Zimbabwe moves to regulate cryptocurrency sector

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HARARE, June 12 : Zimbabwe's government said on Friday it will require cryptocurrency businesses to register and pay annual fees, as it seeks to bring the largely informal market under regulatory oversight.

Businesses involved in buying, selling, transferring or safeguarding virtual assets must register each year with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), an anti-money laundering body housed within the central bank, under regulations issued by Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube.

Registration will cost $500 per year, and operating without it is now an offence.

CRYPTO USE IN ZIMBABWE

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The regulations are Zimbabwe's first dedicated rules for a sector that has long operated without a legal framework, largely underground. The government banned financial institutions from trading cryptocurrency in 2018, pushing traders onto peer-to-peer platforms and social media.

Hyperinflation in the late 2000s wiped out savings and pensions, while repeated currency changes eroded trust in the banking system, driving demand for Bitcoin and other digital currencies alternative stores of value and means of transfer outside the formal system.

Remittances have fuelled adoption, with banks being the most expensive transfer channel, according to the World Bank's Remittance Prices Worldwide report.

Zimbabwe's move comes amid a broader global push to regulate cryptocurrencies following a series of high-profile exchange failures, fraud cases and concerns over money laundering.

It joins a growing number of African countries, including South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Mauritius, that have moved to regulate digital assets as crypto use across the continent surges.

Sub-Saharan Africa received more than $205 billion in on-chain value - the total dollar value of cryptocurrency transactions recorded on blockchains - between July 2024 and June 2025, a 52 per cent year-on-year increase, according to the Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index.

"This is a welcome development ... It's also good for traders that they don't have to operate underground," Jeffrey Mutambiranwa, a Harare crypto trader, told Reuters.

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