Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has called on the country’s central bank to have a digital currency plan amid a rising interest and adoption of cryptocurrencies around the world.
“I know that many countries around the world have not accepted or started using digital currencies. However, I call upon the Bank of Tanzania to start looking into these developments just to be prepared.
“We don’t want to be caught unawares or find out later that our citizens are ahead of us and have already started using cryptocurrencies,” BBC quoted Samia as saying on Sunday.
This is the first time that an African leader has openly acknowledged a serious acceptance of digital assets or a decentralised approach to banking, according to The Citizen.
Last week lawmakers in El Salvador made history when they voted to make Bitcoin legal tender.
El Salvador became the first country in the world to recognise a cryptocurrency on such terms.
“Such a move is indeed historic and unprecedented, but it’s perhaps not entirely surprising given the deepening relationship many countries in Latin America are developing with cryptocurrencies and what they are being used for,” Euro News said.
As in many countries in the developing world, nations in Latin America are intermittently beset by political and economic crises and the crippling hardships caused by them, the report said.
“The Latin American countries where you have this combination of inflation or hyperinflation cycles – deflation as well – and then you have very high friction for financial transactions, a high percentage of people who are unbanked, cryptocurrencies make total sense,” the report quoted Fred Thiel, CEO of US-based Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital Holdings as saying.
PICTURE: @patmitchell
