A hectic week for Uganda saw it launch a Central Bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot in an attempt to build the largest economy at the chain in Africa, with $ 5.5 billion in Real assets (Rwas). At the same time, the common market for eastern and southern Africa (Comesa), which Uganda is a member, has developed its digital payment system aimed at lowering transaction costs by allowing companies to solve businesses in local currencies.
Uganda’s CBDC and Tokenization
Last week, blockchain infrastructure company Global Settlement Network (GSN) announced That it had collaborated with Diacente Group, developer of Uganda’s Karamoja Green Industrial and Special Economic Zone (Gisez), to launch what it described as “the world’s most advanced tokenized economy.”
The partnership will digitize value flows over important sectors by getting $ 5.5 billion in reality of infrastructure assets on the chain, exciting sectors such as food production, minerals, renewable energy and global trade. The tokenization The effort will extend over a large physical infrastructure, including agro treatment hubs, mining and solar systems.
The project aims to enable individuals, institutions and governments to participate more directly in economic development by unlocking global capital, reducing the reliance on intermediaries and allowing “mobile-first users” to access and solve high value transactions.
“The initiative represents a paradigm change in how financial and industrial infrastructure is delivered in emerging markets,” GSN said in its press release from October 8. “It will enable a fully integrated digital economy that is embedded in national development priorities.”
As part of the rollout, Uganda’s first CBDC is piloted, placed on GSN’s allowed blockchain and supported by Ugandan government bonds.
This digital shilling will work in a regulated environment and follow local and international compliance standards including full Know your customer (KYC) and Anti-money wash (AML) Protocol. Of crucial importance will also be available via smartphone, which means that over 40 million people can trade in digital currency for the first time.
“We are building infrastructure that goes beyond the theory; a programmable economy based on real assets, regulatory cooperation and mass availability,” said Ryan Kirkley, co -founder of GSN. “This is how we close the gap between digital finance and real impact.”
According to GSN, the project will directly support Uganda’s vision 2040a roadmap launched last year to transform it from “a farmer into a modern and prosperous country within 30 years. It is also based on African Union Agenda 2063a “masterplan” to convert Africa into the future “global power plant.”
“This partnership goes beyond infrastructure; it is about unlocking long -term value for our people and our region,” said Edgar Agaba, chairman of Diacente Group. “By integrating tokenization and CBDCs into Uganda’s development maps, we create transparent, technically driven ecosystems that attract new capital, strengthen local industries and scale sustainable growth from the ground up.”
Uganda can also take advantage of another regional initiative that was launched this week, which aims to facilitate obstacles to cross -border payments in Africa.
Comea looks to digital payments
At the same time, the largest trading blocks in Africa will come, will, revealed That it promotes its flagship “Digital Retail Payment’s Platform” (DRPP), an initiative designed to facilitate obstacles to cross -border payments and facilitate trade in local currencies.
Willsa is an intergovernmental body aimed at encouraging financial cooperation between countries in eastern and southern Africa. It is Africa’s largest regional economic organization, with 19 Member States, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, which represents a population of about 390 million.
In a press release on October 9 announced A “significant development in the DRPS initiative”, namely that Malawian and Zambian payment corridors had successfully gone from integration test to user attempts.
“For the first time, cross -border trade within Comesa can be decided directly in local currencies,” mentioned Kenyan Minister of Commerce Lee Kinyanjui. “This displacement reduces dependence on hardly foreign currency, shields companies from volatility, lowers costs and opens the door for small and medium -sized companies, women and young people to fully participate in regional trade.”
He described the system as “a gaming exchanger for regional trade”, underlines the importance of DRPP as a moment, inclusive and affordable cross -border payment system that retains Transaction costs below 3%.
“Allows a border trader to pay directly, ensures transaction security under the central bank’s monitoring and provides inclusion for banks, mobile money and fintech operators,” added Kinyanjui.
The project is led by Come Clearing House (CCH), the institution that facilitates the decommissioning of cross -border trade and services between Member States. CCH runs the regional payment and decommissioning system (reps) and said that it piloted DRPP to extend immediate, including payments to micro, small and average companies (SMEs) as well as to women and underwritten societies.
“DRPP represents CCH’s commitment to innovation in the digital financial sector,” the department said on Thursday. “CCH lays the foundation for cross -border transactions that are as seamless as local payments.”
Look: Find ways to use CBDC outside digital currencies
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