ambcrypto.com
Bitcoin [BTC], the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has grabbed the attention of Afghanistan, Tunisia, and Uzbekistan, as the countries march towards becoming the first to ever launch a state-issued Bitcoin bond.
According to a report by Asia Times, the governors of the Central Banks of Afghanistan and Tunisia discussed the issuance of a sovereign Bitcoin bond during the annual Spring Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, which took place between April 8 and April 14 in Washington.
On the one hand, Governor of Central Bank of Afghanistan, Khalil Sediq, was quite optimistic about the use-case presented by cryptocurrencies. The Governor stated that they were “seriously considering” launching a blockchain-based crypto bond that would be issued with an intent to raise around $5.8 billion.
The raised funds would cater to the mining, agriculture and mining sectors, stated the report. The main reason behind this was the “severe restrictions” on non-concessional loan, which refers to loans provided by international organizations to countries with better interest rate and duration than standard loans.
More so, the Governor stated that the largest cryptocurrency would be backed by metals such as Lithium, adding that the mining industry in Afghanistan was worth over $3 trillion.
Governor Sediq reportedly stated,
“[…] a crypto issuance could offer a way to access international markets via a first-of-its-kind financial instrument made possible with hyperledger’s blockchain technology service platform.”
On the other hand, the Governor of Central Bank of Tunisia, Marouane El Abassi, also a former World Bank official, stated that the country had already formed a group that was investigating the use-case, advantage, and disadvantage of state-issued Bitcoin bond.
Interestingly, according to the report, the Tunisian Central Bank Governor stated that Hyperledger’s blockchain technology and Bitcoin, which was usually criticized by many for being a tool used by criminals, provided “central banks an efficient tool to combat money-laundering, manage remittance, fight cross-border terrorism and limit grey economics”.