Central African Republic Adopts Bitcoin as Legal Tender
The Central African Republic now adopts BTC (bitcoin), the most dominant currency as legal tender following in the footstep of El Salvador making it the second country to make such a move. It is also the first-ever African country to embrace Bitcoin as an official currency.
On April 27, 2022, the law was passed by the country’s lawmakers by a unanimous vote. The law was authored by CAR’s minister of the digital economy Gourna Zacko and Calixte Nganongo, the country’s minister of finance and budget. The announcement was posted on the official account of President Faustin Archange Touadera.
BTC (bitcoin) will now be used alongside the CFA franc, a currency used as a backed by France and pegged to the euro. The currency is also the official currency of five other African countries that include Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon.
Although CAR is rich in diamonds, gold, and uranium, it remains one of the poorest countries in the world. The war-stricken country is known for its close association with Russia. But what could be the reason behind the country’s recent move?
According to reports, the recent move to adopt BTC (bitcoin) as legal is to undermine CFA as Russia and France compete to gain influence over the resource-rich country. This was stressed by French analyst Thierry Vircoulon in his statement with the AFP media outlet.
“The context, given the systemic corruption and a Russian partner facing international sanctions, does encourage suspicion.”
But Economist Yann Daworo shared a different view on the matter. Commenting on BBC Afrique, Daworo stated that adopting the BTC (bitcoin) as legal tender offers convenience as transactions can be done digitally with the use of smartphones alone which includes converting to fiat. He further added:
“Businessmen will no longer have to walk around with suitcases of CFA francs that will have to be converted into dollars or any other currency to make purchases abroad.”
He also revealed that there has been a growing concern with other countries to drop the CFA as a “relic of the colonial era” giving France an upper hand on economic control.
According to a data World Data, only 4% of its citizens have access to the internet. Will a country with very limited internet access be able to handle Bitcoin given its complexity? Will it be capable to educate its almost 5 million residents about bitcoin? El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption is no different as it was also faced with opposition from the international community and the majority of Salvadorans.
Coinbase Now Supports a Leading Competitor’s Stablecoin
BUSD (Binance USD), the stablecoin of Binance, the leading crypto exchange by trading volume is now listed on its closest rival, Coinbase. Coinbase users can now trade BUSD (Binance USD) along with the other seven stablecoins which include Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC), TerraUSD (UST), Dai (DAI), Paxos Standard (PAX), Rai Reflex Index (RAI), and mStable USD (MUSD). In a recent data by Crypto.co, BUSD (Binance USD) now holds a market cap of $17,390,311,110 making it the fourth largest of its kind. Previously, ranked as number 3 in 2021, it was surpassed by UST (Terra USD) after LUNA (Terra), the native token of the Terra network surged in price.
Although there has been a slight glitch during its launching on Coinbase as announced on the trading platform’s dashboard, the problem was immediately resolved.
On Nov. 17, 2018, Binance announced the listing of USDC ( USD Coin), Coinbase’s stablecoin on its platform. USDC (USD Coin) is now the second-largest stablecoin with a market cap of $49,471,154,445. Although the two leading crypto exchanges were often at odds with one another, listing their competitor’s stablecoin to their respective platforms all boils down to business.
Newly-Launched ApeCoin Now the Largest Metaverse Token
APE (ApeCoin), the governance and utility token of the Bored Ape Yacht Club community is now the largest metaverse token in the crypto market. With its market cap of $6,618,324,629 has already surpassed other leading metaverse tokens which include MANA (Decentraland), SAND (The Sandbox), and even AXS (Axie Infinity), the token of the largest NFT gaming platform.
While the majority of the leading cryptocurrencies like BTC (bitcoin), ETH (ethereum), and SOL (Solana) were struggling to keep their momentum amid the price swings, APE (ApeCoin) has been consistently on an upward trend.
The primate NFT collection token was launched on March 16 and was given as an airdrop to owners of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection. The token was listed on major exchanges like Binance and Coinbase on March 17. It started trading at more than $7, APE (ApeCoin) token is now more than twice its initial price with its current value at $23.78. It is now ranked #23 by market cap in Coinmarketcap among other cryptocurrencies.
Move to Earn Token FITFI Surges After Listing to Exchanges
The price of FITFI (Step App), the governance token of Step App, soars after its listing on crypto exchanges. From its IDO price of only $ 0.0049, the token price increased by 150% immediately after trading on exchanges started.
The move-to-earn token is now supported by OKX, MEXC, Crypto.com, Bybit, Bitget, and BingX. The growing interest in move-to-earn protocols among users has largely contributed to the rise in the popularity of these platforms. But what basically is Step App?
Step App bridges the metaverse and GameFi market, a platform for physical experienced exploring the metaverse, and aims to incentivize its users. Users will get paid by doing their daily physical routines like walking, jogging, and running. They can also compete with friends or other users across the globe. On top of that, they can also interact with other users to gain virtual experience through the metaverse and the real world.
FITFI (Step App) in data by Crypto.co is now at $0.432046 with a current market cap of $72,804,323 and has increased by 52.91% in a 24-hr chart. Move-to-earn is definitely the newest fad in the crypto market today.
