Just as the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, did almost a year ago, his Central African counterpart, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, presented a bill —finally approved unanimously— that gives bitcoin (BTC) legal tender status in his country. .
East 65-year-old mathematician has been in power since 2016 in one of the poorest nations in the world and also one of the most conflictive, with frequent coups, rebellions and two civil wars to its credit.
The campaign promises of Touadéra, who came to power in the second round with 62% of the vote, included “making the Central African Republic (CAR) a united country, a country of peace, a country facing development.” This included the disarmament of warring parties, which has not yet been achieved.
Touadéra is in charge of the difficult task of maintaining peace and security in the territory, without the support of the French armed forces. The European country ended the military intervention in the Central African Republic shortly after he became president.
His peacekeeping mission seems to be far from being achieved, although the president governs with a heavy hand. Alleged extrajudicial executions and possible violations of human rights, by the armed forces of the country, tarnish the figure of the official.
Little is known about the bitcoiner facet of the Central African president, although in his newly created twitter accountsome expressions of support have been poured towards the cryptocurrency created by Satoshi Nakamoto.
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one of his tweets reveals Touadéra’s shared love of numbers and Bitcoin: “Mathematics is the language of the universe; Bitcoin is the universal money».
Also, on the social network acquired by Elon Musk, the president revealed his enthusiasm for the possibilities that Bitcoin would give the Central African Republic: “We are delighted to be among the pioneers of the most innovative technology in the world, the one that creates value for everyone. He added that the nation has been “invisible until now”, but that it will be “recognized and appreciated”.
A world map with the two countries in which bitcoin is legal tender accompanies that publication.
That hope of recognition and economic prosperity was also expressed, days ago, in the statement in which the Central African “Bitcoin Law” was released, as reported by CriptoNoticias.
The difficult task of adopting bitcoin in a hostile environment
Perhaps the appreciation that bitcoin has had over the years, and the hope that the upward trend in its price will continue in the long term, have been factors that prompted its adoption.
The Central African Republic is rated as one of the least developed countries in the world. Its territory of 622,980 km² (1.2 times the size of Spain) is home to almost 5 million people. Life expectancy for them is estimated at 51 years for men and 55 for women.
According to data from the Organization of the United Nations (UN) and Amnesty International, 2.29 million people, that is, almost half of its population, are in a condition of “acute food insecurity”. Among them at least 80,000 children under the age of five are at risk of acute malnutrition.
Regarding the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender, it is important to mention the scarcity of resources to facilitate the use of the cryptocurrency. 2020 statistics show that in the country there are 1.60 million mobile phoneswhich corresponds to an average of 0.34 per person (in the European Union, on the other hand, the figure is 1.2 mobile phones per person).
The most recent data available, as CriptoNoticias reported, shows that less than 8% of the Central African population has access to the Internet.
It will be in this arduous context that Touadéra will have to enforce the recently approved law which, among other things, indicates in its article 10 that “every economic agent is obliged to accept cryptocurrencies as a means of payment”.
In an environment such as the one mentioned, the cases contemplated in article 21 could become more of a rule than an exception. There, “those who, due to a notorious and evident fact, do not have access to bitcoin” are excluded from the obligation to accept bitcoin. technologies that allow transactions in cryptocurrencies.