NEWS Zimbabwe‘s finance minister appeals to residents to invest in Bitcoin
Crypto Pirates
English - September 13, 2021 00:46 - 3 minutes - 6.44 MBTechnology Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
While bitcoin adoption is increasing globally, Africa has historically had a high level of acceptability, at least among its people. While countries such as Nigeria have taken a stand against cryptocurrency use, Zimbabwe has once again opened its doors to the new technology.
Mthuli Ncube, the country's finance minister, recently visited Dubai's DMCC Crypto centre, where he was intrigued by methods to reduce the cost of money transfers. As observed by Ncube
“I paid a visit to Dubai's DMCC CRYPTO CENTRE, an intriguing incubator hub for crypto currency and payment solutions. I discovered methods that could result in a reduction in the costs of diaspora remittances.”
The World Bank estimates that the Zimbabwean diaspora pays up to $90 million on remittance fees each year.
This is not the first time the finance minister has spoken out in favour of cryptocurrency. Several years ago, Ncube asked citizens to "invest in understanding emerging inventions like bitcoin" and urged authorities to follow the lead of countries such as Switzerland in "investing in and understanding bitcoin."
While some in the crypto community lauded such pronouncements from authorities, others questioned the minister's tardy recognition. Victor Mapunga, CEO of Flexfintx, reminded the minister that Zimbabwe already has a thriving blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem.
In his words,
“In Zimbabwe, we already have blockchain and cryptocurrency startups such as @Flex Tx that collaborate with local players.”
Many others agreed with the CEO in the comment area, with some arguing that the country should do more to promote its cryptocurrency firms, particularly given Zimbabwe's recent inflationary experience.
According to the CATO Institute, South Africa's monthly inflation rate exceeded 50% in 2007 before falling to 89.7 sextillions per year in November 2008. Zimbabwe's high inflation rates persist, making cryptos ideal for keeping value in the country's inflation-prone economy.
Even as cryptocurrency investors increased in Zimbabwe, not everyone believed cryptocurrency was a good idea. On Twitter, Senator Jopa Sayeyo stated:
“When banks cease currency manipulation, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe [RBZ] may explore cryptocurrency. Otherwise, a huge ZWL [Zimdollar] crash will result.”