The Ugandan government held a Bitcoin roundtable meeting to promote virtual currency regulation and legislation (download meeting report)

The African country of Uganda will soon begin regulating Bitcoin and other virtual currencies. This is according to a new report released by the United Nations African Crime Prevention and Crime Treatment Research Institute (UNAFRI), which has issued a guidance document on the regulation of virtual currencies in Africa.

Uganda roundtable discusses virtual currency regulation

In July this year, UNAFRI held its first roundtable discussion in Kampala, Uganda, focusing on regulatory policies for digital currency transactions. Dr. Maureen Mapp of Birmingham Law School and the Central Bank of Uganda participated in the meeting.

The roundtable was held to spread awareness of virtual currencies in Uganda and “provide effective ways to regulate this new type of cryptocurrency.”

Representatives from academia, parliament, insurance industry, chambers of commerce and other regulatory agencies participated in the roundtable. Speakers included Ugandan Bitcoin Exchange Bitreco, UNAFRI, Uganda Police e-Policy Department (UPECD) and others.

Dr. Mapp introduced in detail the major companies, miners and users in the field of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. More importantly, Dr. Mapp mentioned how blockchain technology can remove third-party intermediaries and achieve a certain degree of inclusive finance. In addition, she also presented a survey done for the Commonwealth Secretariat in 2015. The meeting also mentioned topics such as dark web markets and the "Michell Espinoza case" (the first Bitcoin money laundering case).

UNAFRI: What is the position of the state in the P2P architecture?

The UNAFRI representative raised several questions regarding the use of virtual currencies during his presentation:

Is virtual currency a currency, commodity, security, taxable property, transferable instrument, bill of exchange, or other digital entity? - Should the state protect the rights and interests of such P2P transactions? - If the answer is yes, should such rights and interests be classified as property rights, contractual rights, economic rights, transaction rights, or other rights?

The UNAFRI report states that the next roundtable will invite some stakeholders and legislators. The participants of this roundtable agreed to establish a "useful guide based on basic principles". The basic principles will be jointly issued by financial regulators, academia and members of the banking community. In addition, the participants of this meeting will form a think tank dedicated to the professional knowledge and research of virtual currencies.

Uganda May Be First African Country to Regulate Bitcoin

The final result of the UNAFRI roundtable is very eye-catching. If Uganda begins to draft a virtual currency legislative framework and regulatory policy, it may become the first African country to regulate Bitcoin. UNAFRI's report shows that the popularity of decentralized currencies is high, and the volume of virtual currency transactions is on the rise in Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana and other African countries.

The report will be displayed at the Birmingham Law School and UNAFRI's official website to enhance people's understanding of emerging technologies.