The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, or RBZ, plans to introduce a gold-backed digital currency as legal tender to help stabilize the local currency, the Zim dollar, the Sunday Mail reported.

The tokens will be a form of electronic money backed by the country's gold reserves, which will be held by the central bank. The RBZ wants people holding Zim dollars to be able to exchange their money for the gold-backed token to help them hedge against the volatility of the local currency.

A year ago, 1 U.S. dollar was worth about 150 Zim dollars, and it's now worth closer 1,000 Zim dollars, according to Investing.com. The country operates with both the Zim dollar and the U.S. dollar.

Last August, the RBZ said it planned to create a central bank digital currency. Other African countries have also been exploring a CBDC; Nigeria launched its eNaira in October 2021.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe didn't immediately return a request for comment.

Zimbabwe CBDC Gold Africa U.S. Dollar

Camomile Shumba

Camomile Shumba is a CoinDesk regulatory reporter based in the UK. Previously, Shumba interned at Business Insider and Bloomberg. Camomile has featured in Harpers Bazaar, Red, the BBC, Black Ballad, Journalism.co.uk, Cryptopolitan.com and South West Londoner. Shumba studied politics, philosophy and economics as a combined degree at the University of East Anglia before doing a postgraduate degree in multimedia journalism. While she did her undergraduate degree she had an award-winning radio show on making a difference. She does not currently hold value in any digital currencies or projects.