4/23/24, 11:14 PM TON Foundation In Talks With Three African Countries To Launch Stablecoins

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TON Foundation In Talks

With Three African Countries
To Launch Stablecoins
Oluwaseun Adeyanju Former Contributor
I write about finance, cryptocurrency and blockchain.

Apr 12, 2022, 08:10am EDT

This article is more than 2 years old.

TON Blockchain is working with Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and
the Republic of ... [+] GETTY

Africa has been widely reported as having one of the highest crypto
adoption rates globally. This trend could continue if new
developments in Central Africa scale through the development
phase to a successful launch. Privacy - Terms

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4/23/24, 11:14 PM TON Foundation In Talks With Three African Countries To Launch Stablecoins

The governments of Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo

(DRC) and the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville)
Congo have all
announced intentions to adopt cryptocurrency and blockchain-
based solutions to drive economic progress. The three countries
recently published separate press releases in which they outlined
their initial thoughts on cryptocurrency and how they plan to
integrate it into their respective economies. The countries
mentioned that they are in discussions with The Open Network
(TON) to help lunch their first crypto initiatives.

According to a source close to the matter, the plan for each of the
Central African countries is to launch localized stablecoins on the
TON blockchain. The source emphasized that this isn't a central
bank digital currency (CBDC) project.

"We have different types of stable digital assets: you have CBDCs,
which are mostly used for interbank settlements, and then you have
consumer mass market stablecoins, like USDC and USDT, that are
dollar-pegged," said the source, who spoke on condition of
anonymity. "But there's this other hybrid approach, where
stablecoins that are regionally applicable and regionally relevant
exist; that's kind of the approach that we are pursuing with DRC."

Notably, the crypto adoption strategy in these countries isn't central

bank-led. Cameroon's move is being driven by its Ministry of Posts
and Telecommunications. In DRC, the Ministry of Digital Economy
is in charge, and in the Republic of Congo
Congo, it is the Ministry of
Posts, Telecommunications and Digital Economy.

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"We're not attempting to replace a national currency, and we're not

aiming to do a CBDC, which is obviously run by a central bank," the
source added. "A good way to think about a stablecoin in this
context is kind of like Venmo or MPESA."

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It's also worth noting that both Cameroon and the Republic of
Congo are part of the Central African Economic and Monetary
Community (CAEMC), a six-nation union that shares a common
currency and central bank. CAEMC countries spend the Central
African CFA franc, managed by the Bank of Central African States.
Other CAEMC states include the Central African Republic, Chad,
Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. The Democratic Republic of Congo
spend the Congolese
Congo franc, issued by the Central Bank of the
Congo
Congo.

The priority of Cameroon, DRC and the Republic of Congo is to

adopt a blockchain network that is both inexpensive for
transactions and relatively accessible, the source said. TON has an
advantage here because of its focus on integration with Telegram
and the distribution benefits it brings.

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4/23/24, 11:14 PM TON Foundation In Talks With Three African Countries To Launch Stablecoins

Early indications are that the government-led crypto adoption in

the countries will involve integration with the Telegram messenger,
making crypto-based peer-to-peer payments possible via bots in the
messaging app. This is similar to how WhatsApp allows residents in
India and Brazil to send money using the messaging app. Although,
WhatsApp's P2P payments feature currently supports only fiat.

It's unclear how these Central African countries' crypto initiatives

would affect or integrate with the existing mobile money structure.

According to a press release from TON, Minette Libom Li Likeng,

the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications for Cameroon, said:
"This marks a step-change in the economic destiny of Cameroon, as
we look forward to a more digitally-enabled future economy. By
collaborating with TON to develop a viable digital financial model
for our nation, we are proudly leading the way in bringing access to
modern financial instruments to all."

In its release (translated from French using Google), the DRC said:
"…Just like the internet, which was little known at the beginning
but has now become common, it seems quite obvious that the world
will evolve in the direction of greater consolidation of this type of
currency. It is in our interest to reflect on the possibility for the
country to develop this type of currency and to create a favorable
legal and financial environment for its promotion."

An expert from the Republic of Congo's

Congo release (translated from
French using Google) reads: "…we have reached an agreement with
the representatives of TON, a blockchain originally designed by the
founders of Telegram Messenger and now independent. Based on
careful evaluation, TON's technologies, products and stage of
development provide us with the greatest potential to achieve our
ambitions."

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4/23/24, 11:14 PM TON Foundation In Talks With Three African Countries To Launch Stablecoins

By working with TON, Cameroon, DRC and the Republic of Congo

now belong on a short list of countries building crypto solutions on
a decentralized blockchain. That said, it remains unclear if the
stablecoin products in the works would be interoperable with
existing public cryptocurrencies.

On September 7, 2021, El Salvador became the first country

globally to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. In October 2021, West
African giant Nigeria launched the eNaira, becoming the first
African country to launch a CBDC.
Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.

Oluwaseun Adeyanju

Oluwaseun a financial, cryptocurrency and blockchain writer with nearly a

decade’s experience covering the financial markets and about six years of
experience demystifying the... Read More

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