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Senegal is planning to introduce an electronic currency, based on the bitcoin underlying technology – the blockchain, reports the site iafrican.com. The currency, called eCFA, will be a legal tender, just as the West African CFA franc currently used in Senegal.
While the eCFA will use the blockchain to keep track of transactions, the digital currency is different from bitcoin in that it will be regulated by a central banking system. The eCFA would be issued solely by the central bank, but confer the benefits of transparency and cryptography to prevent counterfeiting and fake transactions.
The eCFA will have the same value as the fiat currency, can be used for payments and transactions and can be stored in electronic wallets.
The eCFA currency will be developed by the Banque Régionale de Marchés (BRM) and eCurrency Mint Limited. BRM will issue the digital tender currency, the eCFA, in compliance with e-money regulations of the Banque Centrale des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (BCEAO), the Central Bank of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU).
The West African CFA franc is one of the two currencies, along with the Central African CFA Franc, which are guaranteed by the French treasury. Besides Senegal, the West African CFA franc is used in Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire), Mali, Niger and Togo – all of them former colonies of France.
According to iafrican.com, after Senegal, the eCFA will be also introduced those countries as well.
“The mission of eCurrency is to preserve the secure and inclusive characteristics of physical fiat currency in our rapidly emerging digital world. We are realizing this important mission in the WAEMU region through the implementation of eCFA by BRM,” said Jonathan Dharmapalan, Founder and CEO of eCurrency Mint Limited, quoted in a company statement.
With the introduction of the eCFA, Senegal will become the second country in the world to have a blockchain-based electronic currency, which can be used as a legal tender alongside the country’s fiat currency, after Tunisia, which launched the eDinar in the end of 2015.
