Earlier this week, ZIMBOCASH – a local decentralised cryptocurrency- listed their token ZASH on Bithumb Global (a cryptocurrency exchange headquartered in South Korea).
In marketing material, ZIMBOCASH is marketing the ZASH token as a replacement alternative to Zimbabwe’s flailing Zimbabwe Dollar. A total of 4.5 billion ZASH tokens have been created with 950 million currently in circulation.
The Zimbabwe dollar was already collapsing with 500% inflation, before this crisis dealt a debilitating blow. We believe that ZIMBOCASH is perfectly positioned to solve this problem by fixing the amount of money in the country using blockchain technology. Our aim is to provide sound-money.
Philip Haslam, Head of Communications at ZIMBOCASH
I believe Philip’s comments about ZIMBOCASH being perfectly positioned to solve the Zimbabwe’s economic turmoil are a bit premature. We reached out to ZIMBOCASH to understand where Zimbos in possession of the ZASH token will be able to use it and Philip explained to me that they are developing that network and expect “organic use of the ZASH network to grow as the currency environment deteriorates in the country.”
Why list with Bithumb?
For ZIMBOCASH, listing with Bithumb offers the digital currency an opportunity to start making the ZASH token more valuable;
Our first step in establishing value is in getting it listed on an international exchange (Bithumb Global), where there is a market of buyers and sellers. On the basis that there is value – derived from a market price – it can become something that is used in trade
Philip Haslam
Security fears
It is important to note however that Bithumb the exchange in question has been hacked a number of times;
- In June 2017 hackers stole user information from a Bithumb employee’s personal computer.
- In June 2018 about $32 million of cryptocurrency was stolen from Bithumb in a hack.
- On March 29, 2019, Bithumb said that it was hacked. It pointed its fingers at insiders. Nearly $20 million worth of EOS and Ripple tokens were estimated to have been stolen.
Hurdles
A concern I had after going through ZIMBOCASH’s marketing material was how they were going to communicate the concept of digital currencies to the ordinary Zimbabwean – something they’ll have to do if ZASH is to become a compelling alternative to the Zim dollar.
Philip explained that they have been doing some work on that front but believes ultimately “the pain that people experience in a collapsing monetary system will cause people to naturally find alternatives that work.”
Right now the clearest incentive to get the token is the fact upon signing up for the token you’ll get 3125 tokens. The issue with that is the value of those tokens will depend largely on the network in which you can use them. If there’s nowhere to use them 3 or 4 months down the line – are they valuable?
The elephant in the crypto-shaped room has been regulation or lack thereof. Interested parties would want to know what guarantees there are that the tokens would be safe. If they get the token, will ZIMBOCASH turn out to be another Golix? The expectation is that it won’t be a problem since they are currently not regulated locally and not making use of local banks at the moment:
We are not operating through the banking system in Zimbabwe. There is no “cash-out” or “cash in”. Zimbabweans are allocated the token directly by signing up at our website www.zimbo.cash. There is no charge for signing up. It is similar to signing up for Facebook.
Philip Haslam
Cryptocurrency and volatility
For those who have fears regarding volatility, Philip explained that volatility is to be expected with any currency however they belive that as their network grows stability will increase alongside;
There may be volatility in the price – however, all currencies have some level of volatility. Ultimately, as a network of scale grows, the price is likely to become more stable. This is why a reference price on a market is used in trade.
However, with Zimbabwean history, people are used to changing their prices to the market rate. With the current system, people need to mark their prices to a market rate regularly. Our concern isn’t what the price will be – our concern is that there is a price. If we get a price, we would have added value to a whole lot of Zimbabweans who have been allocated ZIMBOCASH, who can use it in daily trade.
Philip Haslam
That has been one of the biggest knocks when it comes to cryptocurrencies. The lack of centralisation seems to come at the price of security and accountability when things go wrong.
Distribution
At the time of writing ZASH is being distributed solely via internet channels (Bithumb and the ZIMBOCASH website). If ZIMBOCASH is to realize their dream of dethroning the ZW$ as the local currency that’s another aspect they’ll have to improve to ensure that the Zimbabweans who aren’t on the internet are also included among those who can transact.
Once you have the currency where will you be able to use it? Right now beyond trading, your options are limited at the time being. In future, ZIMBOCASH will be more useful;
Ultimately, we would like to see people being able to pay for imports denominated in ZIMBOCASH. This last step would require a very liquid international exchange where there isn’t price slippage when there is a cash-out. This is something that needs to develop over time.
Philip Haslam
Update: An earlier version of this article claimed that ZIMBOCASH was looking to replace the ZW$. This was inaccurate and the intention of ZIMBOCASH is to offer an alternative, NOT a replacement. We apologise to ZIMBOCASH and our readers for the misinterpretation.
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28 comments
Dead before it started.
With sweeping RBZ control on the flow of money, using the platform would be suicide
You can’t seriously launch such a thing under the current conditions in the market.
It would be responsible to warn people to hold onto their money.
FYI no one is oaying anything have you heard of an airdrop?
Hi are you familiar with how crypto works? if so you would know the market conditions are very favoruable and they have been for some time. Unless you are pro inflation. Do advise when are the conditions ripe for such and I see you haven’t been updated on the governments push towards regulations and interest on fin tech solutions. Also no one is paying anything have a look at the white paper first.
You totally missed my point
This has played out before with Golic
They were fortunate enough to operate for a while before attracting RBZ attention.
You guys chose to operate just when RBZ is enforcing harsh controls on Ecocash, which is closer to fiat than crypto (i.e. you). A crypto initiative would stand even less of a chance under the current circumstances.
Any activities you perform under crypto are guaranteed to die, because big old RBZ will crash hard on you, more so now.
So people may read the white paper, celebrate you and all that, but they should be **warned** that it may easily come crumbling down and may lose crypto held with you.
Golix isn’t a fragment of people’s imagination
No where in the blueprint does it say anything about replacing the zimdollar please share where you saw this and highlight. This is misleading.
The use of cryptocurrency is slowly eradicating central banks thous the introduction of Zash in Zim threatens the Zimdollar…
I’ve been following them for a while. They don’t want to replace the zimdollar. They want to be an alternative currency.
We have read the above article and we feel that there are some inaccuracies. We have been clear in all our communication that we are not trying to replace the Zimbabwe dollar. We have some concerns regarding the sustainability of the current system with the money printing taking place. Rather ZIMBOCASH is an alternative, like bitcoin which Zimbabweans can benefit from. We are trying to provide solutions to fellow Zimbabweans with a system that does not undermine the existing system. We are at an exploratory stage and would welcome discussion regarding regulation. We also highlight that it is free for Zimbabweans to use and access the system. No-one pays any money to use the system. The exchange buyers are international crypto investors who buy from Zimbabweans in the secondary market.
Zimbocash has never and will never want to replace the zim dollar. If you had followed them from the start you would have known their true intention. When did alternative and replace become the same. May you kindly get your facts right before publishing because not only is this misleading but a lie. Personally i believe its a good project. You can even go to ZBC and ask for all the recordings of the interviews they did with them and you will see that your story is biased
This Zimbocash is more of a scam these people are taking advantage of the vulnarable situation Zimbabweans are in now to try and hijack or colonize our economy for their own benefit. Who said Zimbabweans are not educated enough to create their own blockchain or digital currency which takes less than an hour to launch? Why do we need a South African like Philip Haslam to do this for us? It is no longer time to allow someone to take advantage of our situation, gone are the days, we do not need colonizers anymore. They come to us with generousity and then later own they hijack everything. Philip Haslam should do this in his country first before coming to Zimbabwe. I am saying this because Philip Haslam took back the coins that he claimed had given me fore free, and I tried to assist him in as far as I could do, but he proved me wrong after he introduced his token on the exchange after I logged in all the coins were gone, he accepted that he took the coins back. So as Zimbabweans lets us say no to exploitation and the Gorvenment of Zimbabwe should protect its citizens from chancers.
The reason the he did it is because no one is doing it.
Of course..zimbos afe all about negative energy
Speak for yourself don’t use “we” , if you are being colonized then sorry for you. Moreso who is stopping you from launching your own cryptocurrency and compete with Zimbocash and Bitcoin? It’s not good to publicly display your ignorance to the world.
Thank you Phillip…dont let us down.we have heard enough already
I sense that the writer was being intentionally deceitful. Those of who have been following ZIMBOCASH know that they stress the message that they are not anti Government, they do not want to replace the Zimbabwean Dollar (Bond note/RTGS). The ZIMBOCASH team in al the roadshows they have done around the country, they always expressed willingness to work with the government.
They have also been on several ZBC platforms. Which confirms that they have nothing against the government.
And Farai Mudzingwa, please when you write articles, do not twist facts and misrepresent, it is unethical. We love TechZim, it is our ‘go to’ of all things tech, but you just disappointed me.
I was eyeing behind Zimbocash (ZASH)since back, never said it’s intended to replace the national currency but simply to be used alternatively.
Wow this is very disheartening. I have followed Techzim for a while and remember the first post made on zimbocash and now to see this its just appalling. We have never been transparent throughout and have never said anything about replacing the Zim dollar. Also regarding exchanges there is a whole process that is involved which you don’t seem to fully understand especially when you are Zimbabwean its not like shopping in pick n pay there is so much involved and its the first of many. Anyways there is nothing wrong when you are against a project everyone is entitled however speak facts so that you remain credible. This article did not do that. Kindly reconsider doing this with the correct information. Best regards
We have been transparent^
I like the way the article is being contested by persons who evidently have interests. But, the only thing they contest is replacement Vs alternative. No mention of guarantees to users that it’s not another Golix, nor another ponzi-coin. Though I think the author should have clarified issues with zimbocash before publishing.
To compare Golix and Zimbocash is similar to comparing apples and oranges. Golix was a crypto exchange whereas Zimbocash is a digital currency that is decentralised. Golix was easier to ban because it had a physical presence in Zim and it had relationships with local banks, which forced it to be regulated according to existing laws. On the other had Zimbocash is just a peer to peer currency.
A good question is: can the government ban Bitcoin? Many young people are trading a number of cryptos including the likes of Bitcoin and Ether. Nobody knows who has Bitcoin, and it has no physical central institution that the government can shut down. Similarly, Zimbocash cant be shut down.
As for the question of whether it is a ponzi/pryramid scheme, that is laughable. All schemes ask you to pay a joining fee, or to buy a starter pack, or to invest a certain amount on the promise of huge returns. This is the money that people lose when the scheme implodes.
Now, Zimbocash does not ask people to pay anything to participate. People get rewarded with tokens when they join the network. So even if this project fails, these people will not lose anything.
That’s a bit better. Now if noone is paying anything and everyone was given free coin, is it the expectation that only those people will trade with each other.? Folks will also want to convert the their coin to other currencies, that’s when cashing in or out will happen. There’s no mechanism to forbid that, as that is the nature of a currency.
And yes, government can ban the use of Bitcoin. It’s a matter of drafting legislation. And Zimbocash would then be considered a black market coin, in that case. Peer to peer networks can be crippled if one knows what they are doing.
Tight….so an alternative currency…who will it be regulated by… eventually the currency has to be swappable at a given rate like any alternative currency…does that mean a cash in and cash out…what does zimbocash get out of this financially….what’s their business plan….are they a non profit organisation
This Zimbocash is more of a scam these people are taking advantage of the vulnarable situation Zimbabweans are in now to try and hijack or colonize our economy for their own benefit. Who said Zimbabweans are not educated enough to create their own blockchain or digital currency which takes less than an hour to launch? Why do we need a South African like Philip Haslam to do this for us? It is no longer time to allow someone to take advantage of our situation, gone are the days, we do not need colonizers anymore. They come to us with generousity and then later own they hijack everything. Philip Haslam should do this in his country first before coming to Zimbabwe. I am saying this because Philip Haslam took back the coins that he claimed had given me fore free, and I tried to assist him in as far as I could do, but he proved me wrong after he introduced his token on the exchange after I logged in all the coins were gone, he accepted that he took the coins back. So as Zimbabweans lets us say no to exploitation and the Gorvenment of Zimbabwe should protect its citizens from chancers.
That’s what makes you Zimbabwean enough, you don’t want help. They are atleast trying to help you out. The Current Inflation issue in Zimbabwe is a result of an Institute not being able to control Monetary flow. Crypto Currency is not controlled by anyone therefore, it doesn’t get inflated easily like the ZWD
people who criticize have nothing to say let them sit down while the match is being played…. maybe this is a beginning of a new currency atleast these guys are doing something which shows they want things to change without looking at their main agenda.
Zimbo cash kuvanhu
Unfortunately I see Zimbabweans being badly disappointed with this zimbocash thing. Already it is currently shut down because of “technical issues” and I don’t see it coming back any time soon. What is needed in Zimbabwe is to trade with a currency which has international value on a platform which is easy to use and which cannot be manipulated or shut down by the zimbabwe government. We cannot afford to waste another 20 years dancing around this issue and believing in worthless “tokens” Zimbabweans have suffered enough and need a solution **NOW** … Rock Wallet is an integrated Bitcoin, ZAR and USD account. Visit https://rockwallet.co.za to learn more and to create your free account.
Rock Wallet
Your marketing tactics are bad my man this will not take you any way and i will not be suprise if your wallet is not a scam, because if you are in the fintech field you know the challenges towards security issues and i believe Zimbocash team has done a great job something that you failed your self only to create a wallet which are is just similar to other wallets like Luno which are even doing better, Even if it takes 5 years for Zimbocash team for them to complete the project its not an issue. Do properly your research such projects has taken long than what these guys have taken and also they have been attacks to the extent that users lost a lot of money in the international recognised projects