From Cowries to Crypto: The Long Arc of Monetary Policy in Africa
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From Cowries to Crypto: The Long Arc of Monetary Policy in Africa
Yegandi Imhotep Paul Alagidede
Publisher: African Review of Economics and Finance
Pub: 2026-06-11 07:47:02
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Africa’s monetary history is a tale of disruption from the communal logic of cowries to the extractive brutality of colonial currency boards, and finally to the technocratic constraints of post-independence fiat systems. This paper asserts a provocative thesis: modern African central banks are vestiges of colonial frameworks, enforcing economic models that prioritise creditors over communities. Inflation targeting, debt conditionalities, and currency devaluations are not neutral policies they are tools of monetary warfare against African sovereignty. We propose three radical shifts: developmental stability rooted in Africa’s vast resource wealth, fiscal-monetary unity to break free from austerity’s grip, and currency innovation embracing blockchain, digital credits, and energy-backed tokens. Metanomics a novel framework blending indigenous wisdom with quantum finance challenges the sterile dogmas of macroeconomic orthodoxy. We argue that money must reclaim its essence as real value not speculative digits controlled by distant institutions, but dynamic energy exchanged in sovereign, regenerative systems. Africa’s future lies not in compliance with international financial institutions, but in building decentralised, transparent, and resource-backed economies from the ground up. A monetary renaissance beckons if the continent dares to reclaim its past, confront its present, and forge a radically postcolonial financial future.
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Keywords
Metanomics; Monetary Sovereignty; Resource-Backed Currency; Postcolonial Finance; Decentralised Monetary Systems; Africa
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Keywords
Metanomics; Monetary Sovereignty; Resource-Backed Currency; Postcolonial Finance; Decentralised Monetary Systems; Africa