After Dubai, it is the Central African Republic (CAR) which is launching. But contrary to some information circulating, the CAR is not going to adopt the Bitcoin as legal tender. The country has only introduced a law establishing the legal framework for the regulation of cryptocurrencies.
The confusion started when some news outlets announced that the CAR was going to adopt BTC as legal tender. So far, only El Salvador has done this, but CAR only wants to create a crypto-friendly environment in the country.
The bill was tabled in parliament by the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Justin Gourna Zacko, on April 21 and was approved on Monday. From now on, citizens will be able to pay their taxes in cryptos while companies and individuals will be able to buy bitcoin without fear.
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A certain independence from the euro that other CEMAC and WAEMU countries could imitate
Zacko praised this law because it will make remittances much easier. In addition, it would make it possible to simplify certain restrictive measures of the central bank, because people will have access to currencies other than the FCFA (the national currency), which is backed by the euro and whose monetary policies are defined by the Western countries.
On a positive note, cryptocurrency users will now be protected by law and benefit from reduced transaction costs. Offenders will be liable to a fine of 100 million to 1 billion FCFA (€152,000 to €1.52 million) or a prison sentence of up to 20 years. However, opposition MPs opposed the law, as they imagined the country would become a center for money laundering and tax evasion/evasion.
Alm Maye has been a trader and analyst since 2013. He is an expert in equity markets, Forex and cryptocurrencies. He is the creator of Almvest.com and Imveste.com, two sites dedicated to personal finance. He participates in the development of feature articles on specialized sites such as Actions-boursieres.fr, as well as the international network of Finixio.com.