Can the Zimbabwe currency situation be solved using innovative technology?

Zimbabwe has been ravaged by price increases and shortages of basic commodities such as fuel. A new technology business, ZIMBOCASH, says the direct cause of these challenges is money printing. ZIMBOCASH is solving this problem with an audacious goal - they are part of a movement to establish a decentralised, national currency for Zimbabwe using blockchain technology.

The concept revolves around recent innovations in banking technology where it is now possible to establish a tradeable currency system where the money supply is fixed upfront.  Once sufficient numbers of people sign-up, the currency will be listed on an offshore exchange and be tradeable with bitcoin and other recognised currencies.

Philip Haslam, head of communications at ZIMBOCASH, is an experienced finance expert and author of When Money Destroys Nations, a book on Zimbabwe's hyperinflation. Haslam believes Zimbabwe is one of the only countries in the world where a decentralised national currency system could be implemented. The system would enable peer-to-peer payments on a mass scale and could be a real solution to the severe problems in the money and banking system. "Using blockchain technology, the system will make it practically impossible for anyone to shut down, seize people's money or stop cross-border flows."
 
Only Zimbabwean residents and Zimbabweans in the diaspora can register using a Zimbabwean mobile number. It is free to join. The ZIMBOCASH white paper, available at www.zimbo.cash, highlights that each person who signs up will receive an allocation of ZIMBOCASH and further allocations if they refer others.

"Initially, the allocation will be 100 000, but the amount allocated for each person who signs up will half every three months. When registrations close, no further registrations will be allowed. The registration database will be converted into fixed ZIMBOCASH coins transferable with an online wallet.  The system will facilitate fast and secure transactions on a national scale."

Haslam says that in addition to facilitating transfers between account holders, ZIMBOCASH will be listed on an exchange. "Each person will only be able to sell ZIMBOCASH on the exchange when they have made six transfers to others. While we want people to be able to cash-out, our goal is to establish a transactional currency on the ground in Zimbabwe using the latest price as a reference."

Laswet Savadye, head of the Ambassador team at ZIMBOCASH, says "Zimbabwe has so much potential, but we aren't getting it right in our money and banking system. Money printing has destroyed our country once before and we should not allow it to do so again. We're advocating for a system where nobody has the right to print money. We want to see the economy of Zimbabwe transformed with sound money built on blockchain technology. Zimbabweans must be able to trust the money and the banks that they use."

A currency system grows in value based on the network effect – as each additional person is added to the network, so the network grows in value for every participant in the network. With many people signing up, the ZIMBOCASH team are working hard to establish trust.  "Zimbabweans have the power to choose a system that protects them," says Savadye.  "We're making ZIMBOCASH available to all Zimbabweans who sign up. ZIMBOCASH is a decentralised community of like-minded people that are passionate about Zimbabwe – we're building a community of Zimbabweans for Zimbabweans."

Those who are interested in making a difference in the currency environment can sign up to join the Ambassador program, which empowers individuals to develop and establish the ZIMBOCASH network.

Go to the ZIMBOCASH website for more information and to register: www.zimbo.cash