Poor Country And Unstable Power Grid, Central African Republic Launches Cryptocurrency Investment

President of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadera. (photo; twitter @FA_Touadera )

JAKARTA - The Central African Republic will launch the continent's first legal cryptocurrency investment center. According to the country's presidential spokesman, this was done to expand the adoption of digital finance in the impoverished country despite warnings from the International Monetary Fund.

A nation ravaged by decades of domestic conflict, the Central African Republic, last month became the first country in Africa and the second in the world to adopt bitcoin as its official currency. This makes them in the spotlight of the world.

Government of the Rep. Central Africa itself, has so far provided little detail about the logistics of its bitcoin vision.

The country's soon-launching crypto initiative "SANGO" has a website where interested investors can sign up for a waiting list.

"The formal economy is no longer an option," President Faustin-Archange Touadera said in a statement Monday, May 23 as quoted by Reuters. "An impenetrable bureaucracy keeps us trapped in a system that doesn't give us a chance to compete."

There is no indication of when the investment center will open or how its operations will run.

The move to adopt bitcoin in a country where internet usage is low and electricity is unreliable has astonished crypto experts around the world. Even lawmakers and the public in the gold and diamond-producing country were confused. They all reminded the warning from the International Monetary Fund to be more careful in this decision.

The Central African regional banking regulator for the Central African Economic and Monetary Community of six countries also sent a warning about its ban on cryptocurrencies, stating the ban was meant to ensure financial stability.

Many crypto assets have fallen in value in recent months, while bitcoin is down 39% in eight weeks and has lost more than half of its value since its November 10 peak of $69.000.