Amidst Zimbabwe’s Ban On USD, BTC Peer-To-Peer Trade Rises

Even with Zimbabwean government baning use of foreign currencies on June 24, Bitcoin (BTC)trading continues to surge, as reported by business news agency Quartz Africa on July 10.

Reportedly, Zimbabwe has been observing  a rise in peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto trading. Notably, due the existing ban by Zimbabwe’s central bank excersiced in May 2018, local exchanges have been barred from offering cryptocurrency transactions.  

Zimbabwe initially abandoned its local currency Zimbabwe dollar (ZWD) in 2009 and has recently re-introduced it. The report notes that Bitcon has gained more traction as store of value than the new fiat currency, due to its uncertainty. Past week,  Zimbabwean citizens have been using services such as Paypal, Western Union and Moneybookers so as to trade Bitcoin outside the country at prices of up to $12,700.

The CEO and founder of local crypto exchange Golix, Tawanda Kembo claims that local demand for bitcoin is higher than supply, inflating over-the-counter and P2P Bitcoin trading. Zimbabwe was always amongst the most active crypto markets in Africa, however the central bank’s ban of crypto services has reportedly led to a notable surge in Bitcoin trading. 

Some media commentators claim that Bitcoin’s local trading is at as high as $76,000 on P2P site LocalBitcoins.com. Such a number  allegedly indicates that the black market for the U.S. dollar is held in mobile payment service EcoCash.

Read more: Trump Tweets Against Cryptocurrency, Specifically Libra and Bitcoin

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