The top bank in Rwanda is currently looking into the development and issuance of its own digital currency.
In a move that has caught a lot of people by surprise, the National bank of Rwanda has gone full throttle in carrying out virtual asset research; by studying research inferences made by other central banks on the topic. The bank is specifically looking at the work done by the Royal Bank of Canada, Monetary authority of Singapore, and De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), according to a BBN Bloomberg report.
While on an interview with Bloomberg, The National bank of Rwanda’s financial stability director Peace Masozera Uwase, expressed that conversion issues were a main concern for the institution going forward.
“There are still concerns about how exactly you convert the entire currency into digital form, how to distribute that and how fast can you process those transactions,”
This report comes just three months after the central bank released an alert on the rising cases of cryptocurrency scams in the country. The National bank then went on to list and highlight several cases of malicious crypto activity operating in the country, while giving way tips in investment protection from con artists.
Even with all the negativity in the country on cryptocurrencies brought about by the scams, the development of a Rwandan digital currency is very much a possibility. According to the National bank’s financial stability director, the eventual issuance of the National virtual currency could come down to just a question of technology.
According to Uwase;
“Challenges come in. If technology is down how do you deal with such issues? We will join in once we are ready,”
The potential release of a Rwandese national virtual currency is exciting news for crypto enthusiasts. Not much has come out of the African continent concerning cryptocurrencies, except for the fact that Bitcoin is increasingly gaining traction in Nigeria; as freelancers prefer to get paid in Bitcoin over the local Naira. Other than Nigeria and now Rwanda, Uganda is another African country where Bitcoin is gaining traction; with exchanges such as Binance, and Local Bitcoins making gains there.
Cryptocurrencies have been touted as economic emancipators since they are not under the control of centralized financial bodies. With past strained economic relations between Rwanda and France well documented, could the East African country be looking to virtual currencies to avoid financial restrictions? Time will tell.
