After El Salvador, it is now the Central African Republic claiming the position of the second country in the world to accept Bitcoin as an official currency. According to the latest Thursday reports by BBC, Reuters and Bloomberg, the spokespersons for the government of the country confirmed that the move is in motion.
Despite having an abundance of gold, diamonds and Uranium, CAR is one of the poorest countries in the world. Moreover, there has been a lot of conflict and unrest in the country since decades. According to a statement from the CAR presidency, the lawmakers unanimously decided to accept Bitcoin as legal tender. And after this move, there is no doubt about the fact that CAR is being viewed as one of the boldest and far-sighted countries in the world.
Back in September 2021, El Salvador became the first country which adopted Bitcoin as an official currency. The government had created Bitcoin wallets for citizens which were named Chivo. However many economists had criticized this move saying that it will increase the risk of financial instability. And the situation did in fact turn out as a disappointment for the government because the movement has not been able to capture the support of the population of the country.
The rollout of Bitcoin in El Salvador has definitely been rough over the past few months and the statistics portray that pretty well. According to a survey done by the El Salvador Chamber of Commerce, more than 80% of people are not willing to use Bitcoin in their daily lives. This is probably because of the extremely high ATM fees charged on the conversion of Bitcoin to US dollars. The survey further says that 9 out of 10 people completely rejected the idea of accepting their salaries in digital currency.
Moreover, another latest report released in March reveals that a mere 20% of the population in El Salvador are using the Chivo wallet app.
The CAR has been suffering from a lot of ongoing conflict since its independence. And only time will tell whether their bold decision of rolling out Bitcoin as an official currency was worth it or not.
