According to reports, the Bank of Tanzania is working to lift its crypto ban amid positive comments from the president.
According to Reuters Tanzania’s central banking has started working with the federal government on directives that could lead to a reversal in its November 2019 crypto ban.
Cointelegraph reported that President Hassan asked the central bank to explore Bitcoin (BTC), and other digital assets, earlier in the month.
Hassan asked the Bank of Tanzania at the time to keep pace with the times given the popularity of cryptocurrencies.
These positive comments about crypto follow El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law, and a wave in positive BTC sentiment across many Latin American countries.
But, there are still no crypto-related regulations in Africa other than bans by central banks. In February, Nigeria’s central banking also banned financial institutions from serving crypto exchanges .
Abdulmajid Nsekela is chairman of Tanzania Bankers Association. This move could diversify financial transactions in Tanzania that are currently dominated cash payments.
Nsekela also agreed with the President’s comments that the Bank of Tanzania must become more familiarized with crypto markets. He added, “The most difficult element for regulators to deal with is to be taken by surprise by innovation.”
According to data, a platform that tracks peer-to-peer BTC trades around the world, Tanzania is seventh in sub-Saharan Africa’s peer-to-peer volume. More than half of all the region’s Bitcoin trading activity is still done in Nigeria.
Although there are no clear crypto regulations on the continent, some countries are working towards floating central banks digital currencies. In fact, both the Nigerian and Ghanaian central banks made announcements in June.