Blockchain Association of Ugandan Crypto Firms Supports Government’s Initiative of Introducing Crypto Law

Crypto law proposal has been welcomed in Uganda surprisingly by the Blockchain Association of the country. Blockchain Association of Uganda (BAU) has spoken freely that there is a dire need for crypto regulation in the country for boosting the confidence of crypto investors as well as for encouraging innovators to participate in the crypto industry.

The need for having crypto legislation has sparked simultaneously throughout the world. There have been many countries worldwide including the US, UK, India, the whole of Europe, and others wanting to create a crypto regulatory framework.

The crypto regulation discussion is also gaining momentum amongst the African countries as well. The prominent economies of the African continent such as Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda are very much into crypto regulation. In Uganda especially there is a huge discussion going on with regard to the nature of crypto law. For this purpose, The Finance Ministry of Uganda also directed Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) to immediately see if the law can be provided.

It has been a few months since FIA was directed by the Ministry to examine the possibility of crypto legislation. However, out of nowhere, the Blockchain Association of Uganda (BAU) has made a statement over the crypto draft proposal. BAU said the law is needed on an immediate basis because it will help cultivate confidence within Ugandan crypto investors. Also regulation will encourage people and companies from the technology and innovation sector to come forward and join the crypto industry.

The remarks of BAU are in line what that of FIA. Of course, the objective of FIA is even more farsighted than BAU. FIA’s intention is that the law would enable it to employ regulatory compliance upon crypto businesses. This will then be followed by crypto businesses obtaining registrations from the relevant authority. However, since the announcement of the regulations, only a few crypto firms have sought registrations. The majority of firms are still not willing to get registrations.

Apparently, too many months have been passed and there are only talks concerning crypto regulation in the country. However, no concrete steps so far have been taking to further the initiative by the FIA. Time again there have been only statements that are carrying forward the crypto regulation discussion.

Meanwhile, the central bank of Uganda is still pursuing the guidelines relating to payment service providers. Therefore, the central bank has denied shifting its focus from the payment services providers to the crypto space. The Bank of Uganda commented that dealing with crypto is not amongst its priority agendas. In fact, the bank would want to see if the PSP guidelines have been met in letter and spirit.

Without the intervention of the central bank, it wouldn’t be easy for the FIA to take over the task of developing a crypto regulation framework.