ZIMBABWE is expected to host a bitcoin seminar on Saturday aimed at promoting and educating the public on the advantages of cryptocurrency in the country.
BY TATIRA ZWINOIRA
Cryptocurrency is a digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds and operates independently of a central bank.
In statement last week, Liquidmoney Biz a South African-based bitcoin consultancy firm said they would be participating at the event.
Liquidmoney Biz said that an estimated 2% of the world’s population is aware of bitcoin, which is the world’s first cryptocurrency.
“Let’s put this into perspective, there are about 7,4 billion people in the world, and between 12-14 million people know and are using bitcoin currently,” Liquidmoney Biz said.
Bitcoin was created in 2009 by a Japanese national, Satoshi Nakamoto.
The central bank has in the past been wary of cryptocurrency due to the inability to trace the use of the currency to its owner, since it uses anonymous names and is independent of monetary authorities.
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As it is independent of monetary authorities, the central bank fears that the use of the currency in the country could lead to a surge in cybercrime.
Founder of Liquid Crypto-Money Shireen Ramjoo, who is expected to participate at the seminar said Nakamoto created a cap on the number of bitcoins that is going to be released into the world.
“Twenty one million bitcoins will be created and it is estimated that by 2140, the last bitcoins will be dispersed. It is also scheduled to be released in tranches every four years, which is known as bitcoin halving,” she said.
Popularity for the coin can be seen in that there are about 12,5 bitcoins, being released every 10 minutes into the system.
Central bank governor John Mangudya told NewsDay yesterday that he was waiting to see if anything new would be discussed at the seminar.
“We stand by our position that we need to be very cautious in dealing with such type of payment systems because there is no settlement for those bitcoins. Caution needs to be exercised when dealing with bitcoins because there are settlement systems for those bitcoins and other international payments systems,” he said.
“Zimbabwe is in an infant stage as an economy to deal with such things.”
