by Terence Zimwara
Cryptocurrency service providers operating in Ethiopia are now required to register with the country’s cybersecurity agency known as the Information Network Security Administration (INSA), a report has said. According to the agency, legal measures will be applied to crypto entities that fail to comply with its registration call.
The Ethiopian cybersecurity agency, the Information Network Security Administration (INSA), has reportedly started registering crypto service providers operating in the country. The agency’s registration of crypto entities was made possible by the amendment of a law that paved the way for the re-establishment of the INSA.
According to a report published by the Ethiopian Monitor, the amended law gives the cybersecurity agency the power to oversee cryptographic products and related transactions. In addition, as the designated “Root Certificate Authority,” the INSA is tasked with developing operating procedures as well as the cryptographic infrastructure.
Meanwhile, reports of the cybersecurity agency’s decision to register crypto entities are coming a few months after the country’s central bank, the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) warned residents against using cryptocurrencies. As reported by Bitcoin.com News in June, the NBE did not only warn against using cryptocurrencies to make payments but it is also encouraged to report such transactions.
However, despite the NBE’s hostile stance towards cryptocurrencies, the INSA is quoted in the Ethiopian Monitor advising crypto service providers operating in the country to heed its registration call. The agency said:
There is interest among individuals and entities in providing crypto services including mining and transfer. [Therefore] to properly regulate this field, INSA has begun to register individuals and entities that are involved in crypto operations (services) including transfer and or mining.
According to the report, crypto service providers have been granted a ten-day period in which they must complete the registration process. The INSA said necessary “legal measures” will be taken against entities that fail to comply.
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Terence Zimwara is a Zimbabwe award-winning journalist, author and writer. He has written extensively about the economic troubles of some African countries as well as how digital currencies can provide Africans with an escape route.
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