The Bank of Zambia and the country’s securities regulators are currently testing the technology to regulate cryptocurrencies, a Zambian government minister has said. According to Felix Mutati, cryptocurrency is a revolutionary technology that embodies a future his country desires to achieve.
Achieving an Inclusive Digital Economy
The Zambian central bank and the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission are in the process of “ testing ” technology to regulate cryptocurrencies, the country’s minister of Technology and Science, Felix Mutati, has said. In his notes published on the ministry’s website, Mutati argued that Zambia needs to regulate this “ revolutionary technology ” because it encapsulates “ the future the country desires to achieve. ”
Mutati also revealed that the testing of the regulatory technology will soon be upscaled as part of measures to help Zambia attain an “ inclusive digital economy. ” In addition, the minister said Zambia, which is seeking to come the region’s technology hub, is already putting in place the structure needed to help the country achieve such a thing.
While the Bank of Zambia has in the past discouraged the use of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, the notes by Mutati suggest that President Hakainde Hichilema’s government is embracing cryptos.
Meanwhile, the minister also claimed that Zambia has established itself as an investment destination of choice for multiple investors.
“ Zambia has created magnetism that attracts investments and it's one of the countries in Africa that's getting a must-be place for investment, ” Mutati said.
Bringing Zambia’s Financial Exclusion Gap
According to the minister, once the envisioned digital payments infrastructure is in place, he foresees a future in which cryptocurrency is the “ driver for financial inclusion. ” as well as the “change-maker for Zambia’s economy. ”
In addition to using cryptocurrencies to advance the country’s financial inclusion agenda, Zambia hopes to achieve this through the yet- to-be-launched central bank digital currency (CBDC). As reported in Feb. 2022, the Bank of Zambia began exploring the pros and cons of using a CBDC and was expected to complete this in the fourth quarter of the past year.
(Terence Zimwara, Bitcoin.com, 2023)