Analysis: Bitcoin adoption by Central African Republic baffles cryptoverse – Reuters

Analysis: Bitcoin adoption by Central African Republic baffles cryptoverse – Reuters

BANGUI, April 28 (Reuters) - Central African Republic's adoption of bitcoin, while many of the world's largest economies stay wary of it, has puzzled the cryptocurrency world and residents of the gold and diamond-producing country, and prompted caution from the IMF.

Using bitcoin, a digital currency that exists on a shared ledger across a global network of computers, to buy and sell goods and services relies on reliable, fast internet and widespread access to computers or smartphones.

Yet Central African Republic has internet penetration rates of just 11%, equal to some 550,000 people online last year, the DataReportal website estimates. Meanwhile only around 14% of people have access to electricity and less than half have a mobile phone connection, the Economist Intelligence Unit says.