Zimbabwean Exchange Adds Ethereum, Re-Enables Bitcoin Buying

Zimbabwe’s only crypto-currency exchange platform, Golix.com has added Etherium and Bitcoin Gold, enabling trade in the two digital assets in the country.

 The Zimbabwean crypto-currency exchange said in an email to traders and users of its platform on Friday: “We have now added Etherium and Bitcoin Gold to the site.” The Golix exchange platform already allows for trade in Bitcoin although traders had suffered a two-day disruption to their order books after a technical glitch on the platform.  Golix also advised on Friday that the exchange platform was back up. “We would like to notify you that Golix is now working normally,” the exchange said in an email to Bitcoin traders and platform users for Zimbabwe.

Interest and trade in Bitcoin in Zimbabwe has been firm, say experts at the platform.

Bitcoin prices have been roaring worldwide and have been nearly double the world average over the past few months. On Friday, Bitcoin prices in Zimbabwe were above $30 000 as the country continues to suffer a liquidity and foreign currency crunch.

New measures announced by Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa such as spreading the use of digital and plastic money and promoting foreign currency generation through enhancing exports have done little to ease up the foreign currency shortages and to deal with hurdles companies and individuals are facing in sending and remitting forex to and from Zimbabwe.

Golix said the two-day outage on the exchange’s order book had been undertaken to protect traders and holders from price volatility pending finalization of the technical glitch which had taken longer to resolve.

“We decided to cancel all pending orders to protect you from cryptocurrency price volatility. It took so long to fix but when fixing problems in production it’s important to us that we take our time and be careful,” said Golix.

Economists in Zimbabwe say the surge in the price of Bitcoin in the country reflects skepticism over other assets in Zimbabwe, as well as the inability to send money outside the country through formal channels.

In October, Golix processed Bitcoin trade values amounting to $1 million as banks in Zimbabwe fail to effect international transactions on time. The Zimbabwe government also says mobile money has been on the rise, with the Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe saying Thursday that mobile wallet transactions topped $1.2 billion for the third quarter period to the end of September.

The stat, however, does not include the value of Bitcoin transactions as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) says the cryptocurrency is not yet legal in Zimbabwe as the bank is still carrying out research into bitcoin trade and usage in the country.