The Bank of Cape Verde is studying the introduction of digital currency in the country, which should happen in the next 2 years, but is warning about the risks of using it without proper regulation.
"Digital currency is part of our 2021 – 2024 strategic plan, we are carrying out studies, we have to analyze the impacts in terms of monetary policy, in terms of the risks that it also brings to the financial sector, we have to analyze the types of currencies and the limit for anonymity“, said the administrator responsible for the Payment System of the Bank of Cabo Verde (BCV), Antónia Lopes.
The person in charge was the press spokeswoman for a workshop taking place in the city of Praia on the “Challenges of digital transformation in the payments sector” in Cape Verde, which precedes the IX Meeting of Payment System of Central Banks of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP).
Antónia Lopes realized that the new organic law will allow the Cape Verdean banking regulator to issue the moeda digital, but this will require approval of the regulation in Parliament.
"We have already signaled to the Government the need to assign competences to the Banco de Cabo Verde to regulate this segment, to allow those who want to provide this type of activity to have the necessary regulation, but above all in terms of money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism“, he continued.
The person responsible for the BCV Payments System portfolio recommended that investors or anyone who wants to work with digital currencies be aware of the associated risks, because at the moment there is no protection by a regulatory authority in the country.
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In 2018, the Cape Verdean payment system published its current legal regime, with three legislative decrees, on the operation and management of the system, payment services, electronic money issuance and access to these activities by entities who want to provide them.
A study presented in September 2021 pointed to payment services that tend to be free (account opening, deposits, withdrawals, branch and ATM) as the biggest constraint for the implementation of electronic money in Cape Verde.
In addition to this, there is the small size of the market, with less than 600 thousand inhabitants, a high rate of bank access (78,7%), an extensive network of commercial bank branches/branches, with presence in all municipalities in the country, and the good coverage of the territory by the ATM network.
Other weak points mentioned were the costs of authorization, installation and financing of an autonomous entity/company, the presence of an operator in the market, Banco BAI/Makeba, and the existence of some shadow areas not covered by the mobile network, mainly in the most remote.
