The government of Zimbabwe dismissed reports that it was planning to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. Many critics following the developments say this doesn’t come as a surprise.
“[Zimbabwe] is not considering introducing another currency in the economy as reported in some sections of the media,” Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa told journalists after a cabinet meeting in Harare on Nov 9.
“Our local currency is the Zimbabwe dollar, and not cryptocurrency,” she emphasized. Mutsvangwa revealed that the Zimbabwean authorities are instead interested in a central bank digital currency (CBDC) “as opposed to cryptocurrencies, bitcoins or any form of derivatives.”
It comes after a senior government official in the President’s office, Charles Wekwete, intimated that the African country was looking to adopt cryptocurrency as a legal tender. Wekwete clearly spoke out of turn, analysts say.
However, global crypto news media picked up his unqualified statement — and hoping for another El Salvador bitcoin moment — blew it out of proportion.
“It was madness. It was a clear misunderstanding of what was being said,” William Chui, a Zimbabwean crypto enthusiast and advocate, said of the media’s interpretation of Wekwete’s remarks.
“The [original] article from which these stories were derived doesn’t show any steps toward government adopting bitcoin as legal tender. It is just a conversation that is going on between government and business, which is total bullshit,” he added.
Source:beincrypto.com