Zimbabwe’s central bank launches new digital transacting currency

By Xinhua

HARARE: Zimbabwe’s central bank introduced on Thursday a gold-backed digital token as an additional payment method for domestic transactions.

The value of the digital currency, known as the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG), “will be at par with the value of the physical Mosi-oa-Tunya gold coin and will remain informed by the international gold price,” the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe said in a statement.

Zimbabwe launched gold coins named Mosi-oa-Tunya in 2022 to control the inflation in the country.

“Banks will maintain dedicated ZiG accounts and intermediate transactions in ZiG in the same way they intermediate transactions in local and foreign currency,” the central bank said.

After purchasing the ZiG, the holder will have a ZiG account denominated in milligrams of gold in addition to their existing bank accounts, it added.