Central African Republic eyes legal framework for crypto adoption

The Central African Republic (CAR), a developing country in Central Africa, has set up a 15-member committee to draft a bill on the use of cryptocurrencies and tokenization in the region.

According to Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the president of the CAR, cryptocurrencies have the potential to help eradicate the country’s financial barriers. He believed in creating a business-friendly environment backed by a legal framework for the use of cryptocurrency. A rough translation of the official press release reads:

“With access to cryptocurrencies, the monetary barriers existing so far will disappear, the main objective of the measures adopted by the government being the development of the national economy.”

The committee tasked with drafting the Cryptography Bill includes 15 experts from five CAR ministries – Ministry of Mines and Geology, Ministry of Water, Forests, Hunting and Fishing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Urban Planning, Land Reform, Cities and Housing and Ministry of Justice, Promotion of Human Rights and Good Governance.

15 specialists #central africans from several ministries of my government composing the committee responsible for drafting a new, more comprehensive bill on the use of cryptocurrencies and offering CAR this unique opportunity for economic and technological development pic.twitter.com/bZTS8HQxH3

— Faustin-Archange Touadera (@FA_Touadera) January 20, 2023

Through the collaboration, members are tasked with working on a legal framework that will allow cryptocurrencies to operate in the Central African Republic and accelerate the development of the national economy.

Related: Bitcoin, Sango Coin and the Central African Republic

The African continent’s crypto initiatives marked another milestone as Nigerian crypto exchange Roqqu was granted a virtual currency license for the European Economic Area after two years of waiting for clearance from regulators.

Roqqu CEO Benjamin Onomor told Cointelegraph that off-shore Africans are sending over $5 billion back to loved ones and the current remittance system is slowing the process down.

“It makes a lot of sense to solve this problem using crypto as a vehicle. Crypto is a faster and cheaper route that can bridge the gap and help reduce money transfer fees around the world. This is the heart of the problem we want to solve,” he added.