptocurrency. But the projects have stalled.
Finance Minister Justin Gourna Zacko was the driving force behind the introduction of Bitcoin. He promised many economic benefits to the country’s residents. But poor access to the internet and communication technologies in the country raised doubts from the start. Despite deposits of raw materials such as diamonds, gold and uranium, the Central African Republic is one of the poorest countries in the world with high levels of corruption, supply problems, low life expectancy and high infant mortality. In addition, there is political instability and a precarious security situation with armed conflicts and attacks, for example by Muslim rebel groups.
The United Nations is also warning developing countries against crypto money. Cryptocurrencies are unstable, pose social risks and could incur high costs, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) last summer. This can also be seen in El Salvador, where the fall in the value of Bitcoin has exacerbated the financial crisis.
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