The Central Bank of Kenya has made a decision to switch to bitcoin as a reserve currency. The apex bank’s decision comes from its efforts to resolve the growing financial problem in the country, media reports said.
Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge said that the decision was taken after considering a host of factors such as shortage of foreign currency reserves and increase in velocity of money. In addition, transition to the use of bitcoin as a reserve currency could also protect the country from exploitative loans that could hurt its sovereignty.
It believes that using bitcoin could actually help to fight the depreciating shilling. With that, the central bank is making game-changing plans to switch its base currency to bitcoin.
Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge told the media, “Our decision to shift to Bitcoin is both tactical and logical. Our currency has always been the punching bag for the IMF, which always claims that the Kenya Shilling is overvalued. This has led to too much pressure on the Kenyan Shilling, and this has a negative effect on the economy. We are losing too much simply because someone at IMF woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Bitcoin will put an end to this.”
The governor firmly believes that bitcoin could make Kenya less vulnerable to the Forex exchange losses. In addition, it will also reduce the country’s debt as the value appreciates. In this context, Kenya could even set an example for those countries mired in a similar situation.