🇨🇫 CAR follows El Salvador to become only the second country to make #bitcoin legal tender.
President Touadera said it was to “improve the conditions" of its citizens and make it “one of the world’s boldest" countries.
But a former PM said the law was a rushed “proclamation”.
🇨🇫 CAR is not ready for crypto, argues @PeterJHowson.
✈️ It doesn't have overseas workers who turn to #cryptocurrencies to send money home - and is unlikely to attract crypto investors.
💻 It also has very poor internet access.
⚡️ Only 14% of its population has electricity.
🚩 Logistical issues aren’t the only red flags for experts.
🚨 CAR’s government relies on foreign military assistance to keep control.
🇷🇺 This includes the Wagner Group, a private military security contractor with links to the Russian government, says @PeterJHowson.
🇷🇺 How does Russia come into play?
⚡️ @PeterJHowson explains #Bitcoin has enabled the country to fund covert operations across Africa despite sanctions.
💰 He also argues that it has helped funnel more money to lobbyists to expand Russia’s influence in the region.
It isn't just crypto’s role in CAR that should concern us, but elsewhere in Africa too, says @PeterJHowson.
🇪🇹 In Ethiopia, developers of #Cardano crypto are working with authorities to build surveillance systems, despite reported crimes against humanity by paramilitaries there.
📊 If you work in crypto, tell us: are you concerned about how it could be used across Africa? tmsnrt.rs/3L1HO3G
💎 Research by @PeterJHowson’s team shows that across the world’s troubled spots, resource wars and economic crises are the ideal conditions for global trading in a new kind of high-tech ‘blood diamond’ - #cryptocurrency.
🇺🇸 Across the U.S., smaller cities are trying to lure remote workers away from big metropolitan areas with new, tempting perks.
🚐 Ready to pack a moving van? Here are 4 places you could consider calling home. 🧵
1️⃣ Tulsa, Oklahoma
💰 The city will give you a $10,000 grant to relocate alongside a year’s free membership at a co-working space - and the promise of a welcoming community.
📈 More than 1,500 people have already taken up the offer. tmsnrt.rs/39OlJbH
2️⃣ Johnson City, Tennessee
🏔 Fancy an escape to the mountains instead?
💰 Johnson City will offer up to $5000 to help with moving expenses.
⚡️ You can also get a $1000 voucher towards a brand new hot tub, and $500 for a bicycle to make the most of the great outdoors.
🇺🇸 As abortion wars escalate across the U.S., digital footprints could become a dangerous weapon.
📱 From location data to search history, online records could be used to target people if #RoeVWade is overturned, researchers say.
🚨 We answer 4 key questions. 🧵
1️⃣ How could data be used against pregnant people?
📺 Anti-abortion groups could use it to target them with ads.
📍 Private companies could sell their location data.
🚨 Law enforcement could use search histories to mount prosecutions.
All without their knowledge or consent.
2️⃣ Does it depend on where you live?
📱 Activists are worried about how access to such data could play out in particular states.
In Texas, people can now sue others for helping those seeking abortions, which was made illegal after 6 weeks under a law enacted last year.
🇺🇦 The #Ukraine war may be miles away from families in the Middle East. But many fear it will be felt in their kitchens.
🌾 Russia and Ukraine export 29% of world's wheat. The crisis has sent food prices to a 13-year high.
Here’s how 3 countries are facing dire consequences. 🧵
🇾🇪 Yemen
🌾 The war-torn nation is almost entirely dependent on food imports, buying at least 27% of its wheat from Ukraine and 8% from Russia.
🥖 7 years of conflict has already left more than half of its people hungry. Now the #RussiaUkraineConflict is making things worse.
📉 Late last year, funding cuts forced the @WFP to shrink aid to eight million Yemenis.
🍞 A further surge in international wheat prices means Yemenis could be more vulnerable than ever, said @afrah_alzouba, who heads a nonprofit working to improve humanitarian access.
🇺🇦 People and companies are using new tech to support #Ukraine as Russia continues its invasion.
Here are 5 ways the world is rallying online to help Ukrainians in crisis. 🧵
1️⃣ Crypto donations
💰 Ukraine's government has raised almost $13 million in #cryptocurrency to help their military, says analysis firm @Elliptic. Funds to volunteer and hacking groups have also spiked.