Zimbabwe has officially enacted its first regulatory framework for cryptocurrency activities through Statutory Instrument 99 of 2026, placing virtual asset service providers (VASPs) under the oversight of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s (RBZ) Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). The new rules, signed by Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, require all firms engaged in buying, selling, transferring, or holding digital assets to register annually at a cost of $500. Operating without registration is now a criminal offense.
The legislation ends years of legal ambiguity that began in 2018 when the central bank banned financial institutions from handling crypto transactions, pushing activity toward peer-to-peer platforms. The shift is widely seen as a response to the country’s hyperinflation crisis of the late 2000s, which eroded trust in traditional banking and drove many Zimbabweans to adopt Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a store of value and means of transfer. Data from Chainalysis’ 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index highlights this trend: Sub-Saharan Africa processed over $205 billion in on-chain value between July 2024 and June 2025, a 52% year-over-year increase.
The framework imposes banking-style compliance demands, including mandatory domestic subsidiary formation, director background checks, and implementation of the travel rule for transaction data sharing. It also adopts a technology-neutral stance, asserting that even decentralized entities with control over smart contracts, fund routing, or fee-setting functions fall within the regulatory perimeter. Notably, the rules do not grant sovereign endorsement to cryptocurrencies; they focus purely on anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT).
Local traders have welcomed the clarity. Harare-based trader Jeffrey Mutambiranwa told Reuters that the measure allows traders to operate outside the informal economy. Observers also link the move to Zimbabwe’s desire to avoid the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, with Techzim describing it as “Zimbabwe showing its homework to the world.”
