Zimbabwe’s government announced that cryptocurrency businesses will now be required to register and pay annual fees, as part of an effort to bring the largely informal market under regulatory oversight.
Under regulations issued by Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, any business involved in buying, selling, transferring, or safeguarding virtual assets must register each year with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)—an anti-money laundering body housed within the central bank.
Registration will cost $500 per year, and operating without it will now be an offence. The regulations are Zimbabwe’s first dedicated rules for a sector that has long operated without a legal framework and largely outside formal systems. Zimbabwe banned financial institutions from trading cryptocurrencies in 2018, pushing many traders to move to peer-to-peer platforms and social media.
Zimbabwe’s adoption of cryptocurrencies accelerated as the country experienced hyperinflation in the late 2000s, which wiped out savings and pensions. Frequent currency changes also eroded confidence in the banking system, increasing demand for Bitcoin and other digital currencies as alternative stores of value and methods of transfer.
Remittances have also driven usage, since banks are among the most expensive channels for sending money, according to the World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide report.
Zimbabwe’s move comes as many countries globally tighten regulation of cryptocurrencies following exchange failures, fraud cases, and concerns about money laundering.
The policy follows similar steps taken by several African countries, including South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and Mauritius, which have begun regulating digital assets as crypto activity grows across the continent.
Sub-Saharan Africa recorded more than $205 billion in on-chain value (the total dollar value of cryptocurrency transactions recorded on blockchains) between July 2024 and June 2025, according to the Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index—up 52% year-on-year.
“This is a welcome development … It’s also good for traders that they don’t have to operate underground,” said Jeffrey Mutambiranwa, a Harare-based crypto trader, according to Reuters.
