Why the Central African Republic intends to press ahead with Bitcoin Why the Central African Republic intends to press ahead with Bitcoin
Critics say Bitcoin as legal tender in the Central African Republic will only benefit the elite, but President Faustin-Archange Touadรฉra explains why it's the only option left for his impoverished nation.
2 min read
Updated: Jul. 26, 2022 at 3:18 am UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
Central African Republic (CAR) President Faustin-Archange Touadรฉra is pressing ahead with plans to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.
This is despite the price of BTC falling and concerns raised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has threatened to cut off fiat lifelines in response to the move.
President Faustin-Archange Touadรฉra doubled down by recently announcing the “Sango” project. This project builds on the Bitcoin law by developing infrastructure to sustain a crypto economy, including a government-backed wallet and a legal framework incorporating digital identity and ownership protocols.
This vision also includes the construction of “Crypto Island” and a virtual representation of the island in the Metaverse.
Critics slam the Central African Republic for adopting Bitcoin as legal tender
Last month, the CAR made headlines as the second country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. Similar to the situation in El Salvador, the government will operate a dual currency system with BTC used alongside the Central African Franc.
Despite the CAR’s vast mineral resources, which include reserves of gold and diamonds, the country is still one of the world’s poorest nations, with 79% of the population living in poverty and 45% suffering from food insecurity.
What’s more, the basic infrastructure is rated “underdeveloped, poorly maintained, and inadequate.” Rather nonsensically, for nationwide adoption of digital currency, just 4% of the population, as of 2017, use the internet. And electricity blackouts are a daily occurrence.
For these reasons, critics argue that the CAR’s attempt to modernize, with Bitcoin as the foundational platform, is doomed to fail.
Why does the CAR government continue down this road?
In response to the criticisms, President Faustin-Archange Touadรฉra laid out some home truths regarding the legacy system, calling it “an impenetrable bureaucracy” that keeps the CAR down and unable to capitalize on its vast resource wealth.
With that no longer being an option, he added that Bitcoin offers a “new path to a bright future.”
“For us, the formal economy is no longer an option. An impenetrable bureaucracy keeps us stuck in systems that don’t give us the opportunity to be successful. Bitcoin opens a new path to a bright future.”
International “gangster banksters,” as represented by organizations such as the IMF, have long been accused of preying on impoverished nations through predatory loan agreements. The upshot to this is the concentration of wealth and power in the hand so the “corporate elite.”
With that in mind, the CAR’s gamble to adopt Bitcoin, while seemingly nonsensical, is a power play designed to wrest influence and control back from “bankster parasites”.
Author 
Samuel Wan
Samuel Wan, a finance professional turned full-time crypto content creator, values individual autonomy and personal freedom in his pursuits.
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Bitcoin, a decentralized currency that defies the sway of central banks or administrators, transacts electronically, circumventing intermediaries via a peer-to-peer network.