Senegal, a country on Africa’s west coast, plans to introduce a blockchain-based national digital currency, iAfrikan reported.

Called eCFA, the digital currency will be legal tender as the country’s current currency, CFA Franc. This will make Senegal second country in the world to put its currency on the blockchain, after Tunisia.

Earlier this month, eCurrency Mint Limited announced its partnership with Banque Régionale de Marchés (BRM) to provide eCFA in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). BRM will issue the digital tender in compliance with e-money regulations of Banque Centrale des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (BCEAO), the Central Bank of WAEMU.

“The mission of eCurrency is to preserve the secure and inclusive characteristics of physical fiat currency in our rapidly emerging digital world. We are realizing this important mission in the WAEMU region through the implementation of eCFA by BRM,” said Jonathan Dharmapalan, Founder and CEO of eCurrency.

According to the official release, the eCFA will coexist with other forms of currency, offering a digital form to seamlessly send, receive, store, and transact digitally. Besides Senegal, eCFA will be extended in a second phase to Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Togo and Guinea-Bissau.

The electronic money provided by BRM can only be issued by an authorized financial institution. It uses high security cryptographic protocols to ensure that it cannot be counterfeited or compromised. Because it is interoperable and it provides transparency it promotes governance and regulation by the central bank.

“We are committed to bringing digital financial services and true financial inclusion to West Africa,” said Alioune Camara, CEO of BRM. “We are very happy to announce the eCFA capability here. An eCFA backed by our banking system and the central bank is the safest and most secure way to enable the digital economy. We can now facilitate full interoperability between all e-money payment systems. This is a great leap forward for Africa.”