Casey Wagner

<div id="highlights-block_628d560713130" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li> Without substantial improvements to the country’s internet and electricity infrastructure, the plans will not make it far, experts warned</li>
 <li>“Project Sango” plans to create a digital national bank, a crypto wallet and infrastructure that will allow for property payments to be made in bitcoin</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Less than two months after adopting bitcoin as <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/central-african-republic-looks-for-quick-wins-becomes-second-country-to-adopt-bitcoin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">legal tender</a>, the Central African Republic has launched a “crypto hub” designed to attract people working in digital assets.



The program, “Project Sango,” includes plans to create a digital national bank, a crypto wallet and infrastructure that will allow for property payments to be made in bitcoin, according to an <a href="https://sango.org/sango.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">online presentation</a> the government released in tandem with a <a href="https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0NMB9KS92GbwaveRhi2n4FCGCTHaPS1jNhDkA2Rspzp1e6EAEea9BDVKrQ4mKT5yAl&amp;id=100068314766662&amp;m_entstream_source=timeline" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Facebook post</a> Monday.&nbsp;



The project will roll out legal cryptocurrency policies in phases, with plans to create a “crypto island” at some point.&nbsp;



The plans come as many question the role crypto can play in a country that lacks substantial digital infrastructure.&nbsp;



“This is a country with such limited internet availability, and, for that matter, limited availability of electricity,” said Steve Aschettino, a Norton Rose Fulbright partner concentrating on fintech. “To be able to enable bitcoin transactions requires at least two things: electricity and the internet.”&nbsp;



The Central African Republic plans to “finalize” the “Central African Backbone,” the fiber-optic Internet backbone connecting several countries in Africa, by the end of the year, making its blockchain ambitions possible, the country said.&nbsp;



The sandbox-like initiative is the latest example of emerging markets leaning into blockchain tech. Argentina recently rolled out a so-called “<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/argentina-moves-to-incubate-crypto-startups-under-regulatory-eye/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">innovation hub</a>” that allows fintech and cryptocurrency startups to build under regulators’ watchful eyes. <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/panama-moves-forward-with-crypto-regulation-bill/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Panama</a> and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/jamaica-to-launch-cbdc-this-summer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jamaica</a> are also exploring crypto regulation and related use cases.&nbsp;



“Having embedded compliance and embedded supervision is something that can really accelerate innovation,” said Carmelle Cadet, founder and CEO of CBDC infrastructure provider EMTECH. “If you&#8217;re waiting for the regulatory framework to be in place before the innovation, that&#8217;s not happening right now.”&nbsp;



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Shrugging Off Crypto Doubters, Central African Republic Forges Ahead

<div id="highlights-block_61faae21d00c4" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>El Salvador has recruited US-based crypto wallet provider to address Chivo concerns</li>
 <li>The partnership comes after months of reports of fraud and difficulties with the application</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Nearly five months into the uneven rollout of El Salvador’s experiment to make bitcoin the country’s currency, the Central American nation has tapped an institutional crypto wallet provider to improve its in-house Chivo Wallet.



Chivo launched with a host of glitches, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/fraud-funding-woes-and-a-president-who-wont-quit-el-salvadors-bitcoin-experiment/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">citizens said</a>. The administration has since tapped AlphaPoint to integrate with Chivo in an effort to make the wallet more stable and support instantaneous bitcoin transactions.



Igor Telyatnikov, co-founder and CEO of AlphaPoint, told Blockworks the company was chosen to “deliver the scale and stability required to enable an application at the size of the Chivo wallet.”



“An improved lightning (a bitcoin scaling solution) integration, application responsiveness and enhanced administrative tools for increasing customer service response time are elements delivered in the implementation,” Telyatnikov told Blockworks.&nbsp;



Over 4 million Salvadorans currently use the Chivo app, <meta charset="utf-8">Vadim Telyatnikov, co-founder and chairman of AlphaPoint said. 



The implementation comes after months of complaints. When it launched in September, the app did not require photo identification, only a citizen’s date of birth and national identity card number (similar to a social security number), resulting in fraud. Citizens and business owners also expressed concern with the amount of time it took to access funds, according to <a href="https://www.elsalvador.com/noticias/nacional/chivo-wallet-fraudes/889706/2021/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">local reports</a>.



As a result, relatively few businesses now accept bitcoin, citizens say.&nbsp;



“The only businesses that are accepting bitcoin readily, aside from a few, are big corporations like Starbucks and McDonald’s that have tech teams to implement it,” said Alexandra Dumitru, a cryptocurrency consultant and advocate living in El Salvador. “It’s a pretty small percentage of businesses in the country, especially considering how many small tiendas [convenience stores] and whatnot there are.”



Problems aside, El Salvador is still the only country in the world to accept bitcoin as legal tender. Even if only large corporations are playing along, that’s still a significant development, the AlphaPoint team said.&nbsp;



“Notably, for the first time anywhere in the world, major chains such as Super Selectos, McDonalds, Starbucks, Wendy’s, Subway, Walmart and government offices are already accepting Bitcoin with Chivo,” Vadim Telyatnikov, said. “Adoption on such a broad scale has not been achieved yet anywhere else in the world.” 



Meanwhile, El Salvador officials are working to roll out an additional 1,500 bitcoin ATMs across the country with the aim of easing adoption.&nbsp;



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El Salvador Turns to US Bitcoin Wallet to Revamp Chivo

<div id="highlights-block_61f9488984b83" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>MetaMask will soon support desktop, mobile, extension and browser wallets</li>
 <li>MyCrypto is an ethereum wallet integrated with web browsers and desktops</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>





Blockchain infrastructure company ConsenSys has acquired open source crypto wallet MyCrypto in a bid to eventually merge the two products.&nbsp;



MyCrypto is set to be combined with MetaMask, ConsenSys’ Ethereum wallet, to boost security and increase usability, both companies said Tuesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed



Dan Finlay, co-founder of MetaMask, said in a statement that the collaboration will be better placed to help users “ make the best decisions through this rapidly evolving Web3 wallet landscape.”&nbsp;



“MyCrypto has consistently been one of the most reliable and intercompatible wallets in Ethereum, often shipping cutting-edge Ethereum features ahead of other wallets, while MetaMask has focused on general-purpose dapp interactions,” Finlay said.&nbsp;



MyCrypto, founded in 2015, supports Ethereum wallets via web browsers and desktops, while MetaMask employs mobile and browser extensions. The idea in combining the two wallets is to create a product that supports desktop, mobile and browser-based wallets. 



“With the rapid growth of the ecosystem and products racing to ship slick features, it is imperative that the leading wallet continues to build foundational and secure self-custody tools that empower the user,” said Taylor Monahan, founder and CEO of MyCrypto, in a statement.&nbsp;



The acquisition comes shortly after <a href="https://metamask.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MetaMask</a> expanded its institutional offerings with the addition of its first <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/custodial-solution-for-metamask-institutions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">built-in custodial</a> solution that supports multi-chain compatibility.



MetaMask’s institutional clients can now access the same multi-chain connectivity across all Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains that MetaMask provides retail traders. Compatible chains include Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon and Avalanche.&nbsp;



Both products will continue to operate separately in the near term. Within the MetaMask team, MetaMask co-founders Finlay and Aaron Davis, along with MyCrypto founder Taylor Monahan, will work toward a unified product. MyCrypto’s team of 12 employees will be joining ConsenSys. 



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