National Unity Government of Myanmar makes Tether an official currency

The exiled government of Myanmar, which was overthrown by a military junta in early 2021, has recognised the stablecoin Tether as an official currency, according to Bloomberg.

NUG Finance Minister, Tin Tun Naing, wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday that the adoption of the US dollar-pegged cryptocurrency was for “domestic use to make it easy and speed up the current trade, services, and payment systems.”

The NUG is an alliance of elected lawmakers and members of parliament that are loyal to former state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, and were ousted in the February 2021 military coup. The NUG doesn’t hold territory or have a position in the State Administration Council (SAC), the current ruling military government.

In September, the NUG announced a “defensive war” against the SAC, and there has been an escalation in violent skirmishes between the military regime and local resistance groups. It is thought that not only is the NUG’s Tether adoption a way to more easily facilitate financing for its operations, it’s also seen as a defiance against the authority claimed by the military council. For its part, in May 2020, the Central Bank of Myanmar declared all digital currencies illegal.