Bitcoin Soars In Zim, Reaches Record High Of $17 875

The price of cryptocurrency, bitcoin, continues to rise in Zimbabwe as investors and the general public continue looking for means of preserving their wealth. On Monday the price of Bitcoin reached a high of $17 875 on the local exchange, Golix. This is almost double the highest price for Bitcoin on the US market (at the time of publishing) of $10 022. The soaring demand for bitcoin in Zimbabwe has been partly driven by the cash shortages which have been bedevilling the country for the better part of the last 24 months. The shortages have driven people to seek for alternative avenues of preserving value and Bitcoin is proving to be popular.

A local cryptocurrency analyst who spoke to Reuters said:

It looks like people trust bitcoin more than anything else to maintain the value of their money. That is what’s propelling the price.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s inauguration speech also seems to have created optimism and hope and has resulted in the black market rates for the United States Dollars decreasing. On Friday, USD 100 was going for $150 via electronic funds transfer while on Monday the rate had declined to $140 for USD100.

More: Reuters