Why the price of bitcoin soared in Zimbabwe?¿Por qué el precio del bitcoin se disparó en Zimbabue?

As the uncertainty about the destiny of the country grew, so did the bitcoin, cryptocurrency converted into the last reliable value in a market conditioned by a runaway inflation.

The price of the transactions with this cryptocurrency soared in Harare.

Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie, founder of the BitcoinBro cryptocurrency online brokerage, gave the BBC a possible explanation.

If there is one thing that characterizes Zimbabwe's economy, it is uncontrolled inflation, which caused the Zimbabwean dollar (Z $) to fall to unusually high levels.

In 2008, one dollar was exchanged for 35,000 billion Zimbabwean dollars. The government was then forced to give up having a national currency and let the market work with foreign currencies.

The unbridled race of prices is impossible for the population of a country in which, according to the unions, 90% were unemployed at the beginning of 2017.

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The constant shortage of paper money also led the authorities to issue their own notes denominated in US dollars, but they quickly lost their value.

In addition, there are severe restrictions on the withdrawal of cash from savings deposited in banks, so Zimbabweans have few options other than using cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

For many, it is the only insurance in a market in which nothing else is.

According to Landsberg-Sadie, "in Zimbabwe the de facto currency is the dollar, but it is a dollar that has three different values ​​depending on how it is used."

"If someone is going to buy an item that costs US $ 100, you pay US $ 120 if you do it with bonds, US $ 100 if it is cash and you can pay up to US $ 140 if you choose a card."