In 2022, the Central African Republic (CAR) became the second nation, and the first one in Africa, to like El Salvador legalize Bitcoin (BTC) as a legal tender, in practice meaning as a national currency. As the new year is starting, there are many discussions about how the usage of BTC is done in practice and what problems, challenges and solutions are existing.
One main difference between El Salvador and CAR is when it comes to financial governance and economic development. In the case of El Salvador, the country is economically connected more to the USA and accepting BTC has been also about making it easier for remittances of Salvadoran Americans to be sent to family members. While in CAR, one of the main arguments in favor of BTC has been about political dependency on the France-based governance of Central African Franc (CAF) used by CAR and several other West African nations. Thereby, BTC is seen as an alternative to "monetary colonialism" not only regarding France but also international financial institutions as the International Monetary Fund.
Another comparison with the El Salvador case is when it comes to things such as access to the Internet, usage of mobile devices and digital literacy. CAR is one of the poorest countries worldwide in terms of income and human development. One example of that is that less than 10% of CAR population have daily access to the Internet. Therefore, despite the legalization of BTC, there are many cases of confusion and doubts experienced by CAR residents.
On the other side, the CAR government has been communicating about BTC about a new overall opportunity for the country's development. A primary example of that has been the promotion of Sango as an ecosystem and crypto-hub with both physical land for no-tax zone business operations, digital residency, and tokenization of different resources. Sango also is reminding of El Salvador's project of creating a Bitcoin City also based on the usage of geothermal energy via volcanoes. Besides the ambition to attract business, investors and entrepreneurs through Sango Coin, the adaptation of Bitcoin is seen as a method to promote visionary and positive stories about CAR's future.
The case of Sango remains still to be seen in practice because so far the process is more of an idea and a project development. At the same time, the development in CAR can be seen as a first step to decentralization becoming an important part of everyday life across Africa.
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