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Business

The University of Namibia To Introduce Blockchain Masters Degree

Enthusiasts in Africa and around the world will soon be able to officially learn about blockchain technology as the University of Namibia (UNAM) plans to introduce a Master’s program on blockchain in 2024. 

The university’s IT department head, Samuel Nuungulu said the initiative has been developed to pave the way for potential startups that could arise as learners, by helping them acquire skills from this program. 

According to UNAM’s president, the university is already “infusing” blockchain-based information into its bachelor’s programs. 

Gurvy Kavei, who recently published a book on blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, is a key figure on the steering committee guiding UNAM’s Blockchain Master’s program. 

In a recent interview, Kavei confirmed that the university intends to introduce a blockchain degree. The news comes following reports that the Central Bank of Namibia is considering developing a digital currency. 

While advocates for blockchain and cryptocurrency argue that there is an urgent need for the widespread adoption of the technology, inadequate information and poor communication infrastructure have proven to be major hindrances. 

Despite the fact that Africa is heralded as the place where crypto and blockchain have a better chance of succeeding, news about crypto is dominated by scammers and thus the overall perceptions are driven by fear. 

As a Namibian educator and author, Gurvy Kavei published his blockchain book to be a valuable resource in understanding the fundamentals of the technology and to help deal with some of the misinformation.

Kavei says he wrote the book to help anyone who is interested in blockchain and crypto. Students and teachers at the University of Namibia where he teaches could be the first beneficiaries.

The book summarizes the 4th Industrial Revolution and covers key aspects of the crypto ecosystem from mining to selling cryptocurrencies as well as regulatory variations and fintech enablers that are crucial in establishing a firm footing in the new digital economy. 

Kavei is optimistic that crypto entrepreneurship is alive and hopes that the course and the book will help new entrants and existing players address some of the fundamental structural failures to enable the blockchain industry to thrive.

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Business

Zimbabwean Crypto Enthusiast, Tadii Tendayi, is using blockchain and crypto to support his community

Africa has seen a significant rise in the adoption of cryptocurrencies in recent years. According to a survey by the American data company Chainalysis, Africa continues to experience a rise in cryptocurrency adoption because of the region’s inadequate financial and economic institutions and, most significantly, the need for financial inclusion.

Cryptocurrencies have become a quick way to make money and facilitate faster transactions, especially cross-border payments. 

Intrigued by them and passionate about how they work and their benefits, Tadi Tendayi thinks cryptocurrencies are a great potential for Africa.

The cryptocurrency enthusiast from Zimbabwe is working to redefine cryptocurrencies and help the lives of many Zimbabweans by creating a blockchain infrastructure to change the lives of Zimbabweans in vulnerable communities.

“We support ten vulnerable women through crypto every day with a dollar a day, and we also support five kids through school for the next two years. And this is all through crypto,” he says.

Tendayi’s interest in blockchain technology fueled his desire for cryptocurrencies. Although he wasn’t interested in using cryptocurrencies to make money, he had to partake in cryptocurrency trading and other money-making crypto activities to better understand them.

Tendayi’s only interest was to understand the workings and uses of cryptocurrencies. He did not think of creating anything with blockchain until he met his Tunisian friend.

“At the time, I wasn’t thinking about building my blockchain. We were working with the available blockchain, not considering layer one or two. Then I met a friend from Tunisia who was running a pilot in Rwanda that had to do with Celo. I asked her about it, and then I started doing my research on Celo,” Tendayi added.

Tendayi did not know all the functionalities that came with blockchain. He discovered during his research that there was a mobile-first blockchain, meaning a person’s mobile phone number or email address could be their crypto address and that it could essentially create mobile money but for crypto. 

At this point, Tendayi started coming up with ideas. He could see blockchain and unique crypto solving problems in Zimbabwe, so he built BitFlex as a layer two blockchain on Celo, and his journey of building a blockchain infrastructure began.

BitFlex is a fintech platform that bridges the gap between crypto and fiat, making crypto simple enough to use, a solution that was part of Tendayi’s mission which was to build a blockchain for vulnerable communities.

It is crucial to use blockchain as an alternative to existing financial systems, especially in Zimbabwe.  Tendayi also emphasized that the nation had been subjected to sanctions and limitations that rendered traditional economic systems unreliable.

He says, “A country like Zimbabwe has sanctions imposed on it, so this automatically shuts out Zimbabweans from accessing basic things that everyone else should have. You might not be able to open a bank account or even register on an exchange like Coinbase with all these restrictions. But blockchain does not have these restrictions; Bitcoin does not have sanctions.”

While crypto does not need regulations and sanctions, it is harder to understand if one is not educated enough about it. Tendayi is bridging this gap with his blockchain infrastructure by providing a 30-minute webinar when one is onboarded on the platform. 

This has been supported by its partner Good Dollar, whose collaboration with Bitflex started in 202, to facilitate financial revolution through crypto and promote Universal Basic Income (UBI) in Africa. 

“What we are doing with GoodDollar is using crypto to support vulnerable communities by leveraging Decentralised Finance (DeFi). The onboarding process is a 30-minute webinar. The beneficiaries undergo a training program after downloading the app, transferring money, and cashing out to local currency.“

He explained that DeFi is a way to generate funds continuously when BitFlex or GoodDollar receives a donation. BitFlex uses Celo’s layer one tech, which means beneficiaries can easily use phone numbers as crypto wallets.

“So if someone gives us like $10,000, it will always remain $10,000. But, we use the proceeds to finance and fund our beneficiaries and communities.”

“We actually use platforms regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), these platforms have $375 million guarantee insurance,” he emphasized.

Tendayi added that even with insurance and regulation, the risks that come with crypto are hard to manage.

Through crypto, Tendayi has so far been able to provide a dollar a day to ten women every day and pay the yearly tuition of five Zimbabwean kids. 

Tendayi, however, believes that this is just the beginning and that he will continue to innovate and develop new strategies for Africans to utilize cryptocurrencies to their fullest potential.

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Business

Xago Rolls Out XGB Stablecoin For Swift Transfer Of British Pounds

South African-based money transfer platform, Xago Technologies has announced support for the British Pound with its XGB stablecoin to enable clients across the globe to purchase Pounds. 

XGB is backed 1:1 with the Pound and the platform will allow users to transfer money to pay-out points in minutes while maintaining the highest levels of security, compliance, and assurance.

In addition to the existing South African Rand and Ripple’s XRP, Xago recently announced the debut of US Dollars and USDC on its payment gateway and trade exchange with more currencies to follow soon.

Xago aims to empower Africans with revolutionary money solutions created with speed, efficiency, and low-cost transactional abilities for corporations, SMEs, and individuals. 

Their most recent offering is a white-labelled international money transfer service designed primarily for banks and shops to provide a quicker and more affordable option for their customers to be able to send money to their families back home.

According to the CEO and Co-founder of Xago, Mark Chirnside, 

 “Current international money transfers often take days for money to move from sender to recipient, with no confirmation on transaction finality and fees from all the parties involved can cost well above 10%, especially evident in sub-Saharan Africa. With Xago, it now takes minutes, and we are proud to say that our low fees are disrupting the global payments and money transfer industry.”

Xago hopes to uplift the people of Africa by using the strength of mobile, retail networks and blockchain technology to disrupt the payment industry by avoiding traditional payment charges and delays. 

The company is conducting demonstrations of the new and existing services and is calling on any interested party to book a demo or find out more on the Xago website.

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Social Good

Thousands of Dollars Up For Grabs In Decentralized Umoja Algorand Bounty Hack III

Following the success of the Decentralized Umoja Algorand Bounty Hacks 1 and 2, the Algorand Foundation, Reach and the Africa Blockchain Alliance have released a call for applications for the third Umoja Algorand Bounty Hack. 

The Africa Blockchain Alliance formed the collaboration to keep in line with its commitment to promote blockchain education on the African continent with this fast-paced and flexible training program for web developers in Africa looking to enter the blockchain development field.

Over the course of six weeks, the program will take the shape of an online Bounty Hack Series, a supervised hackathon where participants (teams and individuals) learn to create blockchain applications (Dapps) and then finish tasks from a list of pre-approved projects.

The teams will each be assigned a mentor who will work closely with them to ensure that they reach their full potential. The developed dapps are to be presented and voted on by participants at the end of the hack. 

The top three teams will receive prizes but beyond that, every team that participates and completes their project receives a prize of $1,000 or more simply for taking part.

The rewards and incentives for participation are as follows: 

1st prize is $3,000 while 2nd prize is $2,000 and 3rd prize is $1,000. All other participating teams that complete the project will receive $1,000. An additional $1,000 is up for grabs as the Community Choice Award. 

$250 is available for writing an article describing your project, and $300 for joining a call describing your project to the project team after the hack. 

There is also $500 for turning your project into a Reach workshop (with a pull request) or $750 for turning your project into a Reach tutorial (with a pull request).

In addition to the prizes, participants will receive ongoing support from the organizers after the hackathon to help them develop their projects or careers in blockchain.

The hackathon is open to all developers with any level of software development experience and the most important thing for consideration is to commit to finishing the tutorial and a project.

Developers interested in participating can apply now by using this link as the application window closes on July 15th, 2022.

The program will run from July 19th to September 15th, 2022 and for now, more information and a detailed timetable can be found here on the official landing page for the Bounty Hack. 

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Business

Binance Signs Cristiano Ronaldo for Exclusive Partnership To Promote NFTs

Binance, the world’s leading crypto exchange platform, announced yesterday that it has kicked off an exclusive, multi-year NFT partnership with Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the greatest footballers. 

Through this partnership, Binance will launch a global campaign aiming to give Ronaldo’s fans an introduction to Web3 with a compelling entry point into the world of NFTs.

The Portuguese soccer player and Binance will collaborate on a series of NFT collections for sale on the company’s platform as part of the multi-year agreement, the cryptocurrency exchange said, noting that the first collection would be made available later this year.

“Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the world’s best footballers and has transcended sport to become an icon in multiple industries. He has amassed one of the world’s most dedicated fan bases through his authenticity, talent, and charity work,” said Binance Founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao  (CZ). 

“We are thrilled to provide his fans with exclusive engagement opportunities to connect with Ronaldo and own a piece of iconic sports history,” he added.

“My relationship with the fans is very important to me, so the idea of bringing unprecedented experiences and access through this NFT platform is something that I wanted to be a part of. I know the fans are going to enjoy the collection as much as I do,” Ronaldo said.

The Cristiano Ronaldo NFT collections will be available exclusively on Binance NFT at www.binance.com/en/nft/home.

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Business

Mastercard signs new agreement to support Saudi Arabia’s metaverse, NFT, and gaming innovations

Mastercard and the Saudi Esports Federation (SEF) will work together on a variety of innovations, including Metaverse and Augmented Reality (AR) activations, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), gamers and fans’ loyalty solutions, and a gaming virtual Mastercard card, in an effort to support Saudi Arabia’s billion-dollar gaming industry.

The collaboration, which supports Saudi Vision 2030 objectives, will see the two companies develop unique and creative goods, services, and solutions and offer them to customers throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

“We are delighted to partner with the Saudi Esports Federation (SEF). This historic agreement will help to showcase the new technologies that are playing important roles in transforming the Kingdom into a leading hub for gaming and Esports, and more broadly for business, tourism, leisure, and innovation,” said Dimitrios Dosis, President, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa at Mastercard.

“Together with SEF, we hope to curate special offerings, events, and engagements, using our technology to make payments easier for gamers and creating more immersive experiences and truly priceless moments for the people of Saudi Arabia and avid gamers from all around the world to enjoy,” He added.

Esports and gaming have been identified as key growth sectors in Saudi Arabia, aiding the country’s continuous transformation of its digital economy, society, and infrastructure. According to a recent report by Boston Consulting Group, the consumption of video games and esports in Saudi Arabia is predicted to reach $6.8 billion by 2030.

The Saudi Esports Federation’s Chief Operating Officer, Ahmed Albishri, emphasized that since the organization’s founding in 2017, it has been committed to planning prestigious domestic and international competitions and events that showcase the potential of the Kingdom, its gaming community, industry, and technological infrastructure.

“Today, we understand that it is decidedly important that we work with like-minded partners that share our values and aspirations to achieve our goals. As one of the world’s leading technology companies who are doing a lot to expand their work in the gaming industry, Mastercard is best placed to join us in our mission. Our collaboration will go a long way to doing that, attracting investors to the Kingdom, and creating more opportunities for more people across the country,” He said.

A digital asset enablement project will be started in the Kingdom as part of the MoU, and Mastercard will design, build, roll out, and maintain an Augmented Reality (AR) activation as well as its own metaverse in the upcoming years.

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Business

SBI Africa To Use XRPL If Ripple Wins SEC Case.

SBI Africa is hopeful for a favourable outcome from the Ripple case with the American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as the company pledges to use XRPL. 

SBI’s parent company in Japan is one of Ripple’s key partners and the largest stakeholder in Ripple with CEO Yoshitaka Kitao also supporting XRP. However, to continue using XRP in Africa, SBI Africa still depends on Ripple winning the SEC case.

The future of XRP is now in limbo as Ripple and the SEC wait for a court ruling on the cryptocurrency’s market status.

In a series of tweets, Twitter user Crypto Eri (@sentosumosaba) highlighted, 

“Mr. Kitao of SBI gave an investor presentation today in Nagoya. On page 164 of 187 pages, it’s stated, #XRP ODL will be examined for utilization in the SBI Motor Africa business model when @Ripple‘s U.S. trial has ended in desired results.”

The US SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple as the creators of XRP in late December 2020. The case has dragged on till 2022 and is still pending with Ripple and SEC going at each other nonstop.

Ripple is well-known all around the world and has signed agreements to use its XRPL system with numerous financial institutions, governmental organizations, and even central banks. 

The multinational corporation, SBI recently expressed interest in adopting the Ledger technology across its platforms. The Ledger employs XRP as its base currency for international transactions so the adoption depends on if Ripple wins prevails in its legal battle with the SEC. 

According to reports, the US SEC accuses Ripple of raising more than $1.3 billion unlawfully through the sale of its XRP cryptocurrency tokens. The SEC contends that XRP belongs in the security category rather than the cryptocurrency category.

XRP and Ripple have prospered in areas outside the US where XRP is recognzied as a usable currency with Ripple ramping up recruitment efforts globally. 

SBI has put its business with Ripple on hold until the US court deems XRP a cryptocurrency and not a security.

Categories
Business

KuCoin Is Banned By Ontario Regulator For Failing To Comply With Securities Law

Due to KuCoin‘s violation of securities laws, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has permanently banned it from the Ontario market. The OSC made this announcement in one of its recent news releases. The release states the regulator’s successful actions against two exchanges, Bybit and KuCoin, for not complying with the securities law.

Bybit reacted to the enforcement actions by reaching an agreement with OSC, on a settlement after discovering that the exchange had broken Ontario’s securities law. The exchange also provided the necessary information to the OSC.

Bybit has paid a USD 2,468,910 fine as well as an additional CAD 10,000 to cover the costs of the inquiry. The exchange is also prohibited from conducting any advertising or marketing campaigns and more so residents of Ontario can’t open new accounts on the exchange platform.

Unlike Bybit, KuCoin failed to respond to the OSC for the investigation and, as a result, is entirely banned from market participation in Ontario for failing to comply with Ontario securities law.

“Foreign crypto-asset trading platforms that want to operate in Ontario must play by the rules or face enforcement action. The outcomes announced today should serve as a clear indication that we refuse to tolerate non-compliance with Ontario securities law,” Jeff Kehoe, Director of Enforcement at the OSC said.

Additionally, KuCoin is charged with a $2,000,000 fine and an additional $96,550 for the charges related to the inquiry. The OSC previously issued a warning to cryptocurrency trading platforms that facilitate the trade of securities and derivatives to get in touch with the regulator to register. While KuCoin and Bybit missed the deadline, they carried on with business as usual without getting in touch with the OSC.

The OSC is in contact with international securities authorities to exchange information in support of these initiatives and will continue to take enforcement action against non-compliant crypto-asset trading platforms.

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Business

Tether To Introduce A Stablecoin Tied To The Pound.

Yesterday, Tether announced plans to expand its lineup of tokens tied to fiat money by launching a stablecoin that will be backed by the British Pound Sterling. 

Stablecoins obtain their value from being pegged to another asset. They can be used for swift transactions on the cryptocurrency market or as a safe haven for money during turbulence.

According to a statement from Tether, GBP will be offered on the market early in July with a 1:1 peg to the pound. This introduction of GBP will make pounds tradable on the Ethereum blockchain.

Tether’s Chief Technology Officer, Paolo Ardoino is quoted saying, 

“We believe that the United Kingdom is the next frontier for blockchain innovation and the wider implementation of cryptocurrency for financial markets. We hope to help lead this innovation by providing cryptocurrency users worldwide with access to a GBP-denominated stablecoin issued by the largest stablecoin issuer”.

Ardoino added that Tether is ready and willing to work with UK regulators to make this goal a reality and looks forward to the continued adoption of Tether stablecoins. 

The timing of the launch of the GBPT token is questionable as it comes when the crypto sector as a whole is experiencing severe contractions.

Recent times have seen the flagship cryptocurrency, Bitcoin fall from a high of $69,000 to around $20,000 this week.

Tether’s total valuation has dropped by nearly $20bn since its peak while its largest token, the USD tether, has fallen by more than $8bn in just over a week as holders race to cash out into safer assets. 

Tether claims that despite the market decline, its business has never been more robust and cites the quickness with which the billions were taken as proof of its solid roots.

The UK Government, which claims to still support the industry despite the crypto market fall, specifically mentioned stablecoins as an area requiring regulatory assistance.

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Opinions

How the Central African Republic Can Find Financial Freedom Using Bitcoin – Bitcoin Experts Advise

The Central African Republic (CAR) shocked the world when its president announced on 28th April this year that the country had adopted bitcoin as legal currency, making it the first country in Africa.

Most people didn’t anticipate that it would be this small African country to be the one to follow El Salvador’s move since it was the first to recognize bitcoin as a legal tender, globally. 

However, a number of factors might make the CAR an obvious place for bitcoin adoption. For example, the CAR has one of the lowest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world. Additionally, its population, for the most part, is kept outside of the financial system and is unwillingly shielded from technological developments like smartphones and the internet. 

Intrigued by these circumstances, a team of Bitcoin experts and enthusiasts, dubbed the Bitcoin Delegation, traveled to the Central African Republic to learn more about the conditions there and to analyze how it might be able to inform CAR officials on how to use Bitcoin for the better. 

The team was composed of Alex Gladstein, Head of Strategy at the Human Rights Foundation, Stacy Herbert, CEO of El Zonte Capital, Samson Mow, CEO of JAN3, Fodé Diop, CEO of the Bitcoin Developers Academy, Nicolas Burtey, CEO of Galoy, Noor El Bawab, Director of Partnerships at Galoy, Sebastien Gouspillou, CEO of BitBlock Data Center, Richard Détente, CEO of Détente Coopération, David Oren, Co-founder of Solarly, Jean-Christophe Busnel, Organizer of Surfin’Bitcoin and StackinSat, Josselin Tonnellier, Co-founder of Surfin’Bitcoin and StackinSat, Gloire Wanzavalere, Co-founder of Kiveclair and Africa Bitcoin Conference, Gilles Cadignan, CEO of Woleet, Jeff Gallas, CEO of Fulmo, and Lionel Jeannerat, CEO of PVHIstoire.

However, only seven traveled to the CAR: Burtey, El Bawab, Gouspillou, Oren, Busnel, Cadignan, and Wanzavalere.

Burtey, CEO of Bitcoin banking software company Galoy, shared the findings of the group’s recent trip to the Central African Republic.

  1. The country lacks the infrastructure

According to Burley, the CAR must work on its infrastructure to fully adopt the digital currency, Bitcoin. The citizens can barely access the internet and electricity. 

He says, “The first thing that is striking is that there is no infrastructure in the country. Meaning that there is barely electricity or internet in the country, even if you’re in the capital city.”

By 2017, account ownership at a financial institution or with a mobile-money-service provider was 13.75% of the CAR population aged 15 years or more, per World Bank data. For comparison, the percentage of El Salvador’s population with access to the banking system was around 30% that year, per World Bank data.

Additionally, the population of the Central African Republic also has spotty access to the internet and energy, according to the World Bank. Barely 15% of the country’s population has access to electricity as of 2020, and only 10% used the internet. Only 38 out of every 100 persons in the CAR has a mobile cellular subscription as of 2020. When considering fixed broadband connectivity, the situation is significantly worse because there are just 0.01 subscribers for every 100 persons in the nation.

With minimal infrastructure, this could be a barrier to CAR’s intentions.

  1. CAR population lacks an understanding of Bitcoin

The CAR population barely understands anything about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. According to the findings, Government representatives and the local population are still unaware of the power of Bitcoin. It appears that only CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadéra truly understands peer-to-peer currency, a phenomenon that has essentially caused the country to put the wagon before the horse.

“My understanding is that the president is the one who decided to adopt Bitcoin. He has a Ph.D. in mathematics with a focus on cryptography. But many other members of the government, pretty much everyone, don’t really understand the difference between ‘crypto’ and Bitcoin,” Burtey said.

Burtey explained that in their conversations with the Government officials, the Bitcoin experts attempted to demonstrate why the CAR would be better off focusing on Bitcoin alone instead of embarking on the novel, esoteric use cases promised by tokens and “crypto.”

He added that while CAR had launched the Sango project, an initiative that was launched to pave the way to a digital future of endless possibilities, this whole idea seems new to the officials.

However, Burtey added that the CAR population has not only been kept in the dark regarding Bitcoin but it is further held back by the lack of proper conditions for its adoption to flourish. While it catches up, the country could start benefiting from the P2P currency before those issues are resolved in at least one way.

  1. The country lacks monetary freedom

Being under the CFA franc system, huge hurdles exist for the Central African Republic to be able to sell its natural resources to foreign nations.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the CFA franc zone consists of 14 nations in sub-Saharan Africa. Eight countries comprise the West African Economic and Monetary Union, while six make up the Central African Economic and Monetary Union. The CAR is part of the latter.

All of the 14 nations in the zone, of which only two were not French colonies, adopt the CFA franc as their official currency.

The Bitcoin experts advised that Bitcoin could provide a way out of such monetary colonialism. In selling its natural resources for BTC, the CAR could bypass the hurdles and bureaucracies intrinsic to the CFA system. It could be the first step toward a more sovereign nation in Central Africa.

The visit of the Bitcoin Delegation to the Central African Republic culminated in a report sent to the country’s officials detailing the findings of the group as well as its recommendations for better and more effective adoption of bitcoin. 

According to the report, here are some of the ways in which CAR could utilize Bitcoin to fix the challenges above. 

  1. Focus on Bitcoin

As was already mentioned, the delegation’s first suggestion was to concentrate just on embracing Bitcoin rather than starting out with many cryptocurrencies at once.

According to the Bitcoin Delegation, by sticking with Bitcoin, adoption would be facilitated nationwide and people could be sure that the laws governing their new currency wouldn’t change.

“Hundreds of crypto projects disappear every year however, Bitcoin continues to prove its ability to withstand any test, thanks to its high level of decentralization. Focusing on Bitcoin, and only Bitcoin will help avoid all the pitfalls of the crypto industry, and will allow people to stay away from the thousands of fraudulent projects.” The report states.

“Not focusing on Bitcoin alone will slow the population’s adoption process, or could even make it fail,” the Delegation concludes.

  1. Having a lightning network

The Bitcoin Delegation explained that Lightning, Bitcoin’s overlay network for cheap and fast payments, was the key technology that allowed El Salvador to feasibly utilize bitcoin for everyday transactions. Likewise, it is critical that the CAR adopts the network for a better user experience.

“Lightning aims to enable fast transactions and solve Bitcoin’s scaling problem by dramatically lowering transaction costs. The deployment of Lightning nodes within CAR will ensure the sovereignty of payments, and the uncensored use of the network,” per the report.

  1. The country should start Bitcoin mining

As citizens start to buy and sell bitcoin as well as use it for payments, the Bitcoin Delegation envisions a way for the country itself to start profiting from Bitcoin mining.

“The Central African Republic has abundant sources of energy. According to our sources, the hydroelectric potential could create an installed capacity of 700 to 2,000 MW [megawatts]. Several hydropower plant projects exist in the drawers at Bangui, but unfortunately, they have never come to fruition due to a lack of financing,” The report says.

The delegation argues that the country could leverage bitcoin mining “as a subsidy” to tap into that underexploited clean energy potential.

An engineering team of Gouspillou’s company will offer “full technical and strategic support” for the CAR to carry out such a bitcoin mining project. The report also calls on those interested in supporting the initiative to reach out to Gouspillou and find ways they could help.

  1. Crypto education  is important

More importantly than having the tools to use is knowing how to use them. With that in mind, the fifth recommendation made by the Bitcoin Delegation surfaces the area of Bitcoin education.

“A considerable portion of the Central African population does not yet understand what bitcoin is and its merits as the country’s legal tender. The success of the legalization of bitcoin cannot be achieved without the involvement of government, civil society, and academia. For this to happen, it is essential to train the population to understand the added value of Bitcoin for the prosperity of the Central African Republic.” 

The delegation recommended that CAR officials work together with the Bitcoin community to establish three educational programs in the country: government, civil society, and university initiatives.

Given the situation on the ground in the CAR, it is clear that much work needs to be done before the population can start benefiting from bitcoin adoption.

Infrastructure and more education are desperately needed in the African nation, and as such, government officials and the private sector will need to join forces to create the conditions for the P2P monetary network to properly flourish. Nevertheless, the CAR can begin experimenting with the technology right away to bypass decades-old export limitations and attract foreign investment into the country. Its natural resources can be a powerful anchor on which officials can rely, seeking capital from abroad to nourish their land.

The Bitcoin Delegation’s report also offered more solutions such as supporting the Sango wallet and issuing Government bonds on the lightning network.