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Central African Republic: Bank of Central African States Urges CAR to Annul Bitcoin As Currency
VOA, 11 May 2022
The Cameroon-headquartered Bank of Central African States (BEAC) has urged the Central African Republic (CAR) to annul a law it passed in late April that made the cryptocurrency… Read more »
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Africa: Are Cryptocurrencies the New Digital 'Blood Diamonds' of Africa?
Thomson Reuters Foundation, 9 May 2022
Across the world's troubled spots, resource wars and economic crises are being fuelled by a new kind of high-tech "blood diamond" - cryptocurrency. Read more »
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Central African Republic: Bitcoin Boom Spikes Amid Perceived Risks
DW, 5 May 2022
Central African Republic and El Salvador have made Bitcoin legal tender and Panama has approved a bill to regulate crypto assets. Experts have warned that nations that adopt crypto… Read more »
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Africa: Crypto Expectations for Africa in 2022
InfoWire, 8 February 2022
As many people have witnessed was 2021 a year that will be remembered as the year whereby crypto reached it's all-time high price which led to a adoption of the crypto worldwide.… Read more »
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Africa: The Role of Cryptocurrencies in Sub-Saharan Africa
Brookings, 16 March 2022
Editor's Note: Below is a viewpoint from the Foresight Africa 2022 report, which explores top priorities for the region in the coming year. Read the full chapter on technological… Read more »
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Africa: Crypto is Growing in Africa
InfoWire, 4 January 2022
Africa is the second biggest continent in the world, with around 1,5 billions people and still growing. The continent has got a big history with many events that had an impact on… Read more »
Are Cryptocurrencies the New 'Blood Diamonds' of Africa?
Pete Howson for Thomson Reuters Foundation reports that the Central African Republic (CAR) has become the latest country to adopt bitcoin as a national currency. The move follows 2021's adoption by El Salvador. But CAR's sudden embrace of crypto is confusing, Howson writes.
CAR, the world's second-poorest country, is nowhere near ready for crypto payments. Yet CAR's authorities threaten significant fines and other penalties on vendors who refuse to accept bitcoin for payments.
Elsewhere on the continent, despite reported crimes against humanity by paramilitaries in Ethiopia, developers of the Cardano cryptocurrency are working with Ethiopian authorities to build digital-surveillance systems, including a digital ID and records system. Cardano hopes to roll out an Ethiopia-wide crypto-payment network, before connecting the entire African continent.
Much of Africa is rich in precious resources. In colonial times, to profit from these resources, European powers and their private companies capitalised on conflict. The term "blood diamond" became well-known, defined as any diamond sold to fund military action in diamond-rich areas of Africa.
InFocus
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The level of young wealthy Kenyans is higher at 27% above the global average of 22%, Knight Frank's 2022 attitudes survey has revealed naming bitcoin technology among the leading Read more »
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The increasing use of crypto assets, including Bitcoin, has led regulators to take steps towards bringing them under South African regulation, providing investors with protection ... Read more »
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Cryptocurrencies make headlines for shaking up the financial world, but they are also gaining ground in less developed countries. In Kenya, an American economist, who introduced ... Read more »
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The Central Bank of Nigeria has been warning citizens since 2018 of the risks associated with investing in cryptocurrency, which is not considered legal tender in the country. The ... Read more »
