Ali, you have got that fact correctly. Preserving public interest. Back to Barrack's question. What would happen if bitPesa went under the Imperial bank way? That would leave depositors high and dry. I think the spirit of Central Bank's memo is, we cannot guarantee depositors any protection. What CBK can do is have cryptocurrency operators give a collateral that can be used to repay clients in the unlikely eventuality the companies go under. Regards On Dec 16, 2015 9:31 AM, "Ali Hussein via kictanet" < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

Waithaka, Ahmed

What you have articulated is at the crux of the matter. CONTROL.

To Barrack’s question:-

1) If you were the Governor CBK or CS Finance? How would you handle Bitcoins? (with limited knowledge on technology matters?)

That is, I believe a critical component of Policy and how the government of the day chooses who is appointed to what docket. But to answer your question in a straight forward way:-

If I were the Governor or CS Finance I’d first take the steps to ensure public interest is preserved. I would then call in the proponents of this particular case and try and find a way for them to work together as we extend our policies and regulations to encompass cryptocurrencies. The fact that we ignore them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. I certainly don’t want to be the proverbial Ostrich sticking its head in the sand and wishing away all its problems.

But then, this is just hypothesis right? :-)

My humble advise to Regulators the world over:-

Don’t be like the Ostrich. :-)

Oh, and I would have expected the Central Bank to have asked the court to enjoin them in the Lipisha/Bitpesa vs Safaricom case as Amicus Curiae. Just so that they can also learn.

*Ali Hussein*

*Principal*

*Hussein & Associates*

Tel: +254 713 601113

Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>

Blog: www.alyhussein.com

Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the organizations that I work with.

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