Recently, Bank of Zambia [BoZ] issued a public notice on Bitcoin [BTC] and other cryptocurrencies. The notice stated that cryptocurrencies are not a legal tender in the Republic of Zambia as it is not issued by the Bank of Zambia.
The central bank of Zambia stated that they have witnessed an increase of the public interest in cryptocurrencies because of the significant rise in enquiries related to them. The bank said that virtual currencies are not a legal tender in the country irrespective of them having “monetary characteristics”. For this, they quoted the example of virtual currencies used as a mode of payment between two individuals.
The central bank further said:
“Section 30 of the Bank of Zambia Act vests the right to issue notes and coins exclusively in the BoZ. To date, BoZ has not issued any form of cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies are not a legal tender in the Republic of Zambia.”
They continued to state that the cryptocurrencies market is neither regulated nor supervised by the bank and because of this activities related to cryptocurrencies are completely the individual’s risk. The central bank also added that people should be aware of the risks associated with virtual currencies such as hacks and money laundering.
However, the bank mentioned that they will continue to monitor the activities of cryptocurrency markets as they want to “enable” innovation and not let regulation “constrain” them.
UniqueCandy, a Redditor said:
“Developing countries should be looking to embrace crypto currencies as it may bring much wealth in the not to distant future. Bad decision from Zambia”
Btcyoda, another Redditor said:
“People should learn again that government should be afraid of the people and not the other way around. If the people decide they accept BTC what is government, or in this case the central bank, gone do about it? It can only be forced be a totally dictatorship and by that time the people will finally see what their government really is.”
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Source: AMBcrypto
Original Post: Bitcoin [BTC] and other cryptocurrencies are not a legal tender in the Republic of Zambia
