2018-8-12 02:40 |
With Sporadic Regulations and Mining Restrictions Globally, African Lawmakers Decide to “Wait And See” Before Jumping In
The technology and potential profit to be made by the cryptocurrency industry is substantial, but the world has yet to come together to utilize it the most efficiently. Though lawmakers in African countries are interested in taking over the regulation, Ecobank reports that no one wants to actually take the lead during this transition. Presently, Ecobank is responsible for offering services to approximately 40 different countries in Africa.
In the report, Ecobank evaluated the reaction to the recent regulations being established in the crypto industry, based on 39 sub-Saharan countries involved. The reaction predominantly indicated that the regulators in these areas were waiting on the response of the rest of the world, letting other countries sort out the problems while their government learns.
Ecobank said, “African countries appear to be looking to their neighbours to regulate and innovate first, and learn from their mistakes, rather than being the first mover,” the bank said. “African governments worry that if its citizens become overexposed to cryptocurrency investments, the repercussions of a future crash could be felt in the broader economy, hence their skepticism of licensing their use.”
Though all of the areas were reviewed, there were 21 countries that presently have no public stance on the subject, or they have not decided on one yet. There are 15 countries that remain on the fence right now, with no desire to regulate and believe that cryptocurrency is a major risk that investors should not take.
When it comes down to decisions, there are only three countries in the area with a strong opinion on cryptocurrency. While Namibia has completely banned cryptocurrency, both South Africa and Swaziland have a positive stance, but they have not completely legalized it.
It seems that the biggest issue that Ecobank has noticed is the lack of gravitation towards cryptocurrency as a whole, which is likely due to the changes in price lately. The bank said that these “spectacular” changes are keeping the country from having a widespread discussion over the potential benefits of cryptocurrency.
Ecobank concluded with this sentiment:
“The transformational impact that could be delivered by tokenizing products and services on the blockchain has been compared to that of the Internet. Crypto tokens and currencies could enable consumers to transact instantly, cross-border and for free, provide them with KYC-compliant digital IDs, and incentivize their behavior and change the way they engage with governments & service providers.”
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