Another country adopts BTC as legal tender

May 2, 2022

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EmergingCrypto.io Weekly Update April 24 - April 30

Africa

Image Credit: Nightstallion and Bitboy via Wikimedia Commons

The Central African Republic adopts BTC as legal tender

The Central African Republic (CAR) has become the second nation in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. This means that CAR citizens and businesses will be able to transact in bitcoin. The digital currency will now operate in parallel with the CFA franc, the fiat currency used in six Central African countries. The IMF is not pleased with this decision by the CAR just as they weren't pleased when El Salvador made the same decision last September. Abebe Aemro Selassie, the IMF Africa head, said, "It is really important to not see such things as a panacea" for solving the challenges the country faces and that the CAR must have a "robust" payment system with transparency and a governance framework to adopt cryptocurrencies as legal tender. The CAR, rich in natural resources but one of the least developed countries in the world, has been involved in an ongoing civil war since 2012. Following the passing of the law, Chief of Staff to the CAR President, Obed Namsio, said that the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender is "a decisive step towards opening up new opportunities for our country." (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on CryptoSlate)

Visa opens its first African innovation studio in Nairobi, Kenya

Last month Visa opened its newest innovation studio in Nairobi, Kenya, their first innovation studio in Africa. Visa plans to use the innovation studio to help their clients and partners extend their service offerings across the continent. Some of the areas of focus will be how to use blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), Virtual Reality (VR), and biometrics to develop new payment solutions. The studio in Nairobi joins a network of innovation studios that Visa has been opening since 2016 in cities around the world including San Francisco, Singapore, and Dubai. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on BitcoinKE)

Latin America

Image Credit: Chivo Wallet

El Salvador's Chivo Wallet is less popular than we thought according to US study

El Salvador's Chivo Wallet is not as popular as we thought according to a study by the US National Bureau of Economic Research. The survey of 1,800 households in El Salvador found out that only little more than half of the respondents downloaded the wallet and did so just as the wallet launched in September 2021. The main driver to download the app was the $30 bonus that was offered by the government. No downloads have taken place in 2022. The most important reason cited to not download the app was (1) a preference to use cash and (2) a lack of trust in bitcoin or the system that was implemented in El Salvador. Only about 5% of citizens used the Chivo Wallet to pay taxes, and remittances were not at the scale that was envisioned at the start of the experiment. The study highlighted the challenges of wide acceptance of cryptocurrencies, despite support and incentives offered by the El Salvadorian government. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on Cointelegraph)

Brazilian senate passes 'Bitcoin Law' to regulate its crypto market

Brazil made headlines across many news outlets last week with the passing of the country's 'Bitcoin Law' in the Brazilian senate. The law does NOT make crypto legal tender in Brazil, but establishes a regulatory framework in the Latin American giant on important issues like who can operate in Brazil, how the Brazilian market should work, and penalties for crimes committed. The bill now moves on to the Chamber of Deputies for debate and approval. If passed there, it will then be presented to Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, to be signed into law. (Read more on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on Blocknews)

Asia

Image Credit: Nicholas Doherty via Unsplash

Japanese blockchain gaming startup raises $24 million USD in Series C funding round

Japanese blockchain gaming startup, double jump.tokyo, announced last week that they raised $24 million USD from 14 investors in a Series C funding round. double jump.tokyo is behind the game My Crypto Heroes, a blockchain-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). This funding round signals the wide-ranging interest in games that incorporate cryptocurrencies, which have been emerging as a popular combination since the success of the play-to-earn game, Axie Infinity. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on Nikkei)

Standard Chartered is setting up shop in The Sandbox metaverse

Another banking giant is entering the metaverse. This time its UK banking giant, Standard Chartered. The bank is building a virtual space in The Sandbox metaverse for clients and supporters of their Hong Kong branch. CEO of Standard Chartered in Hong Kong, Mary Huen, said that the move was "a natural choice for the Bank given its distinctive Hong Kong theme, [and] perfectly fits with our promise of strengthening our continued presence in Hong Kong, whether physical or virtual.” This move follows both HSBC, who is also establishing a virtual footprint in The Sandbox, and JP Morgan, who set up shop in Decentraland. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on Blockchain.News)

Eastern Europe

Image Credit: Meg Jerrard via Unsplash

Major crypto exchanges focus on entering Turkey

A country of 88 million people, Turkey is seen as a major market and is experiencing a resurgence of interest by large crypto exchanges. Last week we covered Coinbase's reported acquisition of BtcTurk for $3.2B USD. On top of that, Bitfinex said in a tweet last week that they will be expanding into Turkey, and earlier this month Binance announced that they're launching a customer service center there. CEO of KuCoin, Johnny Lyu, in a comment to Cointelegraph said that “Turkey is one of the top 5 markets at KuCoin." In 2021 crypto use in Turkey ballooned 11x in a just a year. (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on Cointelegraph)

Binance launches crypto card for Ukrainian refugees

Rounding of this week's newsletter, Binance has launched the Binance Refugee Crypto Card (BRCC) for Ukrainian Binance users who have fled to European Economic Area (EEA) countries. The card is just like any other payment card and will allow displaced Ukrainians to make crypto transactions and make purchases at EEA merchants. Local non-profit organizations will help verify refugee statuses and recipients of the card will receive $75 denominated in BUSD (Binance's USD stablecoin) for three months as recommended by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (Read on EmergingCrypto.io; Read on Blockchain.News)

Thanks for reading and have a great week ahead!

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Written by Jon Lira. Connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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