Category: Cryptocurrencies
Entrepreneurs! Applications for the Africa Blockchain Incubation Program are open!
The Africa Blockchain Incubation Program is focused on grooming African Blockchain StartUps, to spark creativity and ideas implementation around Distributed Ledger Technologies, insufficiently present in the Local Innovation and Entrepreneurship Landscape of Egypt and Zimbabwe. Qualified candidates will be nurtured through a structured 4-Month course of Workshops, Training, Development, Mentor Sessions and Community Events, through […]
Zimbos were creating money on EcoCash, OneMoney and telecash using blockchain tech – RBZ governor. And more revelations
The RBZ governor, Dr John Panonetsa Mangudya sat down for an interview with Trevor Ncube. We talked about what was said in the first part of the interview here. Now, we continue with the story and get to the meat of the interview, in my opinion. I feel I must warn you that if you […]
Zimbocash now has mobile app and they also rolled out 2FA
Zimbocash, the company that is pushing to be Zimbabwe’s “sound money solution”, has finally launched a mobile application on Android. The launch of the app has taken a bit of time and was something that I thought might be a bit far off after the crypto went down last year because the team at Zimbocash […]
Zim govt looking at central bank digital currency, what is that and why won’t it fix our problems
For a brief period of time, it appeared the Zimbabwean govt was going to adopt cryptocurrencies into the economy and that had us salivating a little. They then yanked that rug from beneath our feet. Turns out they are looking at Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and those are infinitely less exciting for us. We […]
Zim has much in common with country which made bitcoin legal tender, so…
We thought the Zimbabwean government was looking at the possibility of adopting cryptocurrencies. They clarified their position, they most definitely are not. Instead, they are looking at central banking digital currencies. For a second there we got excited but we all kind of knew that wasn’t going to happen. The govt is not thinking about […]
The govt has a crypto adoption framework, but it isn’t using it
The Zim govt is reportedly looking at the possibility of adopting cryptos and blockchain technology according to The Sunday News. The revelation was made at the Computer Society of Zimbabwe ICT Summit in Victoria Falls this past week by Rtd Brigadier General, Charles Wekwete the Permanent Secretary and Head of e-government Technology Unit in the […]
Breaking down cryptos, potential regulation & opportunities in the Zimbabwean context
We held a Twitter Space breaking down a study that was done by The Zimbabwe Blockchain Technology Think Tank called “Towards Virtual Asset Regulation and Adoption of Blockchain Technology in Zimbabwe’s Context”. The think tank itself comprised of Hon Advocate Fortune Chasi, MP Dr Solomon Guramatunhu, MBChB, Opththamology Dr Immaculate Motsi-Omoijiade, PHD (she/her) Cryptocurrency Prosper […]
[Download] Towards Virtual Assets Regulation and Adoption of Blockchain Technologies in Zimbabwe’s Context
Cryptocurrencies and Zimbabwe have been water and oil since the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) banned traditional financial institutions from conducting business with crypto exchanges. Many have made the argument that cryptos and blockchain technology could be one of the solutions that could help Zimbabwe in its economic strife. We have advocated for the adoption […]
ZASH: Much ado about nothing
One Thursday morning in sunny October Zimbabweans woke up to find that the cryptocurrency that they had been stacking up by spamming links in WhatsApp groups had finally taken off and was now in orbit. In crypto-land we call it ‘to the moon’ and ZASH (the cryptocurrency for the ‘decentralised currency for Zimbabwe’) had made […]
Africa’s cryptocurrency economy grew by over 1200% in a year
According to a study by Chainalysis, Africa’s cryptocurrency economy grew by 1200% between July 2020 and June 2021. The value of transactions was estimated to be US$105.6 billion during that period. This makes Africa the third fastest-growing crypto-economy globally which is pretty surprising judging from regulators on the continent not unanimously welcoming alternative currencies with […]
Local startup AfriBlocks to co-host US-based blockchain summit
Local freelance startup and the first Zimbabwean startup to be selected for US-based incubator, Afriblocks, will be co-hosting the 2021 Black Blockchain Summit. The conference will be held over three days starting from the 24th of September in Washington DC (and beamed virtually). “We are excited to co-host such a major event. This summit is […]
ZimboCash looking into USSD, mobile app & eCommerce API
Last night, ZimboCash (ZASH) Head of Communications Philip Haslem held a Twitter Space to touch base and answer questions from those in attendance. The Space covered a number of points spanning from ZimboCash’s return, its relationship with the regulators, digital KYC to an API for eCommerce. So let’s break down all of what was said, […]
Prof. Mthuli Ncube continues to ignore local crypto startups
It might appear as if I am stalking Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube but some of the things he has said recently have been concerning. Last week Prof. Mthuli Ncube toured a Dubai Crypto Hub and tweeted that he had found a way to make remittances cheaper while there. Now, if you have been around Techzim […]
Mthuli Ncube’s tour of Dubai crypto hub shows govt isn’t aware of local startups
Finance Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube yesterday put out a tweet saying he had visited the DMCC Crypto Centre in Dubai. If you have never heard the name DMCC before, the firm offers a number of services among them cryptographic blockchain, and distributed ledger technologies. I visited the DMCC CRYPTO CENTRE in Dubai, which is a […]
Enough with the crypto scams already, help prevent them
Another day, another “Zimbabweans lose millions of USD in a Ponzi scheme” headline. This time the relatively new cryptocurrency scam struck to the tune of over USD$5 million. What happened this time? Martin Mhlanga (the schemer) is sitting pretty somewhere after promising his victims fantastic returns on their investments and then failing to deliver. Mhlanga […]
Coinbase in a hacking scare as exchange sends emails in error
In an early article, I warned about how the ease of using wallets provided by crypto exchanges can lull you into a false sense of security. This is because it seems these days large scale crypto-heists targeting exchanges are on the rise. Users of the very popular platform Coinbase were recently reminded of this fact […]
Beware of crypto-exchanges as large scale hacks are on the rise
Judging by the comments and views we get on crypto-currency articles and social media intelligence, Zimbabwe does have a very thriving and vibrant cryptocurrency community. A lot of these people use various wallets to store their digital assets and most of these wallets are provided and managed by so-called exchanges. Exchanges make things easy As […]
Crypto-currencies are not money says the South African Reserve Bank governor
Even though cryptos are now widely accepted throughout the world including on our beloved African continent-authorities are still struggling with how they should handle them. Even here in Zimbabwe, the RBZ is always flip-flopping, when it comes to regulating or even recognising them. They essentially regulated exchanges out of existence when they forbade banks from […]
PayPal users in the UK can now buy, hold and sell Bitcoin too
At the end of March this year PayPal pulled a surprise when it announced that US PayPal account holders could now buy Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum right from their dashboards. This seemed like an experiment and if it was it seems to be going well too. Now PayPal has just extended this feature to PayPal […]
Messi’s PSG welcome package included crypto
Lionel Messi’s move away from his almost lifelong club Barcelona came with something that is on message these days. According to a report by Reuters, Messi’s signing on package included Paris Saint Germain’s (PSG) crypto fan tokens. If you are surprised that PSG has its own fan token or crypto you are in the majority. […]
ZIMBOCASH users can now transact on its exchange
Ah… ZIMBOCASH (ZASH) it has been a while since I thought about this alternative currency. The last we heard was that it was going through a system upgrade that would allow it to better protect itself against people who were skirting the rules. Well, unbeknownst to me ZIMBOCASH went live last week and the team […]
Election integrity, music royalties & other use cases for cryptos and blockchain technology
Part two of our discussion on the benefits of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology is a more focused one. In this episode, we look at the use cases for the blockchain and cryptos that go beyond financial services. And I was joined yet again by Financial Services Lawyer and Blockchain Technology Analyst, Prosper Mwedzi. You can […]
Bitcoin price fluctuations and how Zim is being lapped in the crypto adoption race
Bitcoin and altcoin price fluctuation is a complex topic to get to the bottom of. There are a number of factors that influence their price. Some factors are apparent while others are in the realm of speculation. To shed light on what causes the dips and peaks in the price of Bitcoin we were joined […]
SA Reserve Bank says it’s illegal for South Africans to transfer locally bought Bitcoin overseas
It seems South African regulators are grappling with how to regulate Bitcoin. A lot of people, in Mzansi, are participating in the Bitcoin rush drawn in by the tantalising prospect of massive returns that even the best traditional stock traders cannot dream of getting. Here are some of the big things we have learnt about […]
Two South African brothers vanish with 69 000 Bitcoin
It seems two South African brothers might have pulled one of the biggest Bitcoin scams of all time. Initial investigations seem to suggest that the owners of an investment platform called Africrypt, might have defrauded their clients of 69 000 coins that were pilfered from wallets in a matter of hours. The coins are worth […]
South African Reserve Bank quietly cracks down on international crypto buying
The last time I talked about Binance, one of the world’s most popular crypto exchanges I was complaining about how they didn’t seem to want Zimbabweans on their platform. Now it seems South African’s are having trouble buying cryptocurrencies using their Visa or MasterCards on the platform as well. But, a cursory investigation has revealed […]
Digital Korokoza: The dark side of crypto mining
It’s diamonds that are forever, not your computer hardware. A few weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised when I received a 5-minute voice note from an enterprising young man that I know from my local church. The Chemical Engineering graduate innocently elaborated his plan of crypto mining on any high-powered computer I may own. Essentially, […]
StanChart wants to launch a Crypto trading platform, it will not benefit Zimbabweans
Nothing to see here folks.
Some Zimbabweans report being kicked off Coinbase & Binance platform
A number of Zimbabweans have revealed on social media that their Binance and/or Coinbase accounts were recently restricted. They were then asked to withdraw their funds to other wallets or risk losing them. After that their accounts were permanently deactivated. In all instances their offence seems to have been that they are Zimbabwe. One user […]
Does CBZ hold the key for crypto inclusion in RBZ’s Sandbox?
One of the biggest disappointments of this year was the exclusion of cryptocurrency exchanges and the likes from the RBZ’s Fintech Sandbox. The initiative, run by the Reserve Bank, was an opportunity for traditional financial institutions to dip their toes into experimental or emerging technologies. Now, the shunning of cryptos was a contradiction of the […]