Bitcoin official currency in Central African Republic, signed by the president.
Becoming the second country in the world to do so behind El Salvador
Following rumors all week that Central African Republic was adopting Bitcoin as legal tender, I stumbled upon this tweet by Eric Tchepannou @erict875.
Apparently it shows a document signed by the President of the Republic, Faustin Archange Touadéra. Here is the document in full view.
As it’s in french, and I can’t read french, I asked for someone to translate it, and fellow pleb @bluefish_79 provided a rough translation using Google Lens.
The document states: “The president of the republic, head of state, professor Faustin Archange TOUADERA took note with satisfaction and enthusiasm of the unanimous decision of the National Assembly relating to the bill which establishes the framework which governs crypto-currencies and establishes Bitcoin as the official currency in the Central African Republic. The adoption of Bitcoin as an official currency represents a decisive step towards opening up new opportunities for our country.”
The President further elaborates that this historic decision, the country will enter a new phase, an economic recovery and peace building plan, which provides for the achievement of strong and inclusive growth for the benefit of development and economic performance, which will ultimately generate prosperity for their fellow citizens.
This puts the Central African Republic on the map, together with El Salvador, as the most courageous and visionary countries in the world.
The document sends a strong message and vision of empowerment, stability and prosperity, that “we must do everything in our power for the common good, bearing in mind the heritage that we have a duty to leave to future generations”.
That is low time preference thinking right there.
I tried to do some fact checking to see if this is true and found several sources indicating that this is legit.
The National Assembly unanimously votes the bill governing cryptocurrency in the Central African Republic
Elected representatives of nation gathered in plenary session on April 21, 2022, placed under leadership of President of National Assembly, Simplice Mathieu SARANDJI, favorably adopted by acclamation and unanimously Bill Governing Cryptocurrency in the Central African Republic. Defended by the Minister of the Digital Economy, Posts and Telecommunications, Mr. Justin GOURNA ZACKO, the said bill transmitted to the Bureau of the National Assembly which, in application of the provisions of article 32 of Organic Law No. 17.011 of March 14, 2017 relating to the Internal Regulations of the National Assembly and after having declared its admissibility, entrusted its substantive examination to the Mixed Commission Economy, Finance and Planning / Equipment and Communications chaired by the Honorable Guy Samuel NGANATOUA.
@Bluefish_79 did some additional digging and found out that the National Assembly of RCA had voted for it.
Earlier hints
Forbes Monaco had also posted an article about this earlier but people were still in disbelief, they couldn’t find a source, thinking it was an anonymous troll behind it. @coryklipsten had put up a tweet about it a few days earlier.
Breaking news
First mainstream outlet AFP News Agency broke the story. Quickly, other news outlets followed suit.
Yahoo News:
Looks like this is legit, after all. Even Wikipedia added it.
Community response
The responses from the community didn’t wait:
President Touadéra appears on Twitter?
Finally, the President Faustin, Archange Touadéra himself confirms the news on Twitter about their successful outcome. The account is not yet verified so could be fake.
Update: The account seems fake. A source inside CAR said they have zero knowledge of a Twitter account for the president.
Alex Gladstein 🌋 ⚡ @gladstein
The president of the Central African Republic 👀 https://t.co/TFjGA6dNjBHope, prosperity, freedom, sovereignty
There could be several reasons for this chess move for the Central African Republic to escape from the CFA Franc. The CFA Franc is the petrodollar Matrix 10X, theorized @noufsmith.
@Meister_Ancap notified me that Alex Gladstein @gladstein from Human Rights Foundation had written an article about bitcoin mining activity in the surrounding region, Congo, in the humaniarian and environmental case for Bitcoin back in May 2021. In section IV. Bitcoin mining in the Congo, Alex Gladstein argues that economic activity and renewable grids can be bootstrapped by Bitcoin mining and international aid could provide the spark.
If Bitcoin mining can be a bridge to help subsidize and encourage more hydro power to come online, it could be a worthy project for humanitarians to target to help stop deforestation, protect the local environment and empower the people.
Bitcoin could very well be a mechanism to help align incentives and spark more electricity and agriculture for a part of the world that is underdeveloped and dependent on imports.
humanitarian aid could help strengthen local communities and bootstrap them so they can be in control of their own destiny, making them more productive and sovereign. There are already many such projects to give electricity to small communities away from population centers across Africa, Gouspillou said, and Bitcoin mining can make them much more profitable and effective.
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-is-humanitarian-and-environmental
Game theory is kicking in. Another domino falls. Central Africa and El Salvador will be the new world super powers. Who’s next?
Addendum:
While writing this, BBC just drops a radio interview. Please enjoy!
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Greatly appreciate the diligence and attention to detail on the timeline for this significant event…momentum is a powerful force for an idea and now there are two beachheads on separate continents (maybe a third with Lugano?)