South African authorities think it’s too dangerous to launch the state cryptocurrency

On Monday, while giving a speech on the Strate GIBS FinTech Innovation Conference 2017, the Deputy Governor of South African Reserve Bank Francois Groepe gave his opinion on cryptocurrency and other fintech events.

According to various media outlets, he said that digital currencies can become usable in all spheres. He stressed, however, that launching its own cryptocurrency would be too risky for the Reserve Bank. This, he concluded, is something that should be planned thoroughly.

Before that, almost a year ago, the Governor of that same bank told that it considers all pros and cons of new financial technologies and solutions and always stays in touch with the latest news on the topic.

Some African countries have their currencies so cheap that Bitcoin mining turned out to be a very opportune sphere for many residents there. Even in South Africa, Bitcoin’s value is considered big. So, the decision of the Reserve Bank to take careful approach is easily explained: they don’t want their fiat currency, South African Rand, to fall amidst the introduction of a new perspective state cryptocurrency.