Days before the military coup d’état in Zimbabwe, one of Mugabe’s sons uploaded a snapchat displaying his £45,000 diamond watch with £200 champagne, according to Daily Mail. The story went viral fueling anger of Zimbabweans as the country suffers from an economic collapse with a 95% unemployment rate.
Submitted by BullionStar.com
When a nation adopts a foreign currency it will typically face significant hurdles when it tries to rid itself of that currency, or de-dollarize. But Zimbabwe’s autocratic ruler Robert Mugabe has appeared to have done the impossible. After dollarizing ten years ago, over the course of the last year or two he and his cronies have managed to throw off the U.S. dollar and re-introduce a Zimbabwean replacement.
With Bitcoin trading at $13,499 on Golix, the chaotic environment in Zimbabwe has spread to the global price of the cryptocurrency driving it beyond $8000 for the first time in history as President Mugabe fails to resign in a national address following the nation's coup.
It appears many Zimbabweans have found an alternate way to store/transfer wealth away from Mugabe's prying (and confiscatory) eyes.
Update 2: Mugabe, who remains under house arrest, is meeting with the commanders of the country's military shortly after lawmakers approved an ultimatum for the long-time strongman to either resign, or be forced...
Mugabe is meeting heads of security forces. This is the first time we're seeing the participation of Air Force Commander Perence Shiri, Police commissioner Chihuri and Prisons chief Zimondi.
(Pics via @HeraldZimbabwe) pic.twitter.com/J44vK0hYWL
Authored by Steve H. Hanke of the Johns Hopkins University. Follow him on Twitter @Steve_Hanke.