In the past few days, positive news about Bitcoin adoption arrived on two occasions. For one newsfact, you had to be able to read French: the Central African Republic (CAR) is introducing Bitcoin as legal tender. The other news is about asset manager Fidelity, who will be adding Bitcoin as an option in their retirement plans.

CAR's big news was not celebrated as massively as similar news from a year ago. Back then, El Salvador was the first country to introduce Bitcoin as legal tender. Maybe it was because the Central African Republic delivered it with less sense of PR than El Salvador. But that doesn't make the news any less important. The first person to start a wild dance must be a little crazy. But the first person to decide to join the dance is essential to starting a movement. Other candidate countries that were sitting on the fence have not yet joined the dancing couple. Last month, Honduras had cold feet.

Some analysts are somewhat suspicious of the circumstances under which the law was created in CAR. There is a power struggle over influence in the country between France and Russia. Also, the country is known for its corruption. In any case, many Bitcoin supporters are not enthusiastic about government interference in Bitcoin. According to them, no one should dictate to another what currency they use, whether it is Bitcoin or not.

A key difference with El Salvador is that CAR has much less internet coverage: it is estimated that only about 11% of the population has access. As a result, it will be more difficult in practice for the population to receive and send Bitcoin. One similarity with El Salvador is that CAR does not have its own currency: with another thirteen African countries, it shares the CFA Frank. This is a currency that is linked in value to the former French Franc and now the Euro. As a result, the country cannot pursue monetary policy but is subject to the inflation of the euro. Not ideal.

Fidelity and their 401k

The second big news item comes from American Fidelity. And ó it is big news when one of the largest asset managers in the world adds Bitcoin in one of its biggest retirement products, the 401k.

A 401k is a retirement savings plan that many American employers offer their people. According to pension consultant Newfront, there is a lot of demand from employees for digital assets to be included in it. In the world of financial analysts - and therefore, apparently, asset managers - it is beginning to sink in that the traditional 60-40 portfolio of 60% touch and 40% bonds is no longer ideal given the precarious state of the global financial system.

It is not surprising that Fidelity is now the first to offer this option. Fidelity is at the forefront of digital assets in their market. Not surprisingly also, MicroStrategy is the first company to offer the new retirement product to their employees. MicroStrategy is the NASDAQ-listed company that has over 120 thousand Bitcoin on its balance sheet.