Ecuador: The First Nation to Create its own Digital Currency

Over the weekend, CCN reported on the government of Ecuador’s decision to ban Bitcoin, along with all other cryptocurrencies, via a National Assembly majority vote on July 23rd.

An outright ban placed on Bitcoin by one nation, or another, has always been inevitable. What is more interesting (and unexpected), in the case of Ecuador, is its concurrent announcement of plans to create its own national cryptocurrency.

Ecuador is small South American country situated in the Andes, between Peru and Colombia. The country’s booming mining economy and hydro-electric output is sizable and in 2013, Ecuador’s economic growth surpassed that of it’s giant neighbor, Brazil.

Glossing over the practical benefits such as a public record of government transaction, elimination of counterfeiting, reduction of public sector corruption, etc., the announcement is significant because it apparently defies two key principles of the cryptocurrency domain… CONTINUE