Botswana in southern Africa is quickly becoming a global Bitcoin hotspot, with residents using the cryptocurrency for many of their regular necessities. Botswana now houses the Satoshi Center, a large cryptocurrency firm dedicated to creating payments gateways for BTC (Bitcoin) transactions. The capital of Botswana, Gaborone, now also has a Bitcoin ATM proving the growing popularity of the currency in the area.
Shahdara Clinic, a private hospital in the area, has also started accepting Bitcoin payments to treat patients. Dr. Donald Ariisa, the clinic’s owner, admits that blockchain technologies are very new and still volatile. Still, he feels that the technology can be harnessed by the people of Botswana.
Even the present President of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi, is an active supporter of Bitcoins because he believes that Botswana needs to expand its economy beyond simply exporting diamonds and metals.
But despite the encouragement, the Bitcoin economy in Botswana is still facing some major problems. The country still has not been able to put in any place any cryptocurrency regulations. Botswana also doesn’t have any local cryptocurrency exchanges. As a result, Bitcoin trading is still quite unsafe and difficult to access for many residents.
Another major problem is that Botswana has not yet adopted Bitcoin as a legal currency. So banks do not offer their customers any Bitcoin services. As a result, investors are only limited to peer-to-peer transactions for purchasing Bitcoins.
The most fool-proof method in Botswana at present to buy Bitcoins is through the Gaborone crypto ATM. But that ATM charges a 15% commission, and traders do not find it very profitable. The Bitcoin economy in Botswana is growing stronger day by day, but it still has a long way to go before it can come at par with the fiat currency.
