Another good reportage from my friend at the BIP show.
You see the news of a delegation of Bitcoiner visiting the country.
Bienvenue à Bitcoin, Central African Republic!Tho of the members of this delegation were "spies" of the BIP show. So they gave them a little feedback on their trip over there.
Here you have the translation.
Rikki: We have already spoken in recent weeks of the new state that has been added to the list of two states that have adopted Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as Legal Tender, we are talking about the Central African Republic. We have some news in this regard because in recent days an international delegation of Bitcoiner went to Central Africa at the direct invitation of the country and therefore of the government to advise the executive precisely on how to set up the first steps to build this very special Legal Tender. Those who follow us know, we had expressed more than one perplexity, because the situation in central Africa is very different from what appears to be in El Salvador. Well you must know Guybrush that we are sprawling like the Specter by now, because of the delegation that was sent to Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, nestled secret agents of the Bitcoin Italia podcast
Guybrush: "So we have some secret information !?"
R: More than one Guybrush among other things, more than one, the well-informed say, there is a report by MI5, of the British secret services, which seems to denounce the fact that there was more than one secret agent of the Bitcoin Italia Podcast present, and therefore we have news of the first hand as they say fresh; and I must say that they are also good news, we must celebrate because I was in constant contact with friends, colleagues who were present at this meeting and who therefore met the president who received them about twenty minutes after landing in the capital, and they tell me to be a very cultured man, very focused, and who immediately expressed to them the absolute will to want to do something that could really be an opportunity for the country and also for the people. it was a formal meeting, but the first impression that President Faustin-Archange Touadéra made was very positive we must learn this name: Faustin-Archange Touadéra.
G:Wait for me to try to say it: Faustin-Archange Touadéra.
R: Guybrush exactly.
After that, there were several days, 4 total official meetings in which we talked about the peculiar characteristics of the Republic of Central Africa as a nation. The delegation met the Minister of Finance and all his entourage, who explained to him how in reality behind this thing there is really the will to want to free himself from the African Colonial Franco system because precisely they have described to us how their economy is totally dependent directly on France. Think Guybrush, I didn't know, but France decides the state budget. The Central African Republic has been entrusted with a budget of the equivalent of US $ 300 billion in Colonial Francs. For comparison, $ 300 billion is 5% of Cameroon's budget.
So we are really talking about a start for what are the needs of the State and they are there you understand: it is as if France gave them pocket money: "keep it, little child, these are your 5 Euros, buy the candies and make them last until next week".
G: Well you have to see the history of the Central African Republic, maybe it is tormented by dictatorships
R: But of course yes, we have also told it of course, but the fact remains that until proven otherwise it is a sovereign state that is still subjugated and that they told us once again not it is such a poor state, we have said it: very rich in gold reserves, rich in gold deposits. Too bad that according to the agreements made after independence 85% of its gold reserves must be deposited in the French Central Bank, in France!
G:Ok, here it is already and it looks more like a half robbery though ..
R:Without speaking of the fact, according to our sources the finance minister continues, that the colonial franc in the last 10 years has devalued by 50%, and therefore has lost a bit the role of stablecoin, let's say, that it could have had in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, were compared to other hyperinflationary national currencies of African states maybe it gave more structure to an economy that was however so fragile, for 10 years in this part it began to be artificially devalued by the French Central Bank.
G: So the only one using by now that could have this colonial instrument has also failed.
R: The speech that was reported to me was of a disarming frankness, that is, the government's position is: we are in a position to be able and willing to try anything, because there is nothing worse than that, understood. There really isn't anything. Besides my contacts, I also shot something from there, they sent me pictures, and it is very striking that we are really talking about a state in great difficulty. Bangui, the capital, has been described to me as a 9 square kilometre slum that makes Rio's favelas look like a luxury resort. Outside the airport of the state capital, the roads are not even paved, the houses are little more than a shack. They also tried to go around alone, don't forget, but in short, it is something you certainly do during the day at rush hour, certainly not at night to go dancing. So a real situation… there were indeed people who used to travel a lot; it was described to me as by far the poorest and most impoverished place, even at the very first impact, that they have ever seen. People are used to living and working in developing countries, not people used to Dubai.
G: So we have on the one hand the most advanced technological financial, political, and social instrument ever and in the poorest state ever.
R: Exactly, but with so many ambitions to change course, to take off a yoke that has been suffocating it for decades. When asked how your citizens will use Bitcoin since there is no internet, the answer was very clear: initially the law is to give an economic opportunity to the state, because in fact the country does not have the infrastructure, but it is investing: 10,000 kilometres of optical fibre will be inaugurated in July. So they are investing a lot to bring the internet as fast as possible to the population. Obviously, it is not something that will be done in six months, it is something that will take years, but it is in progress so there is a willingness to invest. there is a lot of interest in Bitcoin mining at the state level. There is a hydroelectric and solar expansion program also finalized and certainly triggered by Bitcoin mining, in order to be able to mine Bitcoin for the Central Bank of the Central African Republic. So in my opinion this other very positive signal the thing that I have and I found really cool and that this delegation has been invited a whole series of appointments including the first day they met so this happened on Thursday they met a delegation of entrepreneurs to whom they showed the functioning of the Lightning Network Payment Wallet, arousing, they tell me, an incredible enthusiasm in the small to medium sellers who had come to see the event. And if sometimes the Lightning network is magic for us, imagine what it must be like for a small dealer in Central Africa. And then on Friday, a big event was organized in the conference room of the African Center for the Economy and for the CEMAC Monetary Community. Invited 400 representatives of government, industry, industry and attention, not an insignificant detail, not only from Central African Republic but also from Gabon, Cameroon, Chad, Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea, so beware, where this application has been asked to do a presentation on Bitcoin and to answer some questions, talking about the experiences already accumulated by El Salvador describing the fundamental characteristics of Bitcoin and above all the speech substantially could have been titled "there is Bitcoin and there are shitcoins". That is, from the beginning the warning was rightly clear: if you want to have the support of the international community in your project, you must be clear: the protocol is Bitcoin. And if you want to get caught by Algorand, by Cardano, by people who are worse than your criminals, go ahead, but your project will be able to count on the ridiculous communities of 50 people of those projects without a future and without technology.
G: So the road is long because as you said point out, even if only to improve the technological infrastructure on which the company is based, the internet will take years. It is nice to see that at least the road is long but it is the right one. Here is a question in this case, do you know if from our Insiders you know why in the text we read two months ago they were mentioned, it was not exactly clear, only Bitcoin but there were also cryptocurrencies, which wanted to keep the doors open for any ...
R: From this point of view, there was just an admission of guilt that is the message that these delegates received was clear: we don't know shit, we desperately want to try to spend this card because for us it can only be an opportunity, come to explain to us, come and train us, help us: may the Bitcoin community around the world gather around the Central African Republic because we are interested in this opportunity. The law is written badly because we are incompetent: help us to correct it!
G: Well, let's say that it is betting on the Bitcoin community as far as being part of it I can guarantee that 99% of the members are in good faith and will be able to seriously help this kind of request but there will be difficulties that compared to El Salvador are not negligible. That is, then you say and as you told, evidently in this case the adoption will be first from above. So let's say from the state that it will implement some infrastructure, some technology and then from there instead. But in El Salvador they tried to do the opposite: they tried to start making people with Wallets use the Lightning ATM these things here is an approach that must necessarily be different because two geopolitical contexts are completely different but at least we appreciate that the intention is that good.
Not just one last piece of news that I know of is a scoop, I haven't seen it reported yet by any press so we know it first at the Bitcoin Italia podcast. Do you remember that when I spoke of the Legal Tender in Central Africa I spoke of the fact that there were suspicions of involvement in the law by a well-known scammer Ponzi Scammer entrepreneur of Cameroonian origin. Just as the delegation was still in Central Africa on Saturday, it was arrested on the territory of Central Africa, jailed and charged with fraud.
G: Good! That's a good sign already. Are we talking about a coincidence?
R: I do not know. I don't know it is difficult to say this we must not delude ourselves we said we are talking about a state where corruption is endemic and therefore it is not that that was the only bad apple that surely gravitates around the centres, the ganglia of power, or perhaps sitting directly in Parliament. But here I have to tell you the truth: I heard from my friends before they embarked to go to visit the country and to say that they were sceptical was little. Upon returning, I felt enthusiastic about them, and this is a good sign.
In reality, I have always read great things almost everywhere about the President whose name I do not remember, but I will study him. he is very erudite, he has studied and he seems very intelligent, so probably having to deal with him gives you enthusiasm because it is really a project in which you really go to change the lives of the people of an entire state. Bitcoin can do this, it has the potential to do it. If maybe for us the mass adoption of Bitcoin could have a different meaning, in a state like the Central African Republic you come back thinking fuck, I'm doing something good for humans. Here the enthusiasm must be what was probably conveyed. And this is the hopeful intent of the president of the Central African Republic. So far from all the signals, you tell and that I have perceived it seems to me that this is the intention. We hope not to be disappointed.
No no in fact obviously the conditional is always a must. But let's say that I respect the fear I had in seeing Bitcoin badly managed in a corrupt republic. I was already seeing the headlines: "Here is Bitcoin is really a scam" because this is what happened in Central Africa I am quite reassured. However, we will continue to closely follow what happens in the country and then continue to follow us because by now we always tell you but here we hear about Bitcoin as I do not tell anyone in Italy guys even with news and very fresh first hand from the official delegations that work for Legal Tenders around the world. But when does it happen again, guys!
If you understand Italian, you can listen here, from 21:45.
S04E21 – In Tour 
