Look up “hyperinflation” in the dictionary, and you’ll probably find a picture of Zimbabwe’s 100 trillion dollar bill. The country has become an unfortunate poster for economic mismanagement, but one project, Zimbocash, is seeking to heal Zimbabwe’s economic woes with a token on the TRON blockchain.
Zimbocash is not the only cryptocurrency attempting to make inroads to Zimbabwe – Bitcoin has also made something of a comeback, and Dash has probed the market through a partnership with Kuvacash.
However, economic conditions in Zimbabwe make it difficult to convert fiat to crypto at a large scale. Most Zimbabweans do not have a lot of cash on hand, making it difficult to acquire any amount of the cryptocurrency.
A Unique Approach For Zimbocash Adoption
Zimbabweans don’t have to spend money to hodl Zimbocash. In order to make the new currency viable, anyone can acquire it through a simple registration process.
The program is free for Zimbabwe residents, with 25,000 ZIMBOCASH for signing up and further allocations for signing up others. These free allocations diminish over time, much like cryptocurrency mining rewards. Once the allocation phase is complete, the founders hope to get listed on an international exchange, allowing for free market price discovery.
It’s not a foolproof allocation process, and cynics might remark on the similarities with Initiative Q. But co-founder Philip Haslam is confident that Zimbocash could germinate into a successful payments network. The South African-born economist also serves as Zimbocash’s head of communications.
“Zimbocash will look like any normal online bank account or Ecocash wallet – you will be able to log in, see your balance and send Zimbocash to others when doing trading,” Haslam explained.
With this approach, once enough users use and own the currency, the network effect can take over. “People have nothing to lose by signing up,” Haslam added. “the power of this is in the community of people who create this currency together.”
The Zimbocash team is making a concerted effort to get more users on-board, visiting towns and cities throughout the country and hosting workshops in September. At present, they have over 11,000 sign-ups.
“Time is of the essence,” the team says, with allocations of Zimbocash to registrants halving after September 30. Allocations will continue to halve every three months.
courtesy: ZIMBOCASH
Haslam hopes that decentralization can help solve Zimbabwe’s severe money and banking problems. With blockchain technology, Zimbocash will be the basis of “a fixed money system,” preventing anyone from printing more of the currency once it is launched.
It will also be free of centralized restrictions, Haslam noted, saying it will be “practically impossible for anyone to shut down, seize people’s money or stop cross-border flows.”
Zimbocash Seeks TRON IEO
The next step is to establish a token on the TRON blockchain. The team says it is in discussion with “some of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world” to host an Initial Exchange Offering.
A Zimbocash IEO would allow international buyers to help set the prices, with ten percent of the token supply to be sold. Following this period of price discovery, Zimbabweans would be able to sell their TRON-based Zimbocash for cryptocurrencies or fiat currencies, “once they have made the mandatory six transfers to other people on the exchange.”
The minimum transfer requirement enables the establishment of Zimbocash as a transactional currency, “using the latest price as a reference,” Haslam explains.
After that, the team hopes for adoption to grow organically through network effects. The end goal is to establish a system in which Zimbabweans use the currency to pay for goods and services.
It might seem like a long shot, but “considering Zimbabwe’s current economic crisis,” Haslam explains, “we need to do it.”
The team has also paid close attention to issues of regulation and government involvement. While cryptocurrencies are not currently governed under the country’s regulations, Zimbocash has been in discussions with legal advisors and individuals in the government about their proposed solution.
“We are absolutely committed to working with the government and we want them to be involved,” Haslam emphasized. “In fact, we are allocating 10% of the tokens to the Zimbabwe government and are making one third of the transaction fees available for building Zimbabwe.”
Laswet Savadye, head of the Zimbocash Ambassador team, is spearheading a nationwide education campaign to spread awareness and recruit future users. “Zimbabweans must be able to trust the money and the banks that they use,” he explained. “We want to see the economy of Zimbabwe transformed with sound money built on blockchain technology.”
If you happen to live in Zimbabwe and want to get some free tokens, you can learn more on the Zimbocash website.
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