Get trading recommendations and read the analysis on Hacked.com for only $ 39 a month
The bitcoin price hit record levels this week, reaching a record world average of $ 6,634 Tuesday morning.
Whenever bitcoin reaches a record high, investors who have considered buying bitcoin, but have not yet done so, complain that they should have buy when the price was lower. "It's too expensive now," they complain. But while potential investors in liquid markets complain that $ 6,600 is too expensive, demand in emerging markets like Zimbabwe is pushing up local exchange rates above the global average.
Bitcoin is often trading at a high price in developing markets, where demand is high due to instability in local currencies, but the volume of cryptocurrency transactions is low. The world's most expensive bitcoins are in the Golix stock market in Zimbabwe, where the price of bitcoin peaked at $ 12,400 on Tuesday, an 87% premium to the global average. This is an increase of $ 2,400 since October 20, while the overall price of bitcoin has risen to about $ 1,000 during the same period.
The source of this phenomenon goes back to the previous decade, when few people – much less in Zimbabwe – had heard of bitcoin or cryptocurrency. In 2009, Zimbabwe replaced its national currency with the US dollar following creeping hyperinflation that forced the country's central bank to start producing 100 trillion dollar bills. However, there are not enough US dollars in the country to meet demand, and prices of government bonds that have the same value as dollars plunged into black markets, partly because they are not accepted by foreign entities. Banks started rationing the US currency, and CCN detailed how Zimbabweans line up for hours just to withdraw $ 50 from their accounts.
As a result, many locals are turning to bitcoin, both because they can get it without money and they can spend it abroad
"There is no need to have money to buy bitcoin.Most people simply use the electronic means generally available," Yeukai said. Kusangaya, who coordinates exchanges at the Golix bitcoin exchange, at the local press agency The Standard . "As such, the Bitcoin purchase is not affected by ongoing cash shortages … in case a seller wants money for bitcoin, they will have to identify such a buyer with money. and do a peer-to-peer. "
Some observers have suggested that the government will try to crack down on the use of bitcoins as part of its capital control policies, but others speculate that the government is not not the resources to achieve it and will seem weak if it fails. Therefore, the Zimbabwean technology analyst Nigel Gambanga said CNN that the situation is so serious that it would not be surprised if the government formally regulates the bitcoin or even considering adopting it as legal tender
"If the trade in bitcoin intensifies without solving the country's currency problems, we could witness a revision of the central bank and government position by playing a more important role. active in the cryptocurrency ".
"The state has already taken extreme measures such as the ban on the import of fruit … the addition of bitcoin to the country's multi-currency basket might not to be so absurd, "he concluded.