Tight monetary policy of Zimbabwe led to the fact that Bitcoin is trading in this country with an incredible margin of almost 600%, as local investors tend to buy cryptocurrencies in order to secure their money.
According to media reports, in recent days a complete ban on foreign currency in Zimbabwe has caused a huge increase in the cost of Bitcoin, which is currently trading for $ 76,000.
At the time of the preparation of this post, the Bitcoin exchange rate against the dollar averaged $ 10,976 worldwide, and this means that the Zimbabwean “bonus” for Bitcoin reached a huge 580%.
Recently, the country’s government decided to stop operations with the US dollar and reintroduce the Zimbabwean dollar, which had already collapsed in 2008 due to incredible hyperinflation.
Such a move by the government took the citizens by surprise as the lack of cash increased the anger of Zimbabweans about economic policy.
The country officially banned the use of cryptocurrency back in 2017. As the economic problems increased, local Bitcoin markups also experienced an incredible increase.
As early as May 2018, there are no cryptocurrency exchanges in Zimbabwe, and therefore trading takes place on such p2p platforms as LocalBitcoins.
The situation is very similar to what happens in countries like Venezuela, where citizens can only hope for cryptocurrency, while fiat money is too unreliable.
Speaking of possible mass protests in case the Zimbabwean government does not change course, Azte.co CEO Akin Fernandez predicted an increase in demand for bitcoins in the future – especially if the authorities try to strengthen the current ban.
“If in this story the word “USD” is replaced with “BTC”, then you will get an idea of the future not only of Zimbabwe but also of each country,” wrote Fernandez on Twitter. “They will do it right if they lift the ban. Money is a service that should be provided exclusively by the market, not the state. ”
Although data on Bitcoin trade in Zimbabwe is not available, according to the Coin Dance website, the global volumes on p2p platforms have reached new records.
LocalBitcoins still losing traffic after last month, officials in Zimbabwe cancelled the option of exchanging cryptocurrencies for cash. This decision also contributed to the fact that competitors actively lured traders to themselves. For example, the weekly trading volume at Bisq p2p-platform last week rose to $10.7 million, which broke the previous record of $6.1 million.
