Now, Central African Republic says Bitcoin is its official currency

The Central African Republic declared Bitcoin an official currency, the second nation in the world to accept the cryptocurrency as legal tender. “Cryptomoney including Bitcoin is now considered an official currency in CAR,” Albert Mokpeme, spokesman for President Faustin-Archange Touadera, said on Thursday. “By legaliding the use of Bitcoin, CAR hopes to attract investors,” he said, adding that its use would ease money transfers that can “sometimes be complicated in our country.” The country is following the lead of El Salvador, which in September became the first nation to introduce Bitcoin as legal tender. The country which has gold and diamond reserves, is one of the world’s poorest countries. Years of violent conflict and a political crisis that gripped the country in the lead up to the presidential election in December 2020 have had a severe impact on the economy and damaged relations with its global partners. Internet penetration in the landlocked nation is about 11 per cent of the 5 million population, according to DataReportal, an online data portal.  

Buffett-backed EV maker’s net cash flow jumps 8,000%

Strong demand for BYD electric vehicles in China, the world’s biggest market for battery-powered cars, has triggered an 8,312 per cent jump in net cash flow from operations, underpinning the Warren Buffett-backed firms strongest first quarter in six years. The Shenzhen-based automaker said the $1.8 billion of net cash flow from operating activities it reported for the three months through March 31 in earnings released on Wednesday  was mostly spurred by cash “received from sales of goods and provision of services.” Bloomberg

Baidu, Pony.ai granted first driverless robotaxi permit

Baidu and Pony.ai said on Thursday they had received permits to deploy robotaxis without humans in the driving seat on open Chinese roads for the first time.  The new permits allow both to offer rides to the general public from cars without anyone sitting behind the steering wheels on open roads within a 60 square kilometre area in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone. Reuters

KKR eyes taking Hitachi Transport private at $5 bn

KKR unveiled a tender offer to take Hitachi Transport System  private in a deal valued at about 670 billion yen ($5.2 billion). KKR is offering 8,913 yen for each share of Hitachi Transport on the market, a 166 per cent premium to Hitachi Transport’s 12-month average closing price through yesterday, KKR said. The private equity firm said that it’s paying 6,632 yen a share for Hitachi’s 40 per cent stake. Bloomberg