Bitcoin Becomes Official Currency In Central African Republic

The Central African Republic (CAR) has approved Bitcoin as legal tender -- just the second country to do so. The BBC reports: CAR is one of the world's poorest countries, but is rich in diamonds, gold and uranium. It has been wracked by conflict for decades and is a close Russian ally, with mercenaries from the Wagner Group helping fight rebel forces. Lawmakers voted unanimously to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, said a statement from the CAR presidency. The move puts CAR "on the map of the world's boldest and most visionary countries", it said.

El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as an official currency in September 2021 - a move criticized by many economists, including the International Monetary Fund, which said it increased the risk of financial instability. Others have raised fears that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin could make it easier for criminals to launder money, and that they are environmentally damaging because they use so much electricity to generate.

Mining Bitcoins is not the same as Mining Diamonds

[Anonymous Coward]

If there are one of the world's poorest countries while mining diamonds, gold and uranium, there's a 130% chance they will still be poor with bitcoin.

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[dohzer]

Blood Diamond, meet Bloodcoin cryptocurrency: https://coinmarketcap.com/curr... [coinmarketcap.com]

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[Anonymous Coward]

People who drive better cars than you do, be it the CAR leaders, El Salvador's President, or the heroes of the US and Texas, people like Ted Cruz and Chip Roy are championing Bitcoin

You know who else drove better cars than others? Hitler. I guess that tell us all we need to know about "bitcoin champions" (and given the company you listed, I see lots of similarities).

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[K. S. Kyosuke]

You know who was making better /. comments than AC? Hitler.

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[NoMoreDupes]

Yeah - Bitcoiners seem to excel at both bullshit posts as well as evading questions. [slashdot.org]

Re:Pyrite Pete's failed prediction

[NoMoreDupes]

Umm... the US dollar is hyper-inflating right now,

Umm... if the dollar is so 'hyper-inflated', shouldn't the price of Bitcoin have shot up instead of trending down??

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[Anonymous Coward]

heroes of the US and Texas, people like Ted Cruz and Chip Roy

If Ted Cruz is your hero you are one fucked up dude.

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[Lisandro]

the he US dollar is hyper-inflating right now

No, it is not. Words have meaning, you know.

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[K. S. Kyosuke]

BTC ... has intrinsic value

Really? Can you eat it, like a qa of barley? Can you make a tool out of it, like from a grzywna of iron or bronze? Can you ride it, like a camel? Can you make jewellery out of it, like from an ounce of gold or silver? All of these have intrinsic value. BTC...not so much.

The grand master plan of crypto

[Anonymous Coward]

The plan for all cryptocurrencies isn't what they want to make you think it is. It's more sinister than the egalitarian image the crypto boys portray for it.

After the 2008 financial meltdown, cryptocurrencies were born out of it, declared to be the means by which people could be freed from banks/governments, and promised to avoid any such future meltdowns from happening ever again.

But the crypto boys watched closely the result of that meltdown, and formulated their plan: create a new form of currency, and

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[Eunomion]

Wallets do "expire": The blockchain evolves beyond them to the point where they're no longer recognized. I had a few tiny decimals of a btc back in the day, but the chain forked too far without updating. Even people who buy wallets with lost keys or corrupt data on spec weren't interested. Not worth their time unless it's the kind of money you might buy a car with.

Also, there are lots of things like crypto. They're called metals. And everything wrong with metal-backed currencies is also wrong with c

Re: The grand master plan of crypto

[reanjr]

Sounds like that was something other than Bitcoin, like Bitcoin Cash or Bitcoin Gold or something. I'm not aware of any changes to Bitcoin that have deprecated old wallets.

2 years ago, I found a wallet from 7 years prior. Still good.

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[dowhileor]

There is absolutely no other competing product like crypto. You literally have a super secure wallet that will never expire or get charged 'inactive account' fees like I get with my bank accounts. Crypto can be sent anywhere in the world without middlemen. This is the reason many people don't like it because we don't need all these banks and services anymore

Yet it needs banks and governments to give it a value. People are in love with the idea that gives their sense of privilege a unit of value. Within a given set of borders, it is impossible to create a currency out of thin air and begin trading it. Ancient cultures tried this currency of privilege thing, by giving officials, merchants, generals,... extra privilege to trade the extra resources given to them, for what they want. And it mostly fails because at some point complex markets are created that do not

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[h33t l4x0r]

I realize it's fun to imagine a cabal of crypto bros meeting in secret to plan nefarious deeds, but the DeFi platforms are just plain old capitalism. They take a fee on every trade just like Wall Street.

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[Zeratul2k]

Isn't that how fiat currency works? At the end of the day those bills on your wallet are just rectangles of paper and plastic with pretty designs and the money on the bank is zeroes and ones until you ask for it back. Crypto looses and gains value the same way fiat currency does: PEOPLE say how much it's worth.

Re:Nothing says open for business

[_merlin]

I know geography and reading comprehension aren't strong points for Americans, but the Central African Republic and the Republic of South Africa are different countries.

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[DarkOx]

its rsilvergun though, he shows us each and every day he has no understanding the rest of the world isnt exactly like progressive-run inner city hellscape he lives in. He can neither conceive of anything better nor recognize how good he actually has it compared to some parts of the world where his intellectual, political, and social betters havent been able to prevent his kind from entirely undermining the things that make society actually work.

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[quenda]

I know geography and reading comprehension aren't strong points for Americans, but the Central African Republic and the Republic of South Africa are different countries.

Yes, South Africa is a middling country - comparable economically to Lebanon, North Africa or Indonesia. Not so far behind China in per-capita GDP.
But "Central African Republic" is a classic "shithole country" as a disgraced former US president undiplomatically (but accurately) put it.

Captain obvious

[TJHook3r]

A dirt-poor country that has massive riches and a presumably corrupt government, with close ties to another corrupt government. Another great advert for Bitcoin then! Helping to defraud the population and migrate these enormous riches out of the country.

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[freudigst]

In case you hadn't noticed, the West consists of corrupt governments now, too.

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[NoMoreDupes]

Amazing how you go about posting infantile replies, but won't answer questions. [slashdot.org]

Re: Captain obvious

[TJHook3r]

Corruption is fairly minor in the west, at least in comparison to countries where it is endemic (eg Africa, India, South America)

You can tell the character...

[rantrantrant]

...of cryptocurrencies by the company they keep. Let's add thoroughly corrupt, cruel, despotic regimes to the list!

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[onefriedrice]

It takes a high level of privilege to be able to ignore alternative currencies. The parts of the world with easy access to historically-stable currencies like the US dollar are full of people who seem to have no comprehension of what it's like to live in a country with an unstable currency. They don't seem to realize that regular, affordable access to USD and EUR is not a thing.

The increasing adoption of Bitcoin as a currency is occurring from the ground up in South America, Africa, and Asia countries be

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[rantrantrant]

That'd be true but only if cryptocurrencies were indeed the life raft you claim them to be - some evidence would be useful here - & not a volatile & costly trading commodity mostly used by privileged crypto-bros, dodgy financial institutions, & criminals. You need some valid, reliable evidence rather than "coulds", "shoulds", "possiblys" & "maybes."

In CAR, Bitcoin transactions are not taxed

[MastaBaba]

I suspect the reason for its unanimous vote in favour is this: "cryptocurrency exchanges are not liable to tax". In a country where 11% is online, this benefits the wealthy.

Avoiding IMF shackles

[freudigst]

Well, that's one way to avoid enslavement by IMF, I guess.

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[ebvwfbw]

Well, that's one way to avoid enslavement by IMF, I guess.

I'm sure the IMF feels this is just a temporary setback.
Resistance is futile (Evil laugh)