DW News published this video item, entitled “Could Bitcoin be used to circumvent sanctions against Russia? | DW News” – below is their description.
In a financial first for Africa, the Central African Republic has adopted Bitcoin as legal tender. Lawmakers unanimously approved a law legalizing the cryptocurrency alongside the CFA franc. But on the streets of Bangui, there’s Bitcoin bafflement.
And the political opposition rejects the new law and plans to challenge it in the constitutional court. CAR already has a currency: It is one of six central African countries that share the CFA franc – backed by France and pegged to the euro. Some members of parliament argue that the move is simply intended to gut this common currency. Others have speculated that Bitcoin might be used to funnel money from CAR to Russia, bypassing international sanctions.
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About This Source - DW News
DW News is a global English-language news and information channel from German public international broadcaster Deutsche Welle, established in summer 2015.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency invented in 2008 by an unknown person or group of people using the name Satoshi Nakamoto and started in 2009 when its implementation was released as open-source software. Bitcoin was the first decentralized cryptocurrency.
The Central African Republic, or Centrafrique, is a landlocked country in Central Africa.
It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south, the Republic of the Congo to the southwest and Cameroon to the west. The CAR covers a land area of about 620,000 square kilometres (240,000 sq mi) and had an estimated population of around 4.7 million as of 2018.
As of 2020, the CAR is the scene of a civil war, ongoing since 2012.
France is a republic and the largest Western European nation. Through expansion and colonisation in the 17th and 18th centuries France became a great power and still retains territories around the world. It has a seat on the UN security council and is the world’s fourth most wealthy country with a high standard of living and strong cultural identity.
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country located in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the south.
Russia spans more than one-eighth of the Earth’s inhabited land area, stretching eleven time zones, and bordering 16 sovereign nations. Moscow is the country’s capital.
The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991 and since 1993 Russia been governed as a federal semi-presidential republic. Russia is a major great power, with the world’s second-most powerful military, and the fourth-highest military expenditure. As a recognised nuclear-weapon state, the country possesses the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.
