The Central African Republic has joined the Bitcoin bandwagon 

Step aside El Salvador, there’s a new country accepting Bitcoin as legal tender. The Central African Republic is the second country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender even though the market has been extremely unpredictable in recent months. 

Central African president Faustin-Archange Touadera has signed a bill that will make Bitcoin available to be used as legal tender by its 6 million residents. “The adoption of bitcoin as official money represents a decisive step toward opening up new opportunities for our country,” Touadera’s chief of staff, Obed Namsio said in the statement. 

The move comes off the bank of a seven-month staff program approved by The International Money Fund in December to promote economic recovery, increase GDP and improve the government’s fiscal standing. According to the World Bank, The Central African Republic is one of the poorest countries in the world, and their economic strife has been exacerbated due to the Covid 19 pandemic. 

“The population is living in this fragile situation every day, so we have to bring them on the table so that we renew our social contract with them,” Ndoba said in an interview earlier this month. “We should have quick wins so that we can show the population through the emergency plan, we can do what is necessary in order to secure livelihoods. 

The adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender is likely an extension of the local government’s desire to change the country’s economic trajectory, with what it is calling “quick wins”.  

The legislation focuses on defining how citizens can interact with digital assets, Finance Minister Herve Ndoba said, according to a Bloomberg report. However, they are yet to detail their plans regarding the infrastructure and regulations around bitcoin’s use as legal tender.