Greetings ZIMBOCASH friends

Lots of things are going on right now and ZIMBOCASH is growing in momentum. We’ve had a large number of applications to the ZIMBOCASH Ambassador program – we’ve closed applications for now. We are doing a roadshow in the next few weeks where we will have ZIMBOCASH conferences in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Harare and Bulawayo.

We’re also implementing a ZIMBOCASH Core Developers team. If you have experience in IT development, coding, architecture or blockchain, we’d love you to apply on our website. Applications will be up in the next week. We are keeping this team very small and will only be selecting the top candidates. We’ll keep you posted on the progress.

We’ve had several radio/TV interviews and the word is getting out. ZIMBOCASH is a movement that requires extensive education. That is your role as much as it is ours – it will only succeed if you let others know and together, we can create the momentum for the success of ZIMBOCASH.

Laswet, the Head of the Ambassador Program has recorded an excellent intro video for ZIMBOCASH which you can view here.

I had the chance to be interviewed by TechCentral  – it is a longer interview (over 40 minutes long) but goes into detail about what we are doing. If you want to understand more about ZIMBOCASH, it’s a great basis to do so.

https://www.zimbo.cash/techcentralinterview

Our take on Zim’s currency
We have a new currency in Zimbabwe – the RTGS dollar. But is it really that new?

In our last fireside chat, we discussed how money printing causes economic pain and what to do about it. There has been rampant money printing of bond-notes and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has been struggling to maintain its 1:1 peg and the talk of the new currency has only been increasing.

Finally, two weeks ago, the new Zimbabwe currency was introduced. This new currency is identical to the old one but with a new name, except now there is no restraint on the amount of currency units that will be produced. Changing the name of the currency to keep money printing going is an old trick (anyone remember Bearer Cheques and Special Agro-Cheques in the old Zimbabwe dollar period?).

Unfortunately, you cannot increase the amount of money and expect there to be no impact in the market. Money printing spirals are regular occurrences. They’ve happened since time immemorial. The issue is as old as money itself.

Over 2500 years ago, ancient Israel diluted their gold. So did the Romans about 1500 years ago – they began to incorporate cheap metals in their gold coins and it led predictably to substantial rates of inflation and economic collapse. In France in 1700’s they began to print paper notes and removed the peg against gold. As money printing increased, it led the country into a very destructive hyperinflation. It even happened twice in the USA (with the Continental dollar and the Confederate dollar).

Money printing spirals that lead to hyperinflation are such a regular event that in the last 100 years, they have occurred on average once every two years (there have been 56 incidences of hyperinflation in the last 100 years). The usual culprit is, of course, money printing.

So the new RTGS dollar is not really new. It’s concerning and is a major problem for all Zimbabweans. With the government able to print as much money as it needs, it is likely that substantial price rises are around the corner. Without a radical change in policy, the probable outcome is increasing inflation, shortages of goods and services, and economic hardship.

But there is hope
That’s why we are part of a movement to establish a currency that cannot be printed in any way once the initial amount has been created. It’s also why we believe that Zimbabwe is the only country in the world where we can implement such a bold and audacious goal – the country has languished for so long with a broken currency and banking system.

Sound money and secure decentralised banking can transform Zimbabwe. We believe we are creating history and we are all a part of it.

Warm regards

Philip

I’m Philip Haslam. I am the communications guy at ZIMBOCASH. We’re part of a broader community of people working on establishing sound money in Zimbabwe. We’re passionate about this as a life goal. We’re sending out regular Fireside Chats to keep you informed – feel free to unsubscribe from these below. It won’t affect your registration with ZIMBOCASH.