Tumultuous Week For Golix Ends In Triumph
After being instructed by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to cease its operations, Golix has won an enormous victory after the High Court in Harare ruled in their favour. Golix was ordered to shut down operations by Reserve Bank Governor John Mangudya, and that was followed up by a letter from the registrar of the central bank, Norman Maturake.
The letter stated that “All cryptocurrency exchange houses operating in the country, including Bitfinance (Private) Limited (also known as Golix), are required to cease all virtual currency exchange operations,” wrote Norman Mataruke, in a letter to dated May 15. The letter also directed all cryptocurrency exchange platforms in Zimbabwe “to take all the necessary steps to close the cryptocurrency accounts or ‘wallets’ of customers and to make good any funds currently held on behalf of customers” trading and investing virtual currencies.
Following the ban, Golix took the fight to Zimbabwe’s High Court, pushing back at the directive in what it calls an illegal law-making procedure usurping rights that only the legislative branch of government can wield. In their application to the High Court, Golix requested that the directive be made null and void stating that, “The Respondents are in fact purporting to classify the trade in cryptocurrency as illegal and that the ban in effect outlaws and classifies as illegal the Applicant’s operations.”
In an interesting turn of events, the High Court ruled in favour of Golix seeing as there was no formal representation on behalf of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. After a firm stance on the matter, a no-show is a disappointing turn of events and perhaps speaks to the depth of the decision to ban cryptocurrency operations in the country. The decision to ban crypto appears to have been a knee-jerk reaction based on how the economy is poised to suffer if cryptocurrency becomes commonplace.
