eBusiness Weekly
Business Writer
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe sold the highest quantity of gold-backed digital tokens in 5 months amid renewed interest in the store of value instrument.
According to the central bank, a total of 21 896 432 milligrammes or 21,90kg of
gold-backed digital tokens were sold on Thursday, October 26, 2023, the highest quantity
since May 26, 2023 when 55,76kg tokens were sold.
The highest quantity of tokens ever sold in a single issue was 139,57kg sold on May 12, 2023.
A total 71,64kg more were to be sold the following week on May 18.
Most issues since May 26 were averaging 2kg.This, however, improved on September 28 when a total 17,6kg were sold.
The increased uptake of the tokens comes as the apex bank enabled the gold-backed digital token to become a payment method known as Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG).
The goal of the physical coins and the newly minted ZiG is to encourage local investors towards the national asset, moving away from the US dollar — a challenging task in a nation grappling with triple-digit inflation.
RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya stated; “The issuance of the gold-backed digital tokens is designed to expand the value-preserving instruments available in the economy and enhance the investment instruments’ divisibility.
It also aims to widen their accessibility and usage by the Zimbabwean public.”
