LONDON, (The Southern African Times) – After El Salvador, Tanzania is showing an inclination towards the adoption of cryptocurrencies. In her speech on Sunday, the country’s President, Samia Suluhu Hassan urged the central bank to prepare for cryptocurrencies, according to local media reports.
Though her remarks were not direct, she said that the adoption of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology as a whole is rising, and her country should pave the way for such developments.
Additionally, she signaled that cryptocurrencies are the future of finance, and the East African nation should take steps to change the global banking industry attitude.
“We have witnessed the emergence of a new journey through the internet,” said President Hassan. “I know that throughout the nation, including Tanzania, they have not accepted or started using these routes. However, my call to the Central Bank is that you should start working on that development.”
Bitcoin and Emerging Nations
While rich nations are worried about the rise of digital currencies and trying to curb the industry more and more, emerging nations are becoming torchbearers of digital currencies. Tanzania’s stance towards the industry came days after El Salvador, a small Latin American nation, gave Bitcoin the status of legal tender.
In addition, a few island nations have beat large economies to issue their own central bank digital currency (CBDC) in partnership with private players.
However, it is not clear if Tanzania will consider legitimizing Bitcoin or will focus on the development of a digital version of its fiat.
Meanwhile, Africa remained a hotbed for cryptocurrency penetration. Countries like Nigeria are witnessing a mass adoption of cryptocurrencies due to the country’s failing economy. Earlier, the country’s central bank barred lenders from working with crypto exchanges, which forced crypto users to conduct their business on peer-to-peer platforms.
