Zimbabwe has been facing financial struggle over the past two years. However, the country’s newly-appointed Minister of Finance, Mthuli Ncube, has come up with a solution by introducing its own cryptocurrency to solve the ongoing cash shortage.
According to Ncube, who only held his new position just two weeks ago, “Zimbabwe should be investing in understanding innovations and often central banks are too slow in investing in these technologies. But there are other countries which are moving faster. If you look at the Swiss central bank they are investing in and understanding Bitcoin.”
Prior to the suggestion of introducing cryptocurrency to the country, Zimbabwe’s central bank has imported more than $400 million this year in an effort to cushion the cash shortage. However, citizens of the country are leaving no choice but to travel all the way to border towns such as Musina in South Africa in order to withdraw cash from international banks.
According to a report by IT Web Africa, Ncube stated that he will persuade the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) in setting up a cryptocurrency division specially created to provide assistance while building up a better understanding of digital assets for the country’s apex bank.
Nucbe also mentioned that Switzerland is a prime example for successfully utilising the concept of cryptocurrencies. He said, “One can pay for travel using Bitcoin in Switzerland. So, if these countries can see value in this and where it’s headed, we should also pay attention. We have innovative youngsters so the idea shouldn’t be to stop it and say don’t do this, but rather the regulators should invest in catching up with them and find ways to understand it, then you regulate it because you now understand it.”
