The Central African Republic has officially adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender, which means that the digital asset is now an official state currency. The CAR is only the second country in the world to establish this, after El Salvador in the September of last year.
While this might appear as good news for the crypto community and generally helps greater adoption of the asset across the world, things might not be as black and white as they might at first seem.
The Central African Republic has long been an ally to Russia, a country that has very recently invaded its neighbor Ukraine. Concerns are rising that by establishing Bitcoin’s legality in the CAR, the country’s officials might be inclined to help Russian citizens evade the sanctions via this digital asset.
Other red flags stem from the fact that only 4% of the country’s population has access to the internet connection, rendering legalizing Bitcoin virtually almost useless. Some experts see this as a move to undermine the native currency, the French-backed CFA franc, and thus alienate themselves from French influence.
There have been several contenders for the second country to adopt Bitcoin, such as Honduras, or Malaysia, and the Central African Republic’s involvement in this matter seems to have come out of the left field. Especially when the motivation behind this move might be a little murky at best.
