Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Eyes Blockchain-Based Products, Needs Regulatory Clarity

Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) chief executive Justin Bgoni says ZSE is interested in adopting blockchain technology if regulatory certainty can be achieved, according to a report by local news daily The Chronicle on May 20

Bgoni, while in favor of blockchain technology, is waiting to apply blockchain technology at ZSE until regulatory certainty issues have been resolved:

“Then there is the money side to blockchain technology. This is a bit difficult, in terms of regulation, we are not yet clear on this and we do not want to do something where regulation is not clear as an exchange. But the technology side is very good.”

Regulatory certainty for the crypto spaces is currently being pursued in several jurisdictions. The newly reintroduced Token Taxonomy Act (TTA) in the United States for example, seeks to provide regulatory certainty for crypto by introducing uniform definitions and reclassifying it.

ZSE is considering blockchain-based services and products in real estate investment trust securities, mineral commodities exchange, and exchange-traded funds, per the report.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Zimbabwe is known economically for the collapse of its national fiat currency in 2015. Since then, Zimbabwe has been the focus for numerous blockchain-based currency proposals and activity, from a paper arguing that Zimbabwe is an ideal environment for bitcoin (BTC) firms to a blockchain summer school being opened in the country.

In 2017, however, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) — the country’s central bank — announced that bitcoin is illegal. That being said, RBZ Director and Registrar Norman Mataruka commented that the bank had begun investigating the risks of crypto, and that it would need to create a regulatory framework for digital assets before they could potentially legalize cryptocurrencies.