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The East African country of Uganda has launched a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot backed by treasury bonds. At the same time, its neighbor, Kenya, is on the verge of signing its first cryptocurrency regulation bill into law, pending presidential approval. The Bank of Uganda’s CBDC, a digitized version of the Ugandan shilling on a permissioned blockchain, has been implemented by a partnership between blockchain infrastructure company Global Settlement Network (GSN) and Ugandan developer Diacente Group. It forms part of a $5.5 billion national tokenization initiative announced on Wednesday. Under the pilot program, GSN and Diacente will tokenize real-world assets, including treasury bonds, agricultural investments, and renewable energy projects, to modernize Uganda’s financial system and attract international investment. According to GSN, funding will come from tokenized loans and investors across Korea and the Middle East. Uganda CDBC to serve the unbanked, covering several industries  More than 80% of Uganda’s workforce operates in the informal economy, where access to formal banking is limited. The new CBDC system seeks to change that by enabling low-cost, mobile-based transactions via smartphones and USSD codes for over 40 million Ugandans. GSN representatives said the platform uses full Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) protocols in tandem with both local and international standards. “We are building infrastructure that goes beyond theory—a programmable economy grounded in real assets, regulatory collaboration, and mass accessibility. This is how we close the gap between digital finance and real-world impact,” remarked Ryan Kirkley, co-founder and CEO of GSN. The pilot will begin in the Karamoja Green Industrial and Special Economic Zone (GISEZ), a government-supported development centre within Uganda’s Vision 2040 plan. The country’s government is seeking to industrialize and expand the economy to $500 billion through regional trading. Uganda’s pilot follows similar efforts by Nigeria, which became the…

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Filed under: News - @ October 9, 2025 9:27 am