Namibia tolerates bitcoin payments

If the central bank of Namibia tolerates payments in Bitcoin, its heart swings more on the side of the CBDC.

Although bitcoin is not legal tender, Namibian merchants can accept it if they wish. That’s what the communicated about the conference “CBDC and digital assets” :

“During this event, the Central Bank noted that digital assets remain non-legal tender in Namibia. Acceptance of digital assets for payment of goods and services remains at the discretion of merchants […]. »

The Bank also reaffirmed its skepticism towards ICOs (Initial Coin Offering), pointing out the risk of fraud. Wise words since ICOs often mark the birth of useless shitcoins…

That said, and even if the central bank of El Salvador was invited to talk Bitcoin, the Namibian governor Johannes!Gawaxab is not a Bitcoin maximalist.

The central bank of Nigeria was also on the trip to talk about eNaira, the first CBDC in Africa and second in the world after that of the Bahamas.

BTC vs. CBDC

L’eNaira has only 270,000 users and records a volume of transactions hungry of $9.5 million since its launch on October 25, 2021…

Conversely, Bitcoin exchanges in Nigeria reached the equivalent of $760 million in 2021. And more of $1.1 billion for the first six months of 2022.

Despite this, the Namibian governor made vague remarks, potentially hostile to Bitcoin if we read between the lines:

“There is a battle between regulated money and unregulated money on the one hand, and between sovereign money and non-sovereign money on the other. […] The Central Bank must defend regulated money and curb unregulated finance. »

“Our goal is to continue modernizing the Namibian financial system to keep it in line with other major central banks. Faced with the rapid digitization of the financial system, the Bank of Namibia considered whether a possible CBDC could play a role in the future digital payments landscape and its potential properties, costs and benefits.”

For !Gawaxab“the essence of a currency, whether it is notes, coins or a CBDC, is based on the confidence that it is a safe and secure medium of exchange “.

Bitcoin ticks the boxes, but the governor preferred to point out that “the institution best suited and best equipped to inspire confidence is the central bank, even in the digital age”...

At the same time, could we expect anything else from a central banker? Do not miss our paper on the dystopia of the totalitarian CBDC…

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