East African Country Burundi Prohibits Cryptocurrency Trading

Saying it can’t provide users of cryptocurrencies protection in case of trouble, Burundi banned the trading of digital currencies in the country, Bloomberg reported.

A director at the micro-finance department of the central bank, Alfred Nyobewumusi, reportedly noted that some Burundians lost funds during the trading of crypto and wanted the government to step in. He said, according to the outlet, “Strong measures could be taken against all those who will not respect this decision.”

As it stands, bitcoin, which is reportedly the most-traded digital currency, has skyrocketed 186 percent. The price of bitcoin was $10,620.17 on Wednesday (Sept. 4) at 3:19 P.M. Eastern Time. And Bank of England Governor Mark Carney proposed in August placing a cryptocurrency at the center of a global monetary system that public authorities would oversee.

And, in separate news as reported by Cointelegraph, the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) said in May that digital currencies are not legal tender in the country and weren’t a representation of a substitute for the local Malawi kwacha.

In cryptocurrency news from the summer, 2019 Kansas City Federal Reserve’s annual symposium gathered the top monetary policymakers globally to kick around ideas to topple the dollar’s power per reports in August. The Jackson Hole, Wyoming, conference was comprised of central bankers, both current and former.

Among them was Bank of England Governor Carney, who has challenged the dollar’s position as the world’s reserve currency. He argued that it could be replaced by a international digital alternative to end a savings glut that resulted in a decade of low inflation and ultra-low interest rates.

While no one reportedly came to an agreement that Carney’s idea for a virtual reserve currency was the answer, participants were said to have agreed that the dollar’s dominance is a problem.

There are reasons people rely on the dollar, a former Bank of England policymaker, Adam Posen, argued. He pointed out that countries have tried sharing alternate currencies in prior times and it didn’t work.