After banning the use of Web 3.0 Cryptocurrencies in Uganda, what is next?
First and foremost, let me state the obvious, I happen to have grown up in Uganda which is a developing country that has tried to reach middle-income status for so some time now. Youths have engaged in techs like never before evident in the many start-ups in the country— to reach this nation’s goal, and the journey is progressive.
A day or two back, the Bank of Uganda warned the public against using cryptocurrencies to transact businesses, saying that the Central Bank has not licensed any company to offer the services, indicating that it didn’t recognize any as a legal tender. Now, what does this mean to the youth who are trying out these different technologies? Web 3.0 technologies to be specific.
Talking about the Web 3.0 ecosystem in general, It is something that has still been so oblivious to many—yes even the tech-savvy consumers. So you might be asking, what is Web 3.0 all about? Lemme share a word or two about it. Web 3 is the new breed of the internet, which aims to become the decentralized version of the virtual world.
It encloses any technology that helps reform the centralized internet and lets users take back control over their digital lives. To give you an idea, traditionally you need to create an account for every platform you use. For example, you might have a Twitter account, a Safe Boda, or a Facebook account, you can use social sign-ins in some cases, even worse, some platforms require you to trust them with personally identifiable information to create an account. But this presents a familiar problem—censorship because, with a single click, these platforms can lock you out of your entire online life.
Another merit of decentralized projects is that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin are used for spending and sending money online instead of relying on the infrastructure of banks, mobile money, and payment processors. This means that anyone from a distant country can send you tokens let’s say worth UGX 200M and remains Untraceable.
There has been an inevitable tension created by these technologies that give people new capabilities such as avoiding censorship and surveillance and could be used to sidestep financial regulation and law enforcement from these governments.
And for this very reason, that’s what I think the Government of Uganda is dealing with right now—yes the tension. And in more years to come, we don’t expect anything to change at least we all know that.
