The Zimbabwe government has commenced an exercise to assess the country’s cryptocurrency ecosystem with a view to recommend an appropriate regulatory framework.
“In line with global trends and best practices, Zimbabwe is embarking on an exercise to assess and understand the cryptocurrency landscape in Zimbabwe,” the government said.
Zimbabwe has been stringently against the trading of cryptocurrencies, with the country’s central bank having issued several warnings to that effect. The decision to work towards introducing a regulatory framework represents a changing view of crypto by the southern African nation crippled by currency instability.
The exercise, due to be concluded on the 26 of June, will also seek to determine the extent of crypto adoption as well as assess the dangers associated with crypto including money laundering and terrorism financing.
As part of the exercise, the government has set up a committee to consult crypto ecosystem stakeholders in the country including exchanges, traders, miners and payment providers. The committee will also consult stakeholders not based in Zimbabwe but providing crypto services to Zimbabweans.
Since 2008, Zimbabwe has introduced and phased off six currencies to reign in the country’s inflation. The introduction of crypto regulations might provide Zimbabweans with the option of a means of exchange aside from the controversion ZiG, introduced in April, and hard-to-find US dollars which are the country’s most used currency.