Tanzania gets ready to launch Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), a digital legal tender issued by the central bank that is equivalent to fiat currency and may be traded for it.
Florens Luoga, the Governor of the Bank of Tanzania, announced the preparedness of Tanzania’s central bank to launch the digital form of its local currency at the finance conference tagged, “20th Conference of Financial Institutions (COFI).” The event organized by the central bank of Tanzania was held in Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania.
According to a report by Bloomberg, Luoga said, “the bank of Tanzania has started preparations for its digital currency to ensure the country is not left behind others in adopting central bank digital currencies (CBDC).”
“The country will follow in Nigeria’s footsteps and launch its digital currency,” Governor Luoga revealed the news at the finance conference.”
Nigeria became the first African country to adopt CBDC when it launched its digital currency. The digital currency, e-Naira was rolled out one month ago. Tanzania’s central bank intends to follow suit in this regard.
In a similar report, Zanzibar, an autonomous Tanzanian region off the coast of East Africa, is also interested in keeping abreast with the new development in the country by adopting the digital currency.
According to the report by Bitcoin.com News, Ghana is another West African country close to launching its digital currency. Other countries like South Africa and Namibia said they still carrying out investigations on the possibility of launching a digital currency.
In 2019, the central bank of Tanzania banned cryptocurrencies, adding the digital currency is not recognized by the local law.
Following the ban of cryptocurrency, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan urged the central bank of Tanzania in June shortly after becoming the President to start preparations for the adoption of cryptocurrencies. In response, the spokesperson for the Bank of Tanzania said the central bank is heeding the call and hinted at the possibility of reversing the ban on cryptocurrency.
According to Bloomberg, Luoga also stated at the conference that the country is still skeptical of cryptocurrencies and that the general people should exercise caution while making crypto-related investments.
