The Central African Republic (CAR), which finalised its cryptocurrency project on April 22, 2022, shouldn’t suspend it, according to information gathered from the meeting of the Ministerial Committee of the Central African Monetary Union (UMAC), which is taking place on July 21, 2022, in Douala. The CEMAC States (Cameroon, Congo, Chad, Gabon, CAR, and Equatorial Guinea) have recognised a single currency, the CFA franc, which has caused a great deal of worry among the CEMAC states. This initiative should now continue under the watchful supervision of the Beac, the central bank of the CEMAC countries.
This information is consistent with the news release that the Bank of Central African States (Beac) Board of Directors just issued following its meeting on July 20, 2022, in the economic centre of Cameroon. The board of directors welcomed the Central African Republic’s expression of its attachment to the single currency and respect for the statutes of the Bank of Central African States, the rules governing the monetary union, and its community commitments after examining the implications of the law governing cryptocurrencies in the country on the community’s regulatory architecture in monetary and financial matters.
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The board of directors of the Beac “took good note of the request by the Central African Republic, the assistance of the Beac and the competent authorities of the community, for the development of a normative framework governing crypto-assets in CEMAC,” as per a press release signed by Hervé Ndoba, chairman of the board and minister of finance and budget for the CAR.
The Beac’s Cautionary Warning
These positions taken by the CAR, as reported by the Beac Board of Directors’ communiqué and by sources close to the Umac Ministerial Committee, serve to clear the air of the clouds gathering over the relationship between this nation and its fellow Cemac members on the one hand and France (sponsor of the CFA franc in accordance with the monetary cooperation agreements with the countries of the franc zone) on the other since the hullabaloo.
It will be recalled that the Central African Banking Commission(COBAC)’s initial response to this decision by the Central African authorities was one of dissent. The institution’s note, which was released following the CAR’s legalisation of bitcoin, states that “it is prohibited for subject institutions and their technical partners in the context of payment services to exchange or convert, settle or cover in currency or FCFA, transactions relating to cryptocurrencies or having a link with them.”
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The governor of the Beac, Abbas Mahamat Tolli, responded, saying, “The content of the law controlling cryptocurrencies established in the Central African Republic can be regarded as a questioning of the monetary cooperation accords (with France, editor’s note) in place in Central Africa. On July 14, 2022, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Beac reiterated its previous advice to the economic representatives of the Cemac to exercise prudence while dealing with crypto-assets during a press conference.
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Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh