Key takeaways: 

• Central African Republic lawmakers voted unanimously to enact a bill legalizing crypto.
• Bitcoin will be regarded as lawful tender alongside the regional Central African CFA franc.
• The CAR is the second nation to make bitcoin permitted tender. 
• El Salvador did so the prior year.

After El Salvador took the same action last year, the Central African Republic became the second nation to embrace bitcoin as its official currency.

According to a report from the presidency, lawmakers in the CAR’s parliament voted unanimously to enact a bill legalizing bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin will be assumed legal tender alongside the provincial Central African CFA franc.

Obed Namsio, chief of a team to President Faustin-Archange Touadera, named the move “a strong step toward opening up new options for our nation,” according to Reuters.

The CAR is wealthy in diamonds, gold, and other valuable minerals but ranks one of the planet’s poorest and least-developed nations.

According to the World Bank, around 71% of CAR’s 5.4 million residents will live below the international poverty line in 2020.

The nation, which is landlocked in the heart of Africa, has been fascinated by political instability and violence for years.

“The big query is who the cryptocurrency order is for,” David Gerard, an independent author who has followed crypto closely, advised CNBC.

“Internet coverage in the CAR is 11%. Maybe the government has been told that this will bootstrap prices in the nation, but it’s unclear how.”

The move to regard bitcoin lawful tender got praise from the crypto community and was hailed as another action toward mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies.

But it can also be considered contentious. There were demonstrations in El Salvador after the nation introduced the Bitcoin Law, and the country faced objections from the International Monetary Fund.