Government Of Zambia Is Testing Technology For Cryptocurrency Regulation
Felix Mutati, the Minister of Technology and Science in Zambia, has stated that the country is conducting tests on technology to regulate the crypto sector in the country via the Bank of Zambia and the Security Exchange Commission.
The Bank of Zambia is the securities regulatory agency of the country. The announcement was disclosed by the minister on the official website of the ministry. The current move targets achieving a comprehensive digital economy.
Zambian Minister Says Government Is Experimenting on Technology to Regulate Crypto
The minister mentioned that the crypto sector has the qualities that can provide a better future for the country’s economy with its utilization of blockchain technology.
He added that the respective technology has the potential to record as well as protect the daily transfers carried out in the digital form. Minister Mutati, while in Lusaka, asserted that the country would be assisted to a great extent in upgrading its financial scenario.
As per the minister, Zambia is making great efforts to turn into a technology hub in the whole continent of Africa via the development of digital infrastructure as well as getting additional investments in this space. The minister added that the country had established a magnetism to allure investments, and people all-across Africa are moving toward it.
In the words of the minister, the authorities of Zambia are focusing on witnessing digital payments of more than $4.7B, which will lead to an enormous economy. He disclosed that with the provision of platforms for digital payments, people would be benefited from digital finance-related services.
This will attract great user inclusion in the digital economy, revolutionizing the financial sector of Zambia.
The government of the country inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the blockchain-based land registry sub-branch of Overstock in 2018.
In line with the contract, the Medici Land Governance of Overstock would operate in collaboration with the authorities in Zambia for the reformation of land ownership, provision of financial-market access, and certificates of digital rural ownership.
The governments are providing great attention to the crypto assets in the rest of the countries in the African region. Recently, a report was published by the Central Bank of Nigeria that recommended the establishment of a regulatory agenda to deal with initial coin offerings (ICOs) and stablecoins.
The country is categorized among the pioneers in the world to have adopted the central bank digital currencies.
IMF Says Crypto’s Legal Adoption in Africa Would Pose More Risks Than Benefits
Back in November 2022, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggested that the regulatory measures for the crypto markets in Africa should be enhanced.
The adoption of the crypto sector has kept on seeing great growth. Nonetheless, the reason for the international financial agency was related to the disastrous collapse of the crypto exchange FTX and the ripple effect created by it across the entire industry of crypto assets.
In addition to this, the authors of the report published by IMF asserted that several risks are posed by cryptocurrencies. Moreover, it recommended creating a balance between maximizing innovation and lowering risks.
While moving further, it was mentioned in the report that the risks of crypto are more than the benefits if African countries adopt it as legal tender. As per the analytics platform Chainlysis, the crypto market of Africa has witnessed a rise of up to 1,200% from July 2020 to June 2021.
