Best Bitcoin Exchange for Tunisia

Tunisia Launches National Digital Currency E-Dinar! Many experts expected China to be the first country to introduce its own digital currency. Facebook CEO Marc Zuckerberg has also announced such a digital currency. However, the announced digital currency Libra caused a lot of criticism on the part of politicians. In particular, the decentralization of the monetary system and the autonomy vis-à-vis state monetary policy are regarded as leading points of criticism. Nonetheless, Tunisia is now the first country to have dared to take this step and to have brought the national currency onto the blockchain. Together with the Russian start-up Universa, the Tunisian central bank plans to issue a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

E-Dinar Catapults Tunisia into the Digital Age

As a report by the Russian media company Tass from 7 November makes clear, the North African state is planning to issue its own digital currency. The country’s central bank is cooperating with the Russian block chain Startup Universa.

According to the publication, the central bank has already started digitizing the national currency, the dinar. Consequently, the E-Dinar is secured by the national currency. During the development, the Universa Blockchain acts as the technological base of the new CBDC.

The report also makes it clear that Universa receives a percentage of the transactions made through the E-Dinar. Furthermore, the CEO and founder of the Russian start-up, Alexander Borodich, notes that the new currency is not a real crypto currency. On the contrary, the E-Dinar is still state-owned and secured by the country’s fiat currency.
The use of the blockchain offers numerous advantages

While manufacturing and managing a physical currency is a costly undertaking, a digital alternative offers some efficiency benefits. In short, issuing such a currency is cheaper and control is easier. In addition, a CBDC offers clear advantages in terms of transparency.

“Digital banknotes cannot be counterfeited. Each banknote is cryptographically protected, just as its paper counterpart has its own digital watermark. Moreover, producing such a banknote is a hundred times cheaper than wasting ink, paper and electricity in the printing process”. – Alexander Borodich, CEO and founder of Universa

Consequently, the state does not issue a new national currency, but shifts part of its resources to the blockchain platform. Tunisian citizens can then exchange their physical money for e-dinar and benefit from the advantages of a digital currency.

The E-Dinar is designed to disrupt the way private banks work

In any case, Borodich assumes that the new digital currency will change the way private banks work. In the future, all physical money could remain with the central bank. Accordingly, commercial banks will only provide services in the future. For the banking sector, this means increasing competition in which customers can benefit from an increase in the quality of the services offered.

However, this is not the first cooperation between Universa and the Tunisian government. At the end of last year, the Tunisian state internet agency ATI announced that it had entered into a strategic partnership with the company. The focus was on the provision of the blockchain service.

Nevertheless, it should be noted that other countries are also critically examining the idea of issuing a CBDC. The European Union recently announced that it was planning to introduce such a currency. In addition, a digital version of the Chinese reserve currency is to be published as early as next year.

Conclusion: Tunisia causes a sensation with the E-Dinar

Following the public debate surrounding Libra, numerous states have discussed the introduction of a state digital currency. Marc Zuckerberg, in particular, made it clear to the states that China is already on the verge of publishing a corresponding currency. This currency could already appear in the course of the coming year and thus strengthen the leading position of the People’s Republic in the blockchain sector.

Tunisia, a country that has not been a central component of the discussion so far, is now planning to introduce such a digital currency. With the E-Dinar, the North African country could take an important step towards a digital world. In addition, the cooperation with the Russian startup Universa offers an already functioning blockchain, which functions as the basis of the monetary system. Despite the percentage participation in the transaction, the transaction costs are significantly lower.

For me this news is a small surprise, because blockchain technology has played a rather subordinate role in African countries so far. Accordingly, the news that Tunisia is about to introduce such a currency came as a corresponding surprise. However, this approach may enable the country to accelerate international growth and gain important experience for further block-chain-based business models.